ANALYSIS OF THE NEEDS FOR A SMART WAREHOUSE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM MODEL BASED ON MICROSERVICES ARCHITECTURE: A CASE STUDY OF LEARNING MATERIAL DISTRIBUTION AT THE UNIVERSITAS TERBUKA

Abstract

As a higher education institution with an open and distance learning system, Universitas Terbuka (UT) faces a major challenge in distributing Printed Teaching Materials (BAC) as the number of students reaches 671,000 by the end of 2024. This growth has led to increasingly complex supply chain management needs, including forecasting, production, warehousing, distribution, and SLA monitoring processes. This study aims to analyze the need to develop a microservices-based Smart Warehouse Management System (SWMS) in the PARAMITA program to improve the efficiency, transparency, and security of BAC distribution. The research method used a qualitative case study, incorporating observation, semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions, and data analysis through thematic coding using Atlas.ti. The results of the study show that the main challenges include forecasting risks, multi-vendor system integration, differences in SLA definitions, limited monitoring transparency, student data security, and system scalability towards the target of 1 million students. The conceptualization of the resulting SWMS model emphasizes real-time data integration, predictive planning modules, delivery orchestration with providers, and an integrated customer service hub. These findings are expected to strengthen data-driven decision-making, improve operational efficiency, and support UT's digital learning ecosystem.