CommCare Supply vs. CommCare

Owned by Mengji Chen
Last updated: Apr 06, 2015 by Sarah Hodsdon
2 min read

CommCare Supply from a CommCare App Designer's Perspective

If you are used to designing a CommCare application, there are many parallels from CommCare that might make you understand CommCare Supply better:

  1. Unlike CommCare where web users can build forms and configure case management, CommCare Supply app building will be done by developers until CommCare Supply becomes fully self-service. FMs would need to setup locations, products, and programs for their supply chain. This can be easily done in the relevant project space on HQ.

  2. Each location or supply point is a case in CommCare Supply just as each registrant (mother, child, farmer) is a case in CommCare.

  3. Unlike CommCare where cases are registered, updated, and closed by mobile users, locations in CommCare Supply can only be created by web users. 

  4. In addition, after locations are configured, location information is available in the form through the special locations Lookup Table. 

  5. Each location / supply point is associated with a set of products configured per domain. Product information is made available through lookup tables, not cases.

  6. CommCare Supply can auto-populate a lookup table to assist with consumption and forecasting calculations. This lookup table provides a configurable rolling average monthly consumption. This data can be referenced in CommCare forms, and is essential for translating the raw data on ‘how much do I have in stock?’ into meaningful information on ‘how many days before I run out?’ and ‘how much should I reorder?’

When CommCare Supply is enabled for a given CommCare domain, you'll notice the following differences. None of these changes should break any pre-existing apps.

  1. A tab labeled 'Setup' appears on the top navigation bar: This is where web users can set up the locations and products for the project's supply chain

  2. In the 'Reports' tab, a set of five CommCare Supply reports appears. 

  3. Additional CommCare Supply-specific settings are available when configuring web users, mobile users, and the project settings


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