Context within FMIP

The Commodity & Allocation Tracking System (CATS) project is Component 1 of the five components comprising the Food Management Improvement Project (FMIP).

It is designed to link the different parts of the Disaster Risk Management & Food Security Sector (DRMFSS) supply chain so that commodities received from a particular donor can be tracked all the way to the beneficiary.

CATS Project Aim

CATS, as Component 1 of the Food Management Improvement Project (FMIP) has the aim of linking the different parts of the supply chain together, to improve the visibility of commodities as they move from the donor to the beneficiaries, through the DRMFSS supply chain.

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The aims of the commodity tracking system as listed in this document come from directly DRMFSS. Accordingly, all major design and development decisions taken during the building of the tracking system must contribute to these aims, and the achievement of these aims will be central when evaluating the project.

Project Scope

Programmes

The development of CATS will focus on the allocation processes for the Relief and PSNP Programmes only, but will allow authorised users to add other programmes (e.g. IDPs) as needed.

Commodity Types 

DRMFSS transports four types of Commodity Types: three dry items (Cereal, Pulses and CSB); and one wet product - cooking oil (palm oil, transported in tins or jerry-cans inside cardboard cartons).

Although CATS must have the ability to also record Non-Food Items (NFIs), this forms a very small part of the overall DRMFSS workload.

Organisational Scope

CATS will be implemented at:

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• DRMFSS Hubs of Adama, Diredawa and Kombolcha
• Regional Capitals

Measurement of quantities

There are two ways to measure commodities:

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Note: WFP is currently exploring the possibility of transporting food in bulk – having grains imported and placed into silos, and then bagged and trucked as required. This will have no impact on the current method of recording stock by weight.

Commodity Identifiers

Commodities are identified in two separate ways:

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• /wiki/spaces/CTS/pages/2162693: This is a code used by WFP to report back to its donors. This code is intended to relate each physical bag of wheat, jerrycan of oil, etc. back to the original donor, expiry date and entry date into the country
• An SI may span multiple /wiki/spaces/CTS/pages/2162694s
• An SI always uniquely identifies a shipment

Project Structure

• FMIP task-force: Appointed by DRMFSS and chaired by Ato Tadesse Bekele, is responsible for ratifying all decisions that have a material impact on the direction of FMIP and its five components

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