Team Case Assignment: Product Classification For Spend Analy

Team Case Assignment: Product Classification for Spend Analysis Introduction

A volunteer Humanitarian Assistance operation, Iraq Displaced Relief (IDR), has been operating in Balad, Iraq since the beginning of the year supporting displaced people in Iraq. IDR is a relatively new non-profit organization focused on providing basic medical supplies and healthcare to refugees in war-torn countries. The organization's venture into Iraq is a new experience in the complexities of running a complicated supply chain, even on a very small scale. You have been asked to help analyze Iraq Displaced Relief's expenditures to see if there are ways that their supply chain can be simplified so that IDR may better leverage their total spend.

Your analysis will form the basis of a report to be shared not only with the leadership of IDR but also with many of their key charitable contributors. The group's health and welfare expenses -- the day-to-day needs required to live in an austere environment such as Balad -- are all funded through charitable donations of cash or commodities from church groups located across the United States. In Balad, Iraq Displaced Relief distributes medical supplies from the donated warehouse and office space. IDR purchases necessary medical supplies and distributes configured packages to a number of local Iraqi agencies. The local agencies deliver the items to villages throughout central Iraq.

The majority of funding for the medical supplies comes from a number of charitable trusts from the Midwest United States. Although automation support is severely limited, the group does keep track of its expenditures using a rudimentary excel spreadsheet. IDR's Director of Purchasing, a volunteer herself, has provided you with an Excel spreadsheet listing the top expenditures for the last month. Details on the spreadsheet: · The spreadsheet lists the top expenditures for medical supplies for the month of August 2009. The table includes information on the Source of the Material, the Part number that is used to track the item, a short Product description, the number of purchases and the total dollar value spent on that item for the month. · The Stock-keeping unit or Part Number used by IDR is an internally derived number, which represents the Vendor's Identification number. Although an alpha character was originally designed to signify a specific vendor, the alpha character now is only used to signify the type of material. SKUs starting with A through E represent items generally considered to be medical or surgical in nature -- covering everything from bandages to surgical gloves to sutures. SKUs starting with F are generally regarded as pharmaceutical items. SKUs starting with M characterize either durable items or equipment items. · The alpha characters are not shown in the spreadsheet for your team exercise. For your team assignment, categorize the items listed according to the scheme suggested in the previous bullet point. Add an alpha character to identify a product category as described above. You may have approximately five groups (A through E) representing items generally considered to be medical or surgical in nature. Please note that the "correct" solution has five categories. · Identify pharmaceutical items with an F and durable items or equipment with M. For example, Allegra-D would be categorized as F, and so on for all of the other items. · The Vendor, Product Nomenclature, the numbers of purchases, and the total value of purchases are generally considered to be accurate data. Spreadsheet Download Solution Template File, which is attached as well.

This file should be used for this assignment.

Assignment Deliverable

The deliverable for this assignment is a spreadsheet file with your item classifications, labeled by an alpha character. Please turn in the spreadsheet sorted by SKU number. Submit your team's file into the M3L1 Dropbox: Team Project: Product Classification Exercise, including your team number in the filename. Also, post the assignment to the M3L1 Discussion Forum: Production Classification Exercise for peer review, including team number and member names.

Paper For Above instruction

The task assigned involves categorizing medical supply items from Iraq Displaced Relief's recent expenditures using a five-category scheme based on SKU initial characters. This categorization aims to streamline supply chain management and improve spend analysis for a nonprofit operating under challenging logistical conditions.

Understanding the categorization scheme is essential. The internal SKU system initially used a letter prefix to denote vendor identity; now, it signifies material type: A-E for medical/surgical items, F for pharmaceuticals, and M for durable or equipment items. Because the provided data lacks explicit alpha codes, the first step is to assign these based on current descriptions. For example, items like Allegra-D, a pharmaceutical, should be labeled with 'F', while reusable items like stretchers or infusion sets should be labeled with 'M'.

Applying this classification requires a careful review of each item’s description in the dataset. Medical and surgical materials such as bandages, gloves, sutures, and antiseptics naturally fit into categories A through E, which collectively encompass consumables and sterile items. Pharmaceuticals like antibiotics, analgesics, or vaccines are categorized as F. Durable items like stretchers, infusion sets, or medical devices are assigned to M. This classification not only simplifies inventory management but also facilitates spend analysis by grouping similar items, highlighting procurement patterns, and identifying cost-saving opportunities.

The process starts with creating a comprehensive mapping from description to letter category. For example, items labeled as bandages, gauze, or surgical tools should be classified within categories A through E; pharmaceuticals such as Allegra-D, Augmentin, and Amoxicillin-Clavulanate, naturally fall under 'F'. Durable equipment like stretchers and infusion sets are marked with 'M'.

This exercise emphasizes the importance of consistent, clear categorization in supply chain management for humanitarian organizations, especially when operating with limited automation. Proper classification directly impacts spend analysis and procurement strategy development, enabling IDR to better leverage its total expenditure and optimize resource allocation in a complex environment.

Ultimately, the completed spreadsheet must contain every item from the dataset, correctly labeled with an alpha character, and sorted by SKU number. This output will serve as a foundation for further analysis and strategic decision-making to enhance the efficiency of medical supply distribution in complex operational settings.

References

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