SAP AG has introduced the upcoming new release of its supply chain management solution.

Developed in close collaboration with existing SAP customers to address challenges such as supply chain responsiveness and integration with partner ecosystems, the latest release of the SAP Supply Chain Management (SAP SCM) application will include enhanced functionality for supply network collaboration (SNC), extended warehouse management (EWM) and enhanced planning.

According to the release, highly targeted business benefits will include closer collaboration with business partners to improve visibility; maximized workforce planning to increase productivity; and enhanced planning to improve efficiency.

"SAP is dedicated to providing solutions that meet and predict the needs of our customers, enabling them to solve business challenges across diverse industries," said Lori Mitchell Keller, senior vice president, suite solution management, SAP AG. "SAP is the trusted partner for companies facing emerging challenges such as the broader geographic dispersion of partners, which stretches the supply chain and increases fulfillment risks. SAP SCM further underscores our commitment to support customers in their accelerated effort to innovate their supply chains to gain competitive advantage."

Leveraging enterprise service-oriented architecture (enterprise SOA), the functionalities of the new release will be delivered as services, enabling customers to deploy and adapt solutions specifically to their individual business needs. Customers will be able to, for example, deploy functionalities such as supply network collaboration and extended warehouse management without installing and deploying the complete SCM solution. This delivery approach will enable rapid deployment and faster return on investment.

SAP SCM will be generally available to customers in the middle of 2008.