Components of the system

The system is composed of three levels:

* SUMA CENTRAL
* SUMA Field Unit
* Warehouse Management

SUMA CENTRAL is designed to operate at the site where national authorities are managing a disaster or emergency.

At this level, the principal tasks are to:

* Establish parameters to be used by the Field Units, such as reception sites, shipment directories, define the main user, etc.
* Create Field Units.
* Consolidate information sent by Field Units.
* Facilitate consultations and prepare reports which support the decision-making process and promote inter-institutional coordination.
* Maintain the system tables (lists)

The Field Unit is designed to work at the points of entry (e.g. borders, harbors), and large collection centers where supplies arrive during emergence (such as airports, collection sites, etc.).

The main tasks at this level are to:

* Sort supplies and identify them using labels in the categories of: URGENT IMMEDIATE DISTRIBUTION, NON-URGENT DISTRIBUTION and NON PRIORITY ARTICLES
* Classify supplies by categories, subcategories and items
* Conduct consultations on selected items
* Prepare various reports on the contents of the shipment registered at that field unit
* Provide proof of delivery receipts for the addressees
* Consolidate data on diskettes which are sent to SUMA CENTRAL

The SUMA Field Unit team also uses paper forms in case the computers fail, or if data collection requires their use.

The WAREHOUSE MANAGEMENT module is a tool that registers the arrival and departure of supplies from storage centers or warehouses. In this way the addressee can manage and control distribution within its own organization, or the assignment of supplies to other institutions working on the emergency (in the case, for example, of a shipment of medicines belonging to the Red Cross being assigned to the Ministry of Health). The main tasks carried out at this level are:

* Balancing the local inventory
* Preparing reports on existing supplies and deliveries, using a variety of parameters
* Receiving data from field units that operate at points of entry for supplies
* Registry of supplies

The following diagram shows how the system works:

SUMA Stock Management

A warehouse can receive data on stocks in warehouses that may or may not be administratively subordinate, and prepare lists and searches on those data.