WO2019180532A1

WO2019180532A1 - Integrated system for monitoring and checking the validity of suppliers

Info

Publication number: WO2019180532A1
Application number: PCT/IB2019/051889
Authority: WO
Inventors: Gemma STASI
Original assignee: Innova S.P.A.
Priority date: 2018-03-21
Filing date: 2019-03-08
Publication date: 2019-09-26
Also published as: EP3769274A1; IT201800003823A1

Abstract

Integrated system for monitoring and checking the validity of suppliers, according to a summary four-colour traffic light (152) generated in real time by a computer system (100) comprising a central computer (121) and electronic devices (111) for tracking deliveries; said system (100) enabling: a) order management; b) accounting management; c) collection of delivery data; d) reprocessing of data to generate a rating by supplier (300); e) consultation of the supplier's overall profile (300); said system (100) consisting of: (A) management module; (B) mobile application (110), for: - synchronization with the management module (130) and the central server; - acquisition of the details of the delivery notes and of the transportation documents; - entry of replacement products; (C) portable electronic devices (111) for the exclusive execution of the application (110) and provided with: touch screen display (112), rear camera (113), data network connectivity; (D) connection interface (120) to process the supplier's rating in real time (300); (E) accounting system (140); (F) control dashboard (150) for: - consulting the overall profile of suppliers; - displaying the rating (300) based on the summary traffic light (152).

Description

“Integrated system for monitoring and checking the validity of suppliers”

Description Field of the invention

The present invention relates to the distribution and supply of semi-finished food products. In particular, the subject invention aims to implement an integrated system for monitoring and checking in real-time the validity of raw material suppliers, by automatically collecting and processing information regarding delivery times and product conformity.

Prior art

To date, a plurality of so-called ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) systems are known, which, using the potential offered by computer supports and distributed systems connectivity, greatly facilitate all business management activities, from personal data to accounting, management of personnel, resources and warehouses. Thanks to the recent spread of increasingly sophisticated algorithms of operational research and machine learning, and by virtue of the growing ability to calculate and speed up access to information, it is now possible to find a wide range of automated information systems that provide - at different levels - a support in the selection of suppliers. In the field of logistics and procurement, in fact, it is essential to have at all times an overall framework that is not only reliable and detailed, but also includes an objective assessment of raw material suppliers to support decision-making, especially for intermediate level companies that take responsibility for the finished or semi-finished product towards the end user. This is even more true in the food sector, where quality and timing are of primary importance in order to guarantee a competitive service on the market and finally becomes an essential requirement, often dictated by specific legislation on the subject, in the case of public contracts (like schools, universities, hospitals, barracks, employees’ cafeteria). The proposed system intends to address precisely these aspects of the problem, exploiting the possibilities offered by distributed information systems.

The ordered product must in fact be delivered exactly on time, in order to avoid incurring delays that would lead to unavoidable changes to the menus specified in the purchase specifications, on the one hand exposing to the concrete risk of penalties by the contracting authority, on the other hand to unpleasant situations for the end user.

No less important is the real-time verification of the quality of the delivered product, understood as compliance with production standards and market rules, as well as the adherence of the delivery - in terms of type, number, unit price, etc. - to the order placed. The lack of conformity involves the same risks as a delay or a failure to deliver, often leading to the replacement or exclusion of the non-compliant item from the final product processing.

Alongside the two critical issues above, it is also worth mentioning the importance of the process of evaluating and calculating the quality/price ratio applied internally to the companies, which constitutes a further element to consider in forming a global opinion of suppliers.

In the international field it is possible to find a good number of inventions relating to the scope and need described, such as patent U.S. 2016203425 which proposes an automated system for mitigating the risks arising from the supply chain, the patent - again U.S. - 2008040197 which relates to the use of a computerized system for monitoring supplier capacities or the Chinese patent CN102629356 which relates to the selection methods of raw material producers, assisted by automated algorithms. Despite the availability of such solutions, however, it is clear that the problems described above are only partly resolved, without fully addressing the critical issues highlighted. Description of the invention

According to the present invention, an information system based on a distributed architecture is implemented which effectively solves the problems described above. The system replaces, or interfaces with, existing management systems, adding a series of modular features capable of real-time monitoring of the reliability of suppliers, obtaining ratings and scores and showing the results with a colour code (red, orange, yellow, green) in an easily accessible form by means of a centralized validation and control dashboard. The system includes, in addition to software modules, the use of a portable electronic device, supplied to the operators of the sector and to the managers of the collection and sorting centres, through which it is possible to quickly and easily enter all the necessary information into the system to update the reliability ratings directly upon the delivery of each individual order. A central computer, located at the company’s head office, will act as a data collector and will provide in real time the calculation of the parameters and the processing of the statistics necessary for the generation of supplier evaluation, acting at the same time as an interface with the other system components. The final result will be a four-colour traffic light that advantageously summarises the overall level of each supplier and allows performing more detailed checks simply by applying filters or inspecting the different parameters - also presented below the same convenient form of a traffic light - used to reach the final evaluation. The system will also automatically communicate with the management component and the accounting component in order to circulate the rating information as soon as it is processed, to allow those who place orders and those who account for the resources to always have available the last data relating to the supplier.

In the most complete embodiment proposed, the system consists of five primary modules: a management module, a general and analytical accounting module, a mobile application and related portable electronic device, a dashboard and an interface and connection module.

The management module is designed to enter and send orders. To this end, the system provides a database containing the data necessary for the creation of a new order: records of structures and warehouses, supplier data, price lists, lists of articles. The software allows feeding the database manually, locally, or by an automated computer system, loading precompiled data to the system. The entry of an order, and the subsequent confirmation and validation, takes the form of the generation of an information package (in the form of a file or a database record) remotely accessible to the electronic devices that are supplied to the operators and containing all the information necessary to manage the receipt of delivery. When selecting a supplier for the required raw material, the system will advantageously provide the user with a colour-coded infographics related to the supplier’s current rating.

The mobile application is one of the fundamental components of the proposed system: it allows managing the receipt of orders and collecting the data to be used for the classification of suppliers in real time. The application is designed to be executed on a dedicated terminal, having suitable features. The terminal will be a portable electronic device such as a PDA or a tablet provided with a touch screen of at least 10” (25.4 cm) and a series of accessories, devices and functional interfaces for the purpose of the application, including:

- a fine-point capacitive stylus, usable both for navigation of the user interface and for the affixing of signatures;

- a high resolution rear camera;

- connectivity to the mobile data network, to Wi-Fi networks, to Bluetooth devices;

- fingerprint reader;

- antenna and NFC interface for reading electronic badges and digital transportation documents.

The operating system of the device will be configured to run the mobile application in an exclusive manner and associated to a particular delivery centre, making it an appliance dedicated to the system. Access to the other features, as well as the association of the device to a different centre, must be inhibited by means of a password. The operator can authenticate on the system by entering an identifier, by reading an electronic badge or by means of fingerprint detection, in such a way as to make the operations carried out univocally traceable.

The mobile application will be designed to guide the operator in the various steps of registration and verification of delivery, using an intuitive user interface and input masks with validation of the entered data and pre-filled fields, where possible, with connection to the central computer. The software will synchronize with the management module to update the list of orders and will, conveniently, allow the operator to navigate the daily deliveries by sorting them by supplier and order. The operator can therefore:

- select the supplier and the incoming order;

- indicate the quantities received for each product present in the order;

- check the conformity with the product description;

- acquire a digital copy of the delivery note with the camera (one snapshot for each page);

- affix signatures of receipt or acquire digital signatures from electronic badges;

- enter the transportation document number or acquire it via camera (barcode, QR code, optical character recognition).

In case of missing product, one will need to enter zero quantities in the input mask. For replacement products, the software will advantageously provide a pop-up window that can be activated via a dedicated button in which to load the additional data of the replacement product that are not present in the order received from the management software. For the replaced product, the system will automatically enter a fictitious record with zero quantities for traceability purposes and for subsequent evaluations. If there are more orders from the same supplier with the same product, the software will automatically handle the exception, merging the orders but still keeping the items related to the product in order to identify each delivery in a univocal manner.

At the end of the input, the system will ask the operator to confirm the data entered, then will generate the structured delivery report in files or database records containing order number, note scans, delivery documents and delivered products; the data will be grouped by delivery centre, supplier and order in order to always have a correspondence between orders transmitted through the management module and orders received on the device. The records thus generated will be immediately synchronized with the central system and the interface module or, in case of temporary lack of access to the network, will be appropriately placed in a sending queue for retransmission at the first possible opportunity. After synchronization, the device will mark the data for deletion in thirty days in order to ensure that the device always has the necessary storage capacity. The interface and connection module is the other fundamental component of the system: the software resides conveniently on the central computer and acts as a collector and central node of the system, communicating with all the other modules. The primary task of the module is to receive information in real time from the electronic devices of the operators and reprocess the information through filters, algorithms, statistics, trends and cross-analysis to obtain the score that will give rise to the rating of each supplier in the evaluation scale. The interface module software will be responsible for:

- closing the orders generated by the management system;

- managing the orders not delivered according to rules set a priori, providing to re-enter the order in the management circuit for the next day;

- reporting to the accounting module the outcome of each delivery in order to start the payment and invoicing procedures;

- transferring a summary of the operations and evaluation of suppliers to the dashboard module, so as to allow the global overall score to be updated.

Advantageously, the system also includes a general and analytical accounting management module that allows, when receiving the data on deliveries received from the connection interface, the orders and invoices to be associated to create an overall accounting framework for each supplier, complete with analytical breakdown of costs so as to be able to implement an estimate of the quality/price ratio to be used in aggregated supplier assessment indicators. These parameters, updated in real time, will be made available to the interface module and to the dashboard.

Said dashboard is the last component of the system and can be conveniently installed both on the same central processor and on any number of remote terminals. The dashboard will have the double task of:

- aggregating and crossing data from the interface, management and accounting modules in order to construct the overall score of the supplier;

- providing, advantageously, a graphical interface of immediate and simple use through which to represent the general framework of suppliers - with ratings, traffic lights and graphs of historical trends - allowing access to all the information used to fill in the evaluation form.

From the form, the following will also be accessible, through appropriate customizable and navigable display windows:

- a database with supplier details;

- a database of products divided into categories (for example, ordinary and organic);

- certifications held by suppliers;

- the quality office assessments in relation to suppliers;

- the general classification of suppliers in colour code (green, yellow, orange and red) based on the parameters of reliability, punctuality, quality, prices, etc.;

- detailed infographics broken down by supplier, which allow retracing all the steps that led to the generation of a given rating or colour code;

- summary traffic lights of the suppliers, structured as a tree, from which it will be possible to explode the items related to each order delivery and single product delivered in each centre;

- additional indicators, manually configurable by the user, derived from the collected data and from the processing carried out, such as long-term growth estimates, comparative evaluations, scenario simulations with user-defined parameters, etc.

The company can, conveniently, enter additional parameters - definable and configurable with through wizard procedures - for the evaluation of its suppliers, such as adherence to particular legislation or national/international standards. It is also possible to define valuation constraints related to the supplier and to the reputation also outside the company, as well as to the existence of administrative or judicial measures, which will have a negative impact on the overall score.

Finally, the system allows, advantageously, correlating each supplier to the share of revenue generated through orders placed by the latter and - likewise - to any negative consequences arising from demonstrations of poor reliability, such as complaints, penalties or loss of job orders, in order to allow a more effective management of relations with customers and with the suppliers themselves.

In addition to the foregoing, an advantageous embodiment is also provided that is capable of interfacing with existing ERP systems consisting of a“minimum core” of the system consisting only of interface and dashboard modules and of electronic devices for receiving deliveries. This embodiment will be particularly advantageous for those companies that already have their own management and accounting system and will save on the costs of training staff, reducing the number of applications to be replaced.

The advantages offered by the present invention are clear in the light of the above description and will be even clearer from the accompanying figures and the related detailed description.

Description of the figures

The invention will hereinafter be described in at least one preferred embodiment thereof by way of non-limiting example with the aid of the accompanying figures, in which:

- FIGURE 1 shows the system for monitoring and checking the validity of suppliers 100 in the primary modular components: the management module 130, the accounting module 140, the dashboard 150, the connection interface 120 and the mobile application 110. In the same figure, the electronic device 111 with the touch screen display 112 on which to install the mobile application 110 and the capacitive stylus 116 are also shown. The rear camera 113, the fingerprint reader 114 and the NFC interface 115 are shown on the back of the device 111.

- FIGURE 2 shows a possible scenario of use of the system 100 in which the supplier 300 delivers the product 310 to the operator 220 assigned to the collection centre 230. The electronic device 111 and the data connection 112 to the network 600 are shown. Via a secure channel 601, the delivery data is transferred to the head office 210 to be stored and reprocessed in the database of the central computer 121 of the interface module 120. The result of the evaluation is displayed to the user via a terminal 151 which houses the software of the dashboard 150. - FIGURE 3 shows a possible embodiment of the user interface of the mobile application 110, in particular the delivery entry mask 117 and the product replacement mask 118. A possible embodiment of the user interface 159 of the dashboard 150 is also illustrated, in which the four-colour traffic light 152, the list of suppliers 153 and the summary graphs 154 are highlighted.

Detailed description of the invention

The present invention will now be described purely by way of non-limiting or binding example with the aid of the figures, which illustrate some embodiments relative to the present inventive concept.

With reference to FIGS. 1 and 2, a possible embodiment of the integrated system for monitoring and checking the validity of suppliers 100 is illustrated. In particular, the most complete embodiment of the system will be described, comprising five primary software modules, a portable electronic device 111 and a central computer 121 with a control computer 151. This configuration allows the remote operator 220 in charge of one of the collection and sorting centres 230 to receive the products 310 of the different suppliers 300 and, by data connection to the mobile network 112 or Wi-Fi, transmit the data entered in the device 111 to the head office 210 in real time. The connection is made over an IP network 600 by means of a secure channel 601 up to the central computer 121, which processes all the data relating to the supplier 300, crossing them with the information present in the databases and with that coming from the other modules of the system, to determine the reliability and validity rating of the supplier 300. The results processed in this way are made available for consultation using the dashboard module 150 installed on the computer 151.

The five primary modules provided in the embodiment are:

- A management module 130, which allows the user to enter orders in the system 100 via the user interface. The module incorporates a database with data of facilities, warehouses and collection centres 230, supplier data 300, price lists and product lists. It is possible to feed the database manually or by uploading precompiled data packages automatically. Orders compiled through the software are translated into information packages (positional text files or database records) that will remain on the system and become accessible to the portable device 111 executing the mobile component 110 of the system. The module is able, during the entry step, to promptly report to the user the level of validity achieved by the selected supplier, allowing making an informed choice from the moment the order is placed.

- A mobile application 110 constituting the remote component of the system 100 and includes a series of portable electronic devices 111 to be assigned to the operators 220 of the collection centres 230 with which data about the suppliers 300 and the received products 310 are collected. The device 111 will have the shape, size and weight of a tablet or a personal digital assistant (PDA) with a touch screen display 112 of at least 10” (25.4 cm). It will also be provided with:

- capacitive stylus 116 usable both for the use of mobile software 110, and for the affixing of signatures on digital documents;

- high definition rear camera 113 dedicated to the digitalization of paper documents such as delivery notes or the reading of barcodes and QR, as well as - through the software 110 - to the automatic recognition of the identification of transportation documents;

- connectivity devices to the mobile data network 112, to Wi-Fi networks and to Bluetooth devices (such as the stylus 116);

- integrated fingerprint reader 114 which allows authentication of the operator 220 or an administrator on the device;

- NFC interface 115 which allows the wireless acquisition of identifiers and the reading of badges or electronic transportation documents;

- operating system configured to execute the application 110 exclusively, inhibiting access to other features and programs with an access password.

The device 111 is associated to the specific delivery centre 230 in which it will be used. The software 110 automatically synchronizes with the management module 130 to download the list of expected orders locally. The operator 220 authenticates himself with credentials, fingerprints or electronic badges. The mobile application 110 is designed to guide the operator 220 step-by-step in the receiving procedure and to simplify as much as possible data entry - for example by pre-filling the fields of the input masks with the data received from the management module 130. With reference to FIG. 3, the software, through a special mask 117, allows:

- selecting the supplier 300 and the order 310 to be loaded;

- indicating the quantities received for each product 310;

- checking the conformity with the product description;

- affixing signatures of receipt or acquire digital identities from electronic badges;

- automatically acquiring the details of the transportation documents (by scanning barcodes, QR codes or optical recognition);

- digitally acquiring a copy of the delivery notes (by means of the camera 113); - entering a replacement product using the appropriate mask 118, automatically adding a fictitious item, relative to the missing item, with a zero quantity to the list of products received;

- confirming the entered data and sending it, in a predefined format, attaching delivery notes and digital signatures, to the central server 121. The transmission, in the absence of access to the data network, may be deferred to the first possible opportunity.

In order to guarantee sufficient space for new deliveries, an automatic recycling system eliminates records that are older than thirty days.

- A connection interface 120 which resides on the central computer 121 and acts as a collector for the remote devices 111, taking real-time information on the deliveries and orders received and reprocessing it to calculate the rating to be assigned to the supplier 300. The algorithm that determines the level of validity uses filters, statistics, trends and cross-analysis of data coming from the personal data and the databases of the other four modules. Having access to all the other components of the system 100, the connection module 120 allows:

- checking the correctness of each order and closing the file on the management system 130;

- automatically detecting the presence of outstanding orders in the day, providing - on the basis of specific configurations configurable by the user - to re-enter them into the system, updating the management module 130;

- summarising the operations performed to calculate the rating of the supplier 300 and provide to the other modules in order to allow the traceability of the performance of the evaluations.

A general accounting and analytical system 140 which, in addition to carrying out the common accounting software features, communicates with the connection interface 120 to associate the orders processed with the invoices and prepares the complete financial framework of each supplier 300. The accounting module 140 also provides an analytical breakdown of costs, by supplier 300 and delivery centre 230, by calculating the quality/price ratio necessary for the control module 150 to calculate the aggregated supplier assessment indicators 300.

A control and validation dashboard 150, installed at the central office 210 on a dedicated computer 151, with the dual task of aggregating and cross-checking the data coming from the various modules in order to calculate the global rating of the suppliers 300 and provide a simple and complete graphical interface 159 with which to provide the company with a summary of the general framework. In particular, the graphical interface 159 allows:

- accessing the supplier database 153;

- accessing the database of products divided into customisable categories (for example, ordinary or organic food);

- consulting supplier certifications;

- consulting the quality office assessments in relation to suppliers; - displaying the overall classification of suppliers 300 based on the summary traffic light 152 of the levels of reliability, punctuality, quality, prices, etc.;

- consulting detailed infographics for each supplier 300, with the possibility of retracing the steps that have led to a particular level of validity;

- navigating, through a tree structure, the traffic lights 152 of the suppliers, descending to the level of the individual order and product;

- requesting the graphical representation 154 of the performance and quality indices of each supplier, both in historical perspective and in a linear trend.

The described configuration also allows, advantageously, the suppliers to be associated with the turnover deriving from orders attributable to them, highlighting both the advantages and the possible negative consequences deriving from episodes of poor reliability, complaints, penalties and loss of contracts.

Finally, it is clear that modifications, additions or variants may be made to the invention described thus far which are obvious to a man skilled in the art, without departing from the scope of protection that is provided by the appended claims.

Claims

1. Integrated system for monitoring and checking the validity of suppliers, characterised in that it evaluates and catalogues said suppliers according to a summary four-colour traffic light (152) generated in real time by a computer system (100) of the distributed type comprising a central processor (121) and a number of electronic devices (111) for tracking delivery by a designated operator (220); said system (100) enabling: a) the integrated management of the orders and deliveries; b) managing the general and analytical accounting; c) collecting data regarding the deliveries carried out divided according to suppliers (300), product (310) and collection centre (230); d) re-processing and cross-checking said data and information coming from the management and accounting systems with the aim of generating a reliability rating for each supplier (300); e) the positive or negative impact of each supplier (300) on the company’s turnover; f) viewing the overall profile of the supplier (300) by means of a dedicated graphic interface (159); said system (100) consisting of:

(A) a management module (130) which enables:

- entering orders into the system;

- accessing the database of the collection centres (230), suppliers’ data (300), price lists, product lists;

- generating text files corresponding to the entered orders;

- sharing the orders with the portable devices (111);

- signalling the validity level of the supplier selected for the order;

(B) a mobile application (110) for the guided entering of the delivery data, capable of:

- authenticating the operator 220) by means of credentials, finger prints or electronic badges;

- automatically synchronising with the management module (130), recovering the order files;

- showing entry masks (117) for selecting suppliers and orders, indicating the number of articles received, verifying the compliance of the articles with respect to the description;

- having receipt signatures executed and acquiring the details of the transportation documents;

- acquiring digital copies of the delivery notes by means of a camera (113);

- entering, by means of a special mask (118), replacement products adding a fictitious item regarding the replaced article with an amount equivalent to zero;

- confirming the entered data and submitting it - at the first available occasion, in a predefined format, attaching delivery notes and digitised signatures - to the central server (121);

- automatically deleting the records regarding deliveries carried out more than thirty days earlier;

(C) portable electronic devices (111) provided with:

- touch screen display (112) for accessing the functionalities of the mobile software (110);

- capacitive stylus (116) for signing digital documents;

- high definition rear camera (113) for digitising paper documents;

- connectivity to the mobile data network (112), to Wi-Fi networks, to Bluetooth peripherals;

- digital fingerprint reader (114) suitable to enable the authentication of the operator (220);

- operating system configured for the exclusive execution of the application (110), so as to prevent access to other functions of the device (111) and restrict said device (111) to a determined delivery centre (230);

(D) a connection interface (120) located in the central processor (121) which acts as a collector for the electronic devices (111) and enables:

- collecting information on the received deliveries in real time; - reprocessing the collected information to calculate the rating of the supplier (300), using the data and identification information present in the system (100) and coming from the other modules;

- closing, in the management system (130), the executed and verified orders;

- automatically detecting unexecuted orders and, if configured in this sense, re-scheduling them for delivery the following day;

- summarising the calculation operations for rating the supplier (300) to enable the traceability of the assessments;

(E) a general and analytical accounting system (140) capable of:

- linking the executed orders to the invoices with the aim of processing an accounting profile for each supplier (300);

- distributing costs per supplier (300) and delivery centre (230);

- calculating the quality/price ratio to be supplied to the check module (150) for computing the aggregate assessment indicators;

(F) a check and validation dashboard (150) with dedicated computer (151) that enables:

- aggregating and cross-checking the data of the various modules to calculate the overall rating of the suppliers;

- offering a graphic interface (159) for viewing the overall profile of the suppliers;

- accessing the databases of the suppliers, of the products and of the certificates;

- displaying the overall ranking of the suppliers (300) based on the summary traffic light (152);

- producing detailed infographics per supplier (300);

- navigating the tree structure of the traffic lights (152) up to the level of the single order and product.

2. Integrated system for monitoring and checking the validity of the suppliers, according to the preceding claim 1, characterised in that said system (100) is capable of interfacing with pre-existing ERP ( Enterprise Resource Planning) systems and solely consisting of interface core modules (120), mobile application (110), dashboard (150).

3. Integrated system for monitoring and checking the validity of the suppliers, according to any one of the preceding claims 1 or 2, characterised in that said mobile application module (110) can be installed on any tablet device with Android system.

4. Integrated system for monitoring and checking the validity of the suppliers, according to any one of the preceding claims, characterised in that said system (100) uses - for exchanging data and synchronisation - an SQL relational database which enters orders in records organised according to tables and enables querying the database by every component of the system by means of authentication.

5. Integrated system for monitoring and checking the validity of the suppliers, according to any one of the preceding claims, characterised in that said dashboard (150) enables generating charts (154) regarding the trends of the quality and reliability indices of each supplier (300), based on a time interval that can be selected at will, both retrospectively and in expected future trends.

6. Integrated system for monitoring and checking the validity of the suppliers, according to any one of the preceding claims, characterised in that said system (100) includes the possibility of entering into the interface module (120), designated for processing the rating of the suppliers, a further assessment parameter related to the quality obligations and standards provided for by the regulations in force regarding supplier companies.

7. Integrated system for monitoring and checking the validity of the suppliers, according to any one of the preceding claims, characterised in that said system (100) includes the possibility of adding into the interface module (120), designated for processing the rating of the suppliers, a further assessment parameter deriving from the analysis of the financial trend of the suppliers in a selectable period, as well as from the existence of administrative or legal seizure measures against the supplier.

8. Integrated system for monitoring and checking the validity of the suppliers, according to any one of the preceding claims, characterised in that said system (100) enables the user to enter - through the dashboard module (150) - supplier assessment indicators and customised graphic displays; said indicators configurable by the user and comprising one or more possible combinations and reprocessing options concerning the collected data such as for example long-term growth estimates, compared assessment of suppliers or scenario simulations with parameters defined by the user.

9. Integrated system for monitoring and checking the validity of the suppliers, according to any one of the preceding claims, characterised in that said mobile application (110) is capable of automatically detecting through a digital camera of the portable electronic device (111) identification details of the transportation documents by using one of the following systems: a) barcode scanning; b) QR code scanning; c) optical character recognition.

10. Integrated system for monitoring and checking the validity of the suppliers, according to any one of the preceding claims, characterised in that said mobile application (110) is capable of automatically detecting - by means of the NFC interface (115) of the portable device (111) - the personal identification details of the operator and of the suppliers provided with electronic badges, for authentication and including or replacing the handwritten signature.