Abstract: An apparatus and method are provided for obtaining, for a particular company, data specifying entities, each of the entities being one of a supply chain node and a supply chain lane. The apparatus automatically supplements stored data about a company specific supply chain network based on the obtained data.

Abstract: When an indication of an incident is received, it may be determined whether the incident is located in an area that is defined to surround an entity of a supply chain network and whether the entity of the supply chain network is relevant for a shipment associated with a company. The entity is one of a supply chain node and a supply chain lane. A reporting of the incident to a user may be caused, in case at least one criterion is met. The at least one criterion comprises that it is determined that the incident is located in an area that is defined to surround an entity of the supply chain network and that the entity of the supply chain network is relevant for a shipment associated with the company. A company may make use of the report for an incident monitoring.

Abstract: An apparatus receives an indication of an incident potentially affecting a particular route in a section between two supply chain nodes. The particular route is usable for a transport of a shipment, and the particular route comprises a supply chain lane or a sequence of supply chain lanes connecting the two supply chain nodes. The apparatus determines at least one possible alternative route based on stored data about supply chain lanes that have been used successfully for a transport of at least one shipment between a respective pair of a plurality of pairs of supply chain nodes in the past. The apparatus provides data about the determined at least one possible alternative route.

Abstract: An apparatus determines a degree of involvement of each of a plurality of entities of a supply chain network in transports of shipments associated with a particular company, based on data on shipments associated with the company that have been transported in the past. An entity of the supply chain network is a supply chain node or a supply chain lane. The apparatus moreover estimates a relevance of each of the plurality of entities for the company based on the determined degree of involvement of each of the plurality of entities in transports of shipments associated with the company. The apparatus causes storage of an indication of the estimated relevance for at least some of the plurality of entities of the supply chain network for further use.

Abstract: A computer system comprises a server. The server, in turn, comprises one or more master instances of an operating system (OS). The OS comprises a set of computer program files to operate a computer. The server also includes a version-managing program maintaining the one or more master operating systems. The computer system also includes a number of client computers each of which is configured to operate using one of the one or more master operating systems as read-only files.