LSS System

LSS/SUMA has demonstrated its efficiency and effectiveness, becoming a benchmark in humanitarian logistics through its invaluable contributions. LSS/SUMA has demonstrated its efficiency and effectiveness, becoming a benchmark in humanitarian logistics through its invaluable contributions. Ensuring logistical support for adequate supplies has proven to be a strategic aspect in handling emergencies, for without the necessary supplies, even with the best response systems and medical facilities to tend to the victims, the response will be neither adequate nor effective. 

In light of this, since 1992 PAHO/WHO’s Emergency Program promoted LSS/SUMA as a tool for managing supplies and humanitarian assistance. More than twenty years after it was launched and widely implemented in and outside the Region, LSS/SUMA has become a proven methodology that can be used as the basis for logistical organization during the preparedness phase and as a tool in response activities. 

The SUMA humanitarian supply management system was launched in 1992 under the auspices of PAHO/WHO as a joint effort by the Latin American and Caribbean countries. Since then, the system has evolved into LSS/SUMA, an initiative supported by five United Nations agencies (WFP, OCHA, UNICEF, UNHCR, and PAHO/WHO). This tool, deployed through a simple system that can be used by organizations large and small, makes it possible to oversee the entire supply chain when managing humanitarian assistance during emergencies and to properly manage humanitarian assistance on a day-to-day basis. 

The LSS/SUMA system is based on practical and field experience acquired in dozens of emergencies of all types, natural and complex disasters, and public health crises. LSS/SUMA is used extensively not only in Latin America and the Caribbean but worldwide—not just for immediate emergency response, but as an ongoing logistics coordination system. In Pakistan, for example, LSS/SUMA is still being used —long after the 2005 earthquake— in the WHO and Ministry of Health warehouses not only in Islamabad, but in remote sites such as Muzafarabat, where users trained by PAHO/WHO have been replicating the system in other nearby localities. The same has happened in places such as Lebanon, Somalia, Gaza, Egypt, Libya, and Indonesia. 

The LSS/SUMA system is based on practical and field experience acquired in dozens of emergencies of all types, natural and complex disasters, and public health crises. In the Region of the Americas, PAHO has worked over the years with a wide array of agencies, ministries of health, emergency management organizations, NGOs, the Red Cross, armed forces, United Nations agencies, etc. These entities have contributed to the organization of humanitarian assistance during emergencies or to the day-to day organization of supplies and logistics, as many of them manage assistance not only during emergencies. 

The LSS/SUMA system has been used in every major emergency that has occurred in the Region in the last 20 years. Moreover, every country in the Region has received extensive training in the use of the system, enabling organizations and countries to take ownership of the tool and make it a standard part of their emergency preparedness and response plans. Some countries, such as Bolivia, Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, and Peru, have even issued official ministerial decrees making it an official tool for managing humanitarian assistance under their emergency response laws. In the Dominican Republic, the use of the LSS/SUMA system has resulted in the creation of an entire national warehouse system used in cholera response. In Panama, the Ministry of Health uses the system to manage supplies on a daily basis. Similarly, during major emergencies, such as the H1N1 outbreak in Mexico, the system complemented existing systems in the states.

 The implementation of LSS/SUMA in the country’s 32 states supported the management of supplies needed for that particular emergency, enabling the authorities to consolidate and share information at the national level.

The first step is to train local human resources in-country about the organization and management of emergency supplies and the use of the LSS software to classify, sort out and assign priority levels. When a disaster strikes, these people will be able to install and operate the system at the different sites of supplies management. In cases of major disasters or in places where LSS is not established, an international team can provide help with the intention to train locals to take over the system management in a self-sufficient was in minimal time.

LSS facilitates data collection for easier decision-making. All the data entered and processed by the system are property of the affected country under the auspices of the authorities responsible for emergency management.

• Processor Pentium IV or better (Any Celeron or Intel Processor or compatible processor)
• RAM 512MB or higher
• Any Windows System
• Hard Disk 2500MB (2.5Gigas) of free space
• Printer (Recommended)
• For a local network a router and connecting devices such Ethernet cables.

Entry is a record of supplies or items sent from one sender to one recipient, arriving at the same time and via the same mode of transport. The items may have been received on consignment to another location, or to this location, as a result of a purchase, or as a result of a donation from an external source. An entry may also have been transferred from another warehouse location.

Deliveries are shipments of items from stock and/or consignments to a specified location.

Pipeline is a list of items from the database that are pledged, promised, expected, or available to the warehouse or LSS location.

A site can enter requests it receives from others for items that are needed. This information can then be used for planning and allocating the distribution of goods to those areas most in need.

The stock basket allows you to group items together for reporting purposes. You can select to report on a specific group of items without having to individually select the items each time the report is run.

The systems can export or import information between LSS sites, as well as incorporate information on stock or pipeline from external systems, likes CTS- Commodity tracking systems used by the UN agencies and mayor Ngo’s.

Those who can be trained include staff from national government entities responsible for emergency coordination, as well as those from public, private, non-governmental and other organizations involved in or related to emergency relief. In addition are members of the international community, such as international NGOs, UN agencies and bilateral agencies.

The promotion and coordination of LSS is achieved through country entities involved with emergencies and disasters, such as ministries of health, emergency committees, Red Cross affiliates, etc. Any institution interested in receiving training should contact the office in charge of disaster management in the national Ministry of Health or through the local PAHO/WHO office. The LSS system was designed with special regard to the participation of Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs).

The LSS Windows App can work in a stand-alone environment (single-user/computer), or in a networked or enterprise environment (two or more computers) with a server-client structure operating with databases under SQL Server.

The LSS Windows App is designed to operate both in a standalone environment and in a networked setting, utilizing a server-client structure with SQL Server databases. You can download the LSS Windows App from this website.

If you represent a National Authority with multiple warehouses, you can request support from PAHO. An LSS Web version is also available. PAHO technical staff are available to assist you in selecting the most suitable LSS version for your needs.

The possible configurations are:

• Stand-alone computer with databases in MSDE
• Networked computers sharing the same database in MSDE
• Stand-alone computer with databases in SQL
• Networked computers sharing the same database in SQL