Sidebar: Army to Replace Logistics Apps With SAP's Software

Computerworld - The U.S. Army is rolling out a set of SAP AG's supply chain software tailored for defense and security operations, a project that's designed to enable it to retire several thousand applications now in use worldwide.
SAP announced the Army's planned deployment at its Sapphire user conference in May, as part of the introduction of its SAP for Defense & Security software. Formally known as the Global Combat Support System-Army, the SAP-based system is due to provide logistics information to about 135,000 end users, including soldiers and contractors.
When the implementation is completed, it's expected to boost the Army's supply chain efficiency by centralizing and automating its logistics processes around a single set of applications, said Lt. Col. Forrest Burke, a logistics network task force leader who works in Army G-4 logistics. Burke noted that the myriad logistics applications now used by the Army are contained within 13 core systems that were custom-developed in the 1960s and 1970s.
The SAP project is under way and will continue for the next two to three years, he said, adding that the software vendor's applications are being tweaked to provide unique military functions with the requisite levels of data security.
The new system will allow the Army to share data with NATO partners and will also address inflexibility issues in its existing supply chain and logistics applications. "Moving to SAP, we will have that interactivity everybody craves," Burke said.
In addition, the Army will be able to modernize its logistics systems without incurring the expense of writing its own applications, Burke said. However, the Army's project is "on an order of magnitude more complex than most companies' installations of SAP," he added. "It will not happen overnight."