Operations Management Software
360-Degree Overview
Since 1989, ScienceSoft helps companies in 30+ industries design and develop effective operations management software tailored to their business needs.
The Essence of Operations Management Software
Operations management software (OMS) helps plan, monitor, and coordinate production or service operations, digitalize daily workflows of involved employees (e.g., operations managers, planners, supervisors, project managers), identify and mitigate operational process bottlenecks.
Operations management tools allow to efficiently manage all operational aspects with a single system instead of 3-5 separate applications that require complex integration procedures.
Software for service operations
For service- and project-centric companies that need to optimize service-related activities and improve management of human resources, projects, service requests, supply chain, T&E, service-related documents.
Software for production operations
For manufacturing-centric enterprises that need to optimize production activities and improve management of inventory, warehouses, workforce, machinery and equipment maintenance, purchase and sales orders.
End-to-end workflow automation
To improve the productivity of the employees involved in business operations, speed up operational processes, reduce labor costs, and eliminate human errors.
Comprehensive data analytics
To ensure accurate, data-driven operations planning and get intelligent recommendations on the optimal resource utilization and operational risks prevention.
Focus on security
To protect the OMS and sensitive data it stores by employing multi-factor authentication, role-based access control, data encryption, AI-powered fraud detection, and other advanced cybersecurity tools.
Mobile access
To enable the operations teams to control the status of production/service operations on the go, streamline the reporting on operations progress and escalation of operational process issues
OMS Implementation Costs and Financial Outcomes
The cost of OMS implementation varies greatly depending on:
- Functionality scope (the number of functionality modules, implementation of AI features, RFID technology, etc.).
- Complexity of data migration procedures (the volume of data that needs to be migrated from the spreadsheets and/or software currently used for operations management).
- Complexity and the number of integrations (with ERP, CRM, PLM, etc.).
A custom solution of average complexity requires investments from $200,000 to $400,000, with payback expected starting from 3 months of usage.
An operations management system is an effective way to optimize gross margin and resource utilization.
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ScienceSoft’s Head of PMO Pavel Ilyusenko shares his expertise: "Since OMS solutions usually contain a lot of complex features, it’s crucial to get a clear idea on the expected financial impact of each function and focus on the modules that offer a high and prompt payoff. Also, I recommend employing an iterative approach to OMS development to introduce the fundamental functionality first and speed up payback." |
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Optimized utilization of resources, including human resources, assets, and inventory. |
Reduction in time to process service requests and requests for project changes. |
Streamlined resource assignment to service requests and new projects. |
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Full visibility into the progress of service operations. |
Minimized risks of late and over-budget projects. |
Improved customer service in terms of quality, speed, and flexibility. |
Key Features of Service Operations Management Software
Service operations management solutions may cater for businesses with both one-time projects and continuous service operations. They help streamline daily workflows for multiple user groups – operations and resource managers, project managers, service delivery teams, and others. Below, ScienceSoft shares a sample feature set of service operations management software.
Service planning and optimization (for managers)
- Setting up service-related workflows (approval workflows, corporate policies to follow, etc.).
- Continuous service improvement management (identifying service best practices, gathering employees’ ideas and conducting votes on service improvement ideas).
- Service level agreement management.
Project tasks and service requests management
- Task/request assignment and progress status tracking.
- Automated booking of employees’ working hours based on assigned activities.
- Configurable task/request schedule viewer for employees/teams (with a calendar view, Gantt chart view, etc.).
Time and expense management
- Configurable timesheets and expense claim forms.
- Time tracking of employees’ billable and non-billable hours.
- Expense tracking (submitting receipts for transportation expenses, etc.).
- Automated approval workflow for employees’ timesheets and expense claims.
- Automated invoice generation (based on approved billable hours and expenses) and status tracking (approved/pending, etc.).
Document management
- Centralized storage of service-related documents (contracts, project plans, meeting notes, policies, etc.).
- Search engine with document metadata querying.
- Template-based document creation.
- Auto-referencing of documents to related projects, tasks, etc.
Human resource management
- Centralized view of human resource data (employee profiles with up-to-date information on skills, availability, workload, and bill rates).
- Human resource allocation (comparing skill sets available in employee profiles and assigning fitting candidates to projects/service requests).
- AI-driven suggestions on resource allocation.
- Real-time resource demand forecasting (based on the analysis of available capacity).
- Configurable capacity utilization dashboards (allow checking capacity per specific periods, business units, departments, etc.).
- Alerting on resource under- or overutilization to resource managers and PMs.
- AI-driven recommendations on where to engage under-utilized resources.
Project management
- Project planning (setting up goals, milestones, timeline, budget, stakeholders, etc.).
- Project process breakdown (creating and editing tasks and sub-tasks required to complete a project).
- Project time and resources estimation based on historical data about completed projects.
- Form-based resource request creation and automated routing to resource managers.
- Current vs. planned project progress monitoring.
- Current vs. forecast project margin monitoring.
- Project budget monitoring (burn rate, remaining budget, etc.).
- Configurable alerts on deadlines, project risks, etc. (for project managers and team members).
Supply management
- Barcode-based tracking of supplies’ quantity and location.
- Setup of reorder levels and alerts for low-stock supplies (can be tuned for different locations).
- Supply purchase order creation and approval.
- Purchase order status tracking and history overview.
- Setup of preferred suppliers for ordering.
- Supply demand forecasting (based on historical demand data and seasonal demand fluctuations).
Project and service analytics
- Change impact analysis (shows how changes, e.g. unexpected delays, affect service schedule or project progress).
- Revenue forecasting based on real-time monitoring of service/project delivery (can be drilled down by service types or projects, clients, business units, etc.).
- Resource utilization reports.
- AI-based project/service risk assessment (e.g., comparing customer demand with a company’s current resource capacity).
Important Integrations for Service Operations Management Software
To streamline planning, control and analysis of service operations, ScienceSoft recommends that service OMS should be integrated with the following back-office systems:
- OMS + analytics software: to reveal trends in resource availability and utilization, financial project health, etc. and optimize operations planning.
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OMS + customer relationship management (CRM) software: for fast service request scheduling and assignment to employees; for streamlined creation of a project/task.
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OMS + a customer portal: to speed up timesheet and expense approvals and keep customers up to date on the project progress; to timely initiate changes in a project.
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OMS + accounting software: for streamlined customer billing, employee compensation and payroll management; for accurate revenue recording and recognition.
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Reduced operational costs including labor costs, inventory costs, and asset maintenance costs. |
Enhanced productivity of employees involved in production operations and facilitated cross-team collaboration. |
Faster operational workflows across all production-related processes. |
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Guaranteed regulatory compliance of production outputs. |
Full visibility into the status of production operations. |
Minimized risks of production operations disruption. |
Key Features of Production Operations Management Software
Having in-depth experience in building production operations management tools, ScienceSoft shares a sample feature set that forms the core of the solution. However, each real-life use case for such software is unique, so functionality should be elaborated on and tailored to the business specifics accordingly.
- Production KPIs setup and monitoring (e.g., production volume and costs).
- Material requirements planning.
- Production scheduling.
- Automated production schedule adjustment (e.g., in case of incoming make-to-order requests or production delays).
Operations optimization
- AI suggestions for production optimization (based on historical production data).
- Multi-plant production optimization (balancing production load across several plants).
- What-if production scenario modeling and cross-comparison (to generate different options of a production schedule and choose the best one).
- Multi-location inventory optimization (calculating optimal inventory levels across warehouses based on multiple factors, from sales data to weather conditions).
Production order management
- Production order creation (with auto-attachment of BOMs, e.g., via an integration with PLM software).
- Automated estimation of production order costs and capacity requirements (based on product specifications).
- Automated reservation of materials for a production order.
- Production order routing (defining the sequence of operations to produce a product, integrating an order into the production schedule) and status tracking.
- Automated generation of a production order receipt (with the final calculation of production costs based on the recorded material, machine and workforce usage).
Inventory management
- Inventory levels monitoring.
- Setup of inventory reorder points and automated trigger of purchase orders.
- Alerts on low-level inventory.
- Creation, routing and status tracking of inventory transfer orders.
- Automated inventory location tracking (with barcode/RFID technology).
- Expiration and shelf-life tracking (e.g., for raw materials).
- AI-based inventory storage suggestions (optimal inventory location indicated based on its storage requirements, expiration date, etc.).
- Order picking routing (the system suggests the quickest route to pick up an order for a warehouse worker).
- AI-based packing suggestions (the system automatically defines the type and amount of packing required for an order).
Sales order management
- Sales order creation and status tracking.
- Automated invoice generation and routing for approval.
- Automated generation of purchase and/or production orders from a sales order.
- Automated inventory reservation for a sales order.
Purchase order management
- Purchase order request creation and automated routing for approval.
- Purchase order creation and status tracking.
- Setup of preferred suppliers for particular inventory groups.
- Setup of spend limits per user/department (on purchase orders).
Workforce management
- Workforce scheduling (production and maintenance workers, etc.).
- Workforce performance reports.
- Instant messaging (for easy communication between planners and operations managers and the shop-floor personnel and vice versa).
Machinery and equipment maintenance management
- Machine maintenance scheduling (for regular maintenance activities coordinated with a production schedule).
- Maintenance request creation and automated routing for approval (for on-demand activities, e.g., in case of machine malfunction or irregular performance).
- Maintenance order assignment and status tracking.
- Predictive maintenance for equipment.
Production quality control
- Quick form-based creation of quality control charts.
- Scheduling and assignment of quality checks (with auto-attachment of quality control charts).
- Alert escalation on defective products (to production supervisors).
Analytics and reporting
- Product demand forecasting.
- Product demand vs. production capacity analysis.
- Workforce demand forecasting.
- Impact analysis for production schedule adjustments (to see how current production orders will be affected by the changes).
- Capacity utilization reports (on machine and workforce utilization).
- Production reports (on the production outputs at a given period, e.g. day/week).
- Production costs monitoring and analysis.
- Inventory carrying costs analysis.
- Inventory purchasing reports (with historical costs trends).
Would you like to improve your production operations?
ScienceSoft will analyze your business needs and implement tailored operations management software to optimize capacity utilization and operations costs.
Important Integrations for Production OMS
ScienceSoft recommends integrating production OMS with relevant corporate systems to maximize visibility of production operations, speed up their planning and coordination and improve productivity of involved employees. Essential integrations include:
- OMS + business intelligence (BI) tool: to reveal dependencies and trends that influence operational efficiency, and accurately plan the operations strategy.
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OMS + supply chain management (SCM) software: for accurate production planning, streamlined purchase order assignment to suppliers and order status monitoring.
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OMS + customer relationship management (CRM) software: to streamline sales order creation and keep CRM specialists up to date on stock availability and current production capacity (e.g., in case of the make-to-order production strategy).
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OMS + financial software: for accurate asset and inventory accounting, facilitated compensation and payroll management, streamlined cost control.
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OMS + product lifecycle management (PLM) software: to automatically attach bills of material (BOMs) to scheduled production orders and ensure prompt updates on the changes in product design.
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OMS + manufacturing execution system (MES): for streamlined production planning and real-time monitoring of the production process.
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OMS + human resources management (HRM) software: to assign the proper workforce to different tasks.
OMS consulting
We design a proper architecture and a feature set to meet your unique operations management needs, and introduce a best-fitting tech stack for OMS implementation. You also get a detailed project roadmap, a risk mitigation plan, and expert advice on cost optimization opportunities.
OMS development
We fully develop your OMS and integrate the solution with the relevant corporate systems. Having 700+ experienced IT talents on board, we ensure fast implementation and top quality of your OMS. We’re ready to carry out comprehensive user training to streamline OMS adoption and provide on-demand OMS support and evolution.
Selected OMS Projects by ScienceSoft
Custom OMS Development for the Manufacturer of Phyto-Based Pharmaceuticals
ScienceSoft designed and developed a full-fledged production OMS to seamlessly automate user registration and document management workflows. The solution provides real-time aggregation of order, sales, and supply information, collection and processing of data on available medicinal plants.
Customer’s benefit: eliminated manual efforts of employees involved in production operations, enhanced order fulfillment, improved customer service.
Development of Web and Mobile Apps for Managing Building Inspection
ScienceSoft built a web app for client support specialists to assign tasks, monitor and assess inspection procedures. Also, we delivered a mobile app for inspectors to track the assigned inspections, prepare and e-sign reports, take and edit photos.
Customer’s benefit: streamlined operations management, enhanced employee productivity, improved customer service.
Purchase Management Software Development for a Hospital System
ScienceSoft developed a robust OMS to automate tedious, time-consuming procurement tasks, such as purchase order creation and approval, generation of purchase reports, and more. The solution streamlines purchase-related data and supplier information management and fully complies with hospital system policies.
Customer’s benefit: faster and more accurate procurement processes, secure and compliant purchasing transactions.
BI Implementation for a US-Based Machinery Maintenance Entity with 25K Employees
ScienceSoft developed a robust BI solution that allows monitoring the employees’ task fulfillment, working time, and related costs, and tracking important contract milestones. The software also automatically identifies operations data discrepancies in the connected data sources.
Customer’s benefit: improved visibility and control of HR and performance management processes, enhanced operations data integrity.
Ecommerce Fulfillment OMS Development for 3PL Companies
ScienceSoft created a self-service portal for ecommerce companies to enable automated generation and submission of purchase orders to the third-party logistics (3PL) services providers. Also, we introduced automated picking and packing operations for 3PL warehouses.
Customer’s benefit: prompt and easy planning and execution of ecommerce fulfillment operations.
What our Customers say
We relied on ScienceSoft’s software development competence to reinforce our in-house team working on the evolution of our operations management system. Owing to ScienceSoft’s expertise in agile development, we got biweekly feature releases and were able to complete the design and implementation of the required functionality in less than 4 months.
We particularly appreciate ScienceSoft’s flexible, client-oriented approach to cooperation and pricing, which helped us get the required scope of quality services on time and on budget.
Daniel Tacker, IT System Analyst, Cyber Graphics
About ScienceSoft
ScienceSoft is a global IT consulting and software development company headquartered in McKinney, Texas. Since 1989, we help our customers achieve more productive and cost-effective operations with fitting operations management software. Motivated by shared success, our team of 700+ professionals is ready to deliver an OMS that will fully meet your needs. Visit our custom software development page for more information on our approach.