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Open PDF .... John-Snow_USAID_Supply-Chain-Cost-Manual
Open PDF .... John-Snow_USAID_Supply-Chain-Costing-Methodology
Gmail Peter Burgess
[e-drug] New Costing Tools to Gather and Analyze Critical Supply Chain Data
Peter Burgess Wed, Oct 23, 2013 at 9:52 AM
To: Essential Drugs in English
Dear Colleagues
I have had a look at the instructions pdf for the Supply Chain Costing Tool (SCCT) that has been developed by the consultants John Snow Inc. and others for USAID. The manual is around 120 pages, mostly of intense detail. I suspect a substantial fee was involved in its preparation.
I am an old accountant ... and was a rather effective cost accountant. I have worked in the corporate world ... and I have done a variety of assignments in developing countries at various places in the system from the central ministries to remote locations. I have also done quite a lot of analytical work in connection with supply chains and value chains.
Bluntly put ... the approach being used in this work has a very low potential for success, where success is defined as doing something that will make the supply chain more efficient and less costly. The purpose of management information is, in my view, to get improvement using the least amount of data at the least cost. This system will not do this. The approach is fundamentally wrong.
I may have missed something in my review of the manual, but I did not sense that there was much of a concept of materiality. A starting point for success is for there to be a way to get at the big costs and the big inefficiencies and understand them.
Then the system should be able to drill down to find out more about these big issues ... for this there may need to be focused data collection. Now the data collection and the analysis has a purpose.
It should be really easy ... and I stress really easy ... to compare the cost and efficiency of different units doing the same work. From this it becomes possible to get a norm or benchmark and start a conversation that can easily result in a positive feedback for improvement.
It should also be really easy to compare the cost and efficiency of the same unit over time ... to see improvement or otherwise and to reward or punish as appropriate. I like the reward part better.
Now it is 2013, I would argue that the system should be able to operate on a smart phone ... maybe even on a rather low end mobile phone for data collection and seeing some of the key results.
Having been rather critical, I appreciate the work that has gone into putting this manual together and the related system. The work done can be and should be used as a foundation for what is really needed.
For anyone interested, I am trying to walk the talk ... and am developing a system that represents a radical reform of financial and socio-economic metrics to suit the 21st century. The system has taken a long time to emerge and is now called Multi Dimension Impact Accounting. It is a convergence of some of the best from old style financial accounting and modern information technology. The URL below gives access to some papers about this initiative. Feedback is welcome.
Peter Burgess - TrueValueMetrics
Multi Dimension Impact Accounting
http://www.truevaluemetrics.org/DBadmin/DBtxt001.php?vv1=txt20080001
On Thu, Oct 17, 2013 at 11:27 AM, Anne Marie Hvid wrote:
E-DRUG: New Costing Tools to Gather and Analyze Critical Supply Chain Data
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To strengthen public health supply chains, policymakers, supply chain managers, and development partners need to know the real costs of delivering commodities. Identifying these costs and the sections of the supply chain that are driving costs can give decisionmakers the data they need to ensure adequate funding. However, this information is not always readily available.
In response, the USAID | DELIVER PROJECT has developed a supply chain costing approach and set of user-friendly tools. The Guide to Public Health Supply Chain Costing: A Basic Methodology establishes a general methodology for supply chain costing. The Excel-based Supply Chain Costing Tool and supporting documents can be used to facilitate the data collection, analysis, and report generation required for a supply chain costing exercise.
To download these tools, visit http://j.mp/174RqH4
'Anne Marie Hvid'
USAID | DELIVER PROJECT
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Peter Burgess
TrueValueMetrics ... Meaningful Metrics for a Smart Society
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