Towards Novel Standard-Based Approach to Flexible Supply Chain Integration

Abstract Global supply chain digitalization must support diverse and incompatible formats, protocols, and structures of the Data Exchange Standards (DESes). The complexity of the global supply chain network has led to the need for increased supply chain flexibility, agility, and resilience. This paper reviews different approaches to resolving the DES heterogeneity between business systems and their trade-offs in supporting flexible supply chain integration. A novel approach is then proposed to better manage and reuse mapping specifications and enable more efficient translation of messages from one DES to another and, consequently, more flexibility in supply chain networking. The approach represents an extension of the existing platform for DES management. It is based on previously documented federated DES development and management, which adopts the federated learning approach for building the DES library. Central to the proposed approach is the concept of a super data model as an “interoperable” layer that enables semantics match between different DESes. Another important concept is Business Context, which is envisioned as a basis for the identification and reuse of existing mapping specifications. Our initial evaluation shows the feasibility and benefit of the proposed solution. The paper identifies a list of research directions that will be addressed in the future.