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Improving the SCOR model: Is the new SCOR Digital Standard a better process
reference model?
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TORSTEN BECKER
Head of Study Program, Supply Chain Management, SRH Berlin University of Applied Sciences, Germany
Torsten Becker is Head of the Study Programme Management at SRH Berlin University of Applied Sciences,
overseeing the Supply Chain Management Programme since October 2021. He teaches supply chain strategy,
supply chain design, business process management and other subjects regarding supply chain management.
Torsten has worked in the supply chain management area for 28 years. He started supply chain consulting at
PRTM (now a part of PWC Strategy&) in 1995 as a manager and left as a partner. He launched the company
BESTgroup Consulting in 2003 and has worked with many clients in improving supply chain processes in many
companies. Before joining PRTM, Torsten worked at the Mercedes-Benz group of companies, starting as a
Torsten Becker project manager and later as a plant manager. He studied mechanical engineering at Aachen University of
Technology and received his PhD from the machine tool laboratory (WZL) in operations management.
SRH Berlin University of Applied Sciences, Ernst-Reuter-Platz 10, 10587 Berlin, Germany
E-mail: torsten.becker@srh.de
Abstract
This paper analyses the new supply chain operations reference (SCOR) Digital Standard
model, introduced in September 2022, and compares it with the old standard. Advantages and
disadvantages of the new enhancement are discussed across all aspects of the process model. The
paper suggests improvements to the new model to make it more applicable, focusing on describing
the changes in the standard to help digitise supply chain processes. The paper discusses different
modelling problems, based on many years of SCOR application. Readers will get an overview of the
new standard and its main components, and will learn the key differences between the old standard
and the update, as well as various drawbacks. The suggested enhancements deal with scheduling in
the supply chain, adding logistics activities and inventory planning.
Keywords
supply chain operations reference (SCOR) model, process reference model, digital transformation,
process optimisation
© HENRY STEWART PUBLICATIONS 2516-1814 JOURNAL OF SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT, LOGISTICS AND PROCUREMENT VOL. 6, NO. 2, 155–167 Winter 2023–24 155
Becker
While there have been many version 2 process elements. All these process
updates since the original version 1.0, descriptions were industry-independent,
this new version is a major change with so the detail of level 4 was supposed to
its focus on supporting digital technology be industry-specific. Although SCOR
rather than being an IT independent defines level 4 and the purpose, there is
process-focused model. Comparing the only content for levels 1 to 3, including
old versions with this new SCOR version process information, best practices and
provides fresh insights in supply chain IT support required for each process
processes in a digital world. The main step.5
question remains: Is the new version a The hierarchical approach divided
better process reference model for supply the four identified key supply chain
chain management? processes from level 1 into 19 process
This paper describes the history of and four infrastructure categories (level
SCOR, the changes in the new model, 2) (see Figure 1). Companies used the
along with suggestions for possible SCOR representation to describe their
improvement, and provides an outlook complete supply chain by selecting the
for how the model can develop further. right categories for each processing
step. Using the process categories
from the second level like building
HISTORY OF THE SUPPLY CHAIN blocks, practitioners described the most
OPERATIONS REFERENCE MODEL complex supply chain configurations
In 1996, a group of 70 companies, with these 23 variations. With the level
the operations management consul- 2 description, the supply chain can
tancy PRTM and the industry research be described across company borders,
company AMR developed the Supply from supplier’s suppliers to the end
Chain Operations Reference-model customers.6
(SCOR)2 and founded the Supply Chain Level 3 defined sub-processes for
Council as a non-profit organisation to each process category, but they were
maintain the process model.3 In the early limited to one category. While level 4
days of supply chain management, SCOR was suggested, SCOR did not contain
established a vocabulary to describe any details for level 4. One of the reasons
the supply chain processes and improve cited often was that level 4 could not be
understanding between all partners in described cross-industry like the other
the supply chain. levels.7
The original model introduced a SCOR offered a process description
defined hierarchical approach for process method to describe the supply chain
description on four levels and separated on different levels. For each level, the
execution from planning processes.4 method defined the scope and the
The four levels started on a high level process representation, which differed
with a view of the key processes — in the levels. While the higher levels
plan, source, make and deliver — to documented the whole supply chain,
describe complete supply chains (level 1). each process category was broken down
While SCOR levels 1 and 2 document as a separate view at level 3. While level 2
complete supply chains and the inter- descriptions contained process categories
actions of business processes, level 3 and material or information flows, the
describes the details of each of the level processes on level 3 described specific
156 © HENRY STEWART PUBLICATIONS 2516-1814 JOURNAL OF SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT, LOGISTICS AND PROCUREMENT VOL. 6, NO. 2, 155–167 Winter 2023–24
Improving the SCOR model: Is the new SCOR Digital Standard a better process reference model?
areas in more detail, including defined One of the key innovations of SCOR
inputs and outputs. was the process type differentiation.
The process model also contained SCOR introduced three process types:
a standard process description for the planning, execution and infrastructure.
process categories, best practices, IT The first focus of the supply chain process
system functionality and metrics. types are the execution processes. With
Comparing the standard processes as a the removal of preparation activities, such
reference with the own processes enabled as selecting a supplier, and other processes
companies to review and evaluate handling special situations, the execution
process execution. If there were differ- process design was in the foreground.
ences, improvement opportunities were Execution processes concentrated on the
identified. Best practices provided input activities that were needed for day-to-
for further performance enhancements. day operations. Execution was the focus
Defining common metrics allowed a of process optimisation, avoiding being
benchmarking of supply chain perfor- overwhelmed by non-standard activ-
mance between different companies to ities. These processes can be streamlined
understand the performance and identify before IT is selected to optimise the
areas of weakness. execution. The execution processes are
© HENRY STEWART PUBLICATIONS 2516-1814 JOURNAL OF SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT, LOGISTICS AND PROCUREMENT VOL. 6, NO. 2, 155–167 Winter 2023–24 157
Becker
easy to identify and are typically the category for the whole supply chain, while
first step in analysing the supply chain. removing the alignment with the plan,
These processes can be augmented by the source, make, deliver and return processes.
relevant planning processes. The Supply Chain Council expanded
While the planning processes are quickly globally and SCOR received
based on demand forecasts and are used worldwide recognition. The council
to dimension production and supply to organised many conferences worldwide
ensure product availability in the market, and developed many different versions of
the execution process starts with an the SCOR model. In 2014, the council
order, defined by product, quantity and merged with the American Productivity
requested delivery date, and ends with and Inventory Control Society (APICS).9
the delivery of the product to the end APICS continued the development of
customer. Infrastructure is responsible for SCOR and created a certification for the
all the activities that are needed to make process reference model. In 2018, APICS
the supply chain work and is divided into renamed itself the Association for Supply
plan, source, make and deliver processes. Chain Management (ASCM).
Over the years, many changes have
been implemented in the model.8 A return
process was added and later divided in SCOR VERSION 14 INTRODUCED
two processes: one aligned with source, IN SEPTEMBER 2022
the other with deliver. The planning In September 2022, the new version 14,
processes were augmented by appropriate also called Digital Standard (DS), of the
categories for the new processes dealing SCOR model was published by ASCM.10
with returns. The infrastructure was later The new version 14 is a major upgrade
renamed enable, first aligned with each to the overall structure of the model (see
of the processes and later added as one Figure 2). The name Digital Standard
158 © HENRY STEWART PUBLICATIONS 2516-1814 JOURNAL OF SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT, LOGISTICS AND PROCUREMENT VOL. 6, NO. 2, 155–167 Winter 2023–24
Improving the SCOR model: Is the new SCOR Digital Standard a better process reference model?
references the evolution of the process as a distinction, while order and fulfil
model in the digital age and the focus are categorised by business-to-consumer
on digital process transformation. Over (B2C), business-to-business (B2B) and
the last 25 years, digital tools have had intra-company. At the same time, the
a significant impact on the supply chain. plan processes are again aligned with the
Enterprise resource planning (ERP) key processes. The old plan deliver is split
systems have become more mature 12 into plan order and plan fulfil to align
and supply chain planning systems have with the new main processes.
increased their capabilities significantly.13 In the new orchestrate process,
The original SCOR was application- different areas are covered: supply chain
independent, while the new version is strategy, business rules performance and
pushing a higher level of digitisation in continuous improvement, data, infor-
the processes. mation and technology, contracts and
The main graphical representation on agreements, network design, regulatory
level 1 has changed from a group of and compliance, risk, environmental,
arrows to intertwined infinity symbols social and governance, enterprise business
describing the constant flow of infor- planning, segmentation and circular
mation and material between the supply chain management (see Figure 3).
different processes. While the processes
plan, source and return remain, the
deliver process is split into order and IMPROVEMENTS IN THE NEW
fulfil, while the make process is renamed VERSION
transform. Enable was replaced with While the old plan-source-make-deliver-
an orchestrate process. The new model return model has a lot of resonance in
depicts the process whereby the customer the supply chain, it was focused on a
order drives the supply chain and focuses physical product world. The new version
on the information flow, which derives describes better the complexity of the
the information for suppliers from the supply chain by putting the difference in
customer order information. The new the processes in the foreground and not
standard describes the standard IT-driven trying to harmonise different processes.
push approach for the execution processes Adding service and maintenance, repair
transform and source, while the previous and overhaul in the supply chain better
version emphasised the pull version of reflects the reality of today’s operations.
these elements. The new metaphor of the infinity type
On the level below, there are many process links the result of the order activ-
changes. While in the last SCOR model, ities to the required source processes,
the three main execution processes source, initiates the transformation of the
make and deliver were divided into arriving goods and builds the products
the same categories (to stock, to order, that can be delivered to the customer.
engineer-to-order) plus deliver retail, Planning is required to prepare actions,
the elements source, transform, order where the processes are not synchro-
and fulfil have differing subdivisions. nised, eg if the source process takes too
Source is divided into strategic source, long to fulfil the customer requirements.
direct purchase and indirect purchase This could be inventory or pre-ordering
plus source return. Transform is using of parts. This model is more aligned
the product, service and maintenance with the IT system execution, which
© HENRY STEWART PUBLICATIONS 2516-1814 JOURNAL OF SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT, LOGISTICS AND PROCUREMENT VOL. 6, NO. 2, 155–167 Winter 2023–24 159
Becker
160 © HENRY STEWART PUBLICATIONS 2516-1814 JOURNAL OF SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT, LOGISTICS AND PROCUREMENT VOL. 6, NO. 2, 155–167 Winter 2023–24
Improving the SCOR model: Is the new SCOR Digital Standard a better process reference model?
separates product supply to the inventory focus on the information flow will help
from the delivery product for a make-to- create new digital solutions.
stock environment. The build-to-order Next to the new processes, new
environment, which is more pull- metrics improve the management of the
oriented and more applicable in Europe, supply chain. Level 3 processes are still
has been downgraded in the new model. being developed and more information
At the same time, a returned product may be forthcoming in the future.
is integrated in the process and is
returned through the deliver processes.
The metaphor can be easily explained DRAWBACKS OF THE NEW
with the new graphic and highlights the VERSION
need for IT support in this area, which The old SCOR model was based on the
many companies execute very differently left-to-right material flow and many of
from the normal product delivery. the figures explaining the supply chain use
The new orchestrate element empha- the left-to-right model of the value stream
sises the need for preparation and from supplier’s supplier to customer’s
support activities in the supply chain. customer. This is aligned with typical
The elements are necessary to make the timeline representations, where time is
execution processes work, so placing the flowing from left to right in any graphical
activity in the centre of the supply chain depiction. Many process descriptions use
makes a lot of sense. In the following, the left-to-right orientation, such as the
the key parts of orchestrate are described. business process model notation.14
Supply chain strategy is often overlooked While information was flowing in the
but is a key component of supply chain opposite direction also in the old SCOR
excellence. Including business rules, model description, information flow
data and information provides the basis used to be the less time-consuming and
for implementing digital solutions. cost-consuming aspect. The focus on the
Describing a sustainable supply chain complex and costly material and product
with circular and environmental, social transport was seen as more important in
and governance (ESG) aspects propels the old model than the short sequence
the discussion into this decade. Including of information flow processes. The
resilience aspects, such as supply chain new SCOR model, with its emphasis
risks, is very relevant in today’s business on information, focuses on other prior-
world. At the same time, the heightened ities and uses the relatively seldom
awareness of legal aspects is considered. used right-to-left flow, which is partly
Including regulatory and compliance, used in the process model of Materials
contracts and agreement shows the Management Operating Guideline/
impacts on the supply chain. Logistics Evaluation (MMOG/LE).15
The new SCOR model is a good While the first and many follow-on
start for a digital supply chain, and releases of the SCOR model used a
the digital SCOR name supports this rigid process notation, the new model
differentiation. The focus is on the is more about presentation than process
information-driven company, using the structure. The old model had a clear
infinity symbol for representing the agile separation between enable, planning
world and ensuring the constant flow of and execution process types. In the new
information between the processes. The source processes, the strategic source
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Becker
process category is more aligned with the for planning and scheduling, which
old enablement than execution. But the would provide a significant change to
source processes now include strategic many IT systems in the supply chain.
and operative processes, mixing the In the new standard, there is now also
previously different process types. a disconnect for the order/fulfil intra-
The old SCOR model contained rules company category, which is not reflected
for documentation, how the processes in the source process. If a company
can be depicted graphically on all levels. sources intra-company, it can only use
The new SCOR model focuses on the the direct or indirect source processes,
level 1 infinity symbol but does not but not a special process as in fulfil. It
describe how to handle process descrip- seems that the new model is a depart-
tions on the lower levels. mental view of the supply chain, and the
In the old representation, source and integration view of the supply chain is
deliver process categories were aligned. missing now. This may inhibit system
A supplier had a deliver stocked product optimisations.
process interfacing a source stocked The plan categories are more difficult
product at the customer. This alignment to understand now. Are the customer
no longer not exists in the new model. forecasts collected in the plan order or in
While suppliers only deliver B2B, the the plan fulfil process? The plan return
order process is not finding a corre- process is also something that makes
sponding representation in the source sense in e-commerce retail process but is
process. The fulfil process is also not difficult to execute in many mechanical
completely aligned with the source direct or electric parts or component suppliers,
or indirect material, as it only deals with who will not have regular returns to
the physical delivery. While the process plan for.
on the customer side has been divided in There is no planning of inventory
a mainly information (order) and mainly levels in the SCOR model, although
material flow (fulfil) process, the source optimising inventory is a key task of
process is lacking this differentiation. supply chain management. Inventory is
This makes modelling inter-company not seen as important in the processes
supply chains difficult. Since existing and is not part of either the old or the
digital solutions focus on support for one new model.
company, this change downplays the role In the orchestrate part, there are many
of system-independent process optimi- changes compared to the old enable
sation between companies. processes (see Table 1).
A worthwhile extension to discuss There are five new components in
is the view that there are customer, the orchestrate area, while two have
production and purchase orders, hence been removed, and it is unclear where
there could be a separate information these activities were moved to. For a few
and material flow for source, transform elements, the names have changed and
as well. Neither of these are included describe potentially a wider scope. The
in the old model and only partially manage supply chain procurement has
modelled in the order/fulfil processes been transferred to the source processes,
toward the customers. This separation as described above.
can push the users to a better under- There are many interesting new ideas in
standing of different information quality the digital SCOR, yet the new version falls
162 © HENRY STEWART PUBLICATIONS 2516-1814 JOURNAL OF SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT, LOGISTICS AND PROCUREMENT VOL. 6, NO. 2, 155–167 Winter 2023–24
Improving the SCOR model: Is the new SCOR Digital Standard a better process reference model?
short in many areas. While older versions Nevertheless, the SCOR model has
were designed to model cross-company some fundamental problems, and the
supply chains, the new version is focused new version 14 cannot solve some of
on one company. The new structure the underlying problems of supply chain
is more aligned with departments than management modelling. There is a
with a process-oriented execution, eg by key problem with separating planning
including strategic sourcing (an enabling from scheduling tasks. Planning is
process) in the execution processes. This defined as dimensioning resources, eg
will cement existing structures and will for production, supplier capacity or
align IT systems further with depart- inventory. Scheduling is the process of
ments instead of allowing IT systems to arranging, sequencing and prioritising
work cross-functionally. activities. The SCOR model has always
followed the plan terminology and never
included a schedule process. The new
OVERALL PROBLEMS WITH THE order process is now looking at some of
SCOR MODEL the scheduling, but only aligned with the
Modelling a complex system is always fulfil process and oriented at customer
difficult. Trying to generate a standard orders. Although a supply chain has
model that should not be industry- customer, production and purchase
specific is a challenge. A good model can orders, SCOR does not separate the
ease optimisation and provide significant information processing for scheduling
value to the user. While the old SCOR transform and source processes. A major
model had a major impact on supply upgrade of the SCOR model would
chain thinking and optimisation, the require adding a process type scheduling
new model will create further impulses in addition to planning and execution.
for a more digital supply chain. The new This would separate planning based on
model will not support inter-company forecasts and time buckets and sched-
optimisations. uling based on orders and defined dates.
© HENRY STEWART PUBLICATIONS 2516-1814 JOURNAL OF SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT, LOGISTICS AND PROCUREMENT VOL. 6, NO. 2, 155–167 Winter 2023–24 163
Becker
The SCOR model is built on a very aligned with an IT system, but rather
simple, single-level production structure. a high-level process description that is
A company uses the source process to now more oriented to the contents of
get material, transforms the material ERP system modules rather than supply
to a product in one production step, chain process requirements. And there is
and fulfils the order by delivering the no digital solution available to model the
product. Documenting a process flow supply chain based on this new standard.
for a more complex product, starting Until the model evolves further and links
with machining different parts inter- better to digital solutions, the digital
nally, creating different sub-assemblies, moniker should be de-emphasised from
possibly also multilevel sub-assemblies, the name.
and assembling the final product in Changing the name for enable to
the highest level cannot be modelled orchestrate does not solve the problems
easily based on the SCOR vocabulary. with the issue of preparing the processes
This makes the model inapplicable in and running the processes, which was
some key industries, including capital covered better with the clear distinction
equipment and automotive. The new between enable and the execution
model allows only for one transform step processes. This separation would make
and all the details can then be expanded many IT systems easier to use.
in the fourth level, aligned with one plan While a process for supply chain
transform step. But this solution does not strategy is defined in the new SCOR
really show the total challenge in the version, a supply chain design and
supply chain, as the different production optimisation process is missing. When a
levels may require different planning supply chain strategy is defined, there is
and/or scheduling. nothing defined to transfer this strategy
Two key process elements from the into reality in the supply chain. While
supply chain are missing from the SCOR a central orchestrate process can cover
model. One is transport processes — overall supply chain issues, transferring
either internal, eg from warehouse to the strategy in execution is missing
production and external, eg transporting design steps. There also many design
material from a supplier to the company activities in the supply chain that are
or transporting the finished product not well covered now, eg the design of a
from the company to the distributor. new supply chain during product devel-
The other is the warehouse process. opment leading to make/buy decisions,
Inventory management is not included bill of material (BOM) structures and
in the SCOR vocabulary on the highest routings while defining the material flow,
levels and is mentioned only as a stage in designing the transport and warehouses/
some processes. Here, the value stream shelving. So, key activities for creating
mapping method provides a very detailed master data for the digital solutions are
description and distinguishes between missing from the new SCOR.
different types of warehouses, but this At the same time, there are no enable
potential level 4 process description processes for each of the plan, transform,
cannot be integrated well with the source, order and fulfil processes (as in
SCOR model anymore. previous versions). There are no design,
The naming DS may be misleading, optimisation or preparation activities for
as it not a digital process description each of these processes. A process such
164 © HENRY STEWART PUBLICATIONS 2516-1814 JOURNAL OF SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT, LOGISTICS AND PROCUREMENT VOL. 6, NO. 2, 155–167 Winter 2023–24
Improving the SCOR model: Is the new SCOR Digital Standard a better process reference model?
as qualify supplier or qualify a supplier for whole industry. While simple high-tech
a specific part is difficult to align with the products, such as computers or mobile
DS model, but could be included in the phones, can easily be modelled with the
strategic source parts, which is not part tool, more sophisticated supply chain
of orchestrate but of sourcing. Buying (eg automotive) cannot be described.
and installing new production equipment SCOR provides a solid basis and there
or running production optimisation are many ideas for improvement, which
processes cannot be aligned well with can be easily integrated into a next
any parts of the transform or orchestrate version.
process.
Dropping the differentiation between
make-to-stock and make-to-order hides SUGGESTIONS FOR A REVISED
the more difficult, pull-oriented make- PROCESS MODEL
to-order with different complexity Figure 4 depicts an updated process
— engineer-to-order, make parts to model with five different process types,
order, make subassemblies to order, including a new scheduling process
make final assembly to order — from the type, more different planning types and
view. Since the implementation of these new logistics execution activities. The
processes is not well covered in digital process types show the orchestration,
solutions, this may be a reason for the planning, scheduling, execution and
limited scope of the new standard. But enablement processes. Orchestration is
it prohibits a discussion on a simple and for overall activities, such as defining
proven ‘build-to-order’ model. strategies, while enabling includes the
While the SCOR model lists many preparation processes for specific areas
best practices, many of the best practices in the supply chain. While planning is
cannot be modelled well with the usually performed in time buckets, the
described processes. Take the best practice scheduling activities based on dates are
example of vendor-managed inventory. now part of the new scheduling process
The implementation of this method will type. Scheduling looks at all scheduled
eliminate many process steps on level 3 activities (handle, transform, source,
and will eliminate any source direct or deliver and transport) without inventory.
indirect materials. The plan processes cover all execution
Until now, there are no process processes, and a new inventory planning
modelling software tools for SCOR. With process is added. This is aligned with
the major change in the new model, the many IT planning tools, including sales,
likelihood of software vendors to create inventory and operation planning.17
a SCOR-specific process modelling will Logistics processes are added to the
reduce even further. The new process model. The execution processes now
mining16 is not easily applied with SCOR include:
as a reference model, since this model
cannot easily be translated into petri nets. • A new handle process for internal
In summary, the new DS SCOR transport;
model has many shortcomings and • A new transport process for external
although there are many good ideas in transport;
it, there is an urgent need to update • A new store process for inventory for
it and make it more applicable to the logistics.
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166 © HENRY STEWART PUBLICATIONS 2516-1814 JOURNAL OF SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT, LOGISTICS AND PROCUREMENT VOL. 6, NO. 2, 155–167 Winter 2023–24
Improving the SCOR model: Is the new SCOR Digital Standard a better process reference model?
© HENRY STEWART PUBLICATIONS 2516-1814 JOURNAL OF SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT, LOGISTICS AND PROCUREMENT VOL. 6, NO. 2, 155–167 Winter 2023–24 167