The data in supply chain management

The paper focuses on the data and data relations in Supply Chain Management. The analysis of the data starts at the individual level, that is at the level of the particular companies such as manufacturer, supplier, vendor, etc. The next step is to explore the relations between the participants of the supply chain. After introducing the standards of the manufacturer-vendor relations and data sharing, we focus on the manufacturer-supplier model referred to as UIM Upstream Integration Model. Finally, the paper discusses the design of an ideal database. The paper suggests that the development of data, data-relations and data sharing progresses towards integration and universal solutions.