Mr. Philip Obal is President of IDII, a consulting firm that does research & management consulting on software for supply chain companies. IDII consults with a variety of companies and government agencies involved in distribution, finished goods, logistics, and manufacturing. Some of those companies include ExxonMobil, Swarovski, McKesson, FAA, third party logistics providers, and others. He has evaluated, selected, negotiated contracts, and integrated software systems including ERP, WMS, TMS, OMS, and more. Prior to starting IDII (www.idii.com (http://www.idii.com)), Mr. Obal worked multiple hands-on directorships including: --R&D Director for Data Systems & Management, Inc., software company for wholesalers & manufacturers, which later was acquired by NxTrend. Directed and designed new functions and modules. New modules designed included Remote Order Entry, Import & Export Tracking, Landed Cost for Imported Products, Container Tracking, Sales Tax Interface, Document Imaging Interface, Executive Information System, and Warehouse Management System. --IT Director for Unidare, a large industrial wholesaler, with 150 online users and 400 manufacturers with on-hand stocking of 55,000 SKU’s spanning a wide variety of characteristics & sizes. Sold management on moving to a new ERP system and successfully installed the new ERP System from Data Systems & Management. Made changes & enhancements to following modules: Demand Forecasting, Purchasing, Inventory, Order Entry, Shipment Manifesting, AR, AP, Payroll, Warehouse functions, Inventory, and more. Modifications were done in an organized fashion in order to stay on the software provider’s upgrade path. Phil is the author of multiple books, research reports, and various trade magazine articles. He has authored “Selecting Warehouse Software from WMS & ERP Providers," “Who’s Who In 3PL WMS Software," and “Premier List of Warehousing Software." See Amazon at http://astore.amazon.com/indudatainfoidii (http://astore.amazon.com/indudatainfoidii) for more information about these books. He is the editor for “Glossary of Supply Chain Terminology For Logistics, Manufacturing, Warehousing, And Technology” which is available in printed book form as well as an online glossary at www.scglossary.com (http://www.scglossary.com). This organized online glossary has 6,000 definitions and grows 30% each year! He publishes two complimentary newsletters, IDII Software Newsletter (supply chain software) and Supply Chain Events Newsletter (upcoming educational events) that are available online at www.idii.com/esn (http://www.idii.com/esn).