The Development of a System Requirement Model for a Warehouse Management System in Third-Party Logistics Service Provider Market

[[abstract]]倉儲在物流及供應鏈整體中扮演了相當重要的角色。在今日第三方物流的環境中，電子商務的盛行、有效的顧客回應與及時配送等的出現，倉儲管理已經變得比以前更複雜，耗費更多的成本，運作的角色及任務也不停的改變。因此，開發一套符合需要的倉儲管理資訊系統（WMS），以資訊有效掌控整體作業流程，進而得以降低成本、提升顧客服務品質，乃當今第三方物流業者的一個重要課題。 本研究首先針對倉儲管理資訊系統做定義。接著，以Wetherbe四階段理論為基礎，歸納學者研究，提出營運策略、功能和資訊科技技術三個需求構面，再參酌倉儲管理的實務上的作業與技術，建構一套第三方物流業者對倉儲管理資訊系統的需求屬性分析模式。最後透過問卷調查，確認業者與軟體公司對於倉儲管理資訊系統的需求認知。 研究發現，第三方物流業者與軟體公司對於所提出的需求屬性大部分屬於「很需要」及「非常需要」的需求程度（67%），同時認知差異也不大。另外，就已導入和未導入倉儲管理資訊系統的業者來看，有五項屬性具顯著差異，多顯示出實務經驗的差異。而就採取不同系統開發型態的業者觀點，則有四個需求項目顯著差異，可以看出對系統開發的考量和需求屬性間的對應關係。最後，根據研究結果，分別針對學術界、第三方物流業者、與軟體公司提出有關倉儲管理資訊系統在研究、開發、設計、與應用上的參考建議。[[abstract]]Warehousing plays an important role in the logistic and supply chain management system. The emergence of electronic commerce, efficient customer response, and time-based distribution strategies has made warehousing a more complex and costly work, especially in the third-party logistics (3PL) service provider market. It thus becomes a critical issue for a 3PL to have an integrated Warehouse Management System (WMS) in place to reduce total cost and escalate customer service while satisfying customer needs. Research starts from the definition of WMS. The system requirement model is then developed based on Wetherbe’s four-stage model of information system planning. The model is comprised of three dimensions - operating strategy, functionality, and information technology — along with operating practices in the industry in the derivation of requirement items. Survey is conducted with respect to 3PL practitioners and software companies. The results show that most of the requirements (67%) listed are considered as “very necessary” or “extremely necessary” by both practitioners and software companies with no big differences. Five requirement items are weighted differently for practitioners with and without application experience. The differences may be due to the real application requirements. For those adopting different strategies in WMS development, they have show different requirement tendency at four items. This may be inherent when adopting different system development strategies. At the end, suggestions are provided to academia, practitioners, and software companies in studying, developing, designing, and applying a Warehouse Management System