DRIMS - Disaster Response Inventory Management#

DRIMS is OpenSPP's disaster relief inventory management system. It manages the complete lifecycle of emergency supplies—from donation pledges through warehouse storage to distribution and returns—enabling humanitarian organizations and government agencies to coordinate disaster response operations.

Who is this for: Humanitarian organizations, government disaster response agencies, UN clusters, and implementing partners coordinating emergency relief operations.

What DRIMS does#

When a disaster strikes, relief supplies flow in from multiple donors and must reach affected populations quickly. DRIMS provides:

  • Donation tracking from pledge announcement through warehouse receipt

  • Multi-tier request approval for relief supplies from field locations

  • Dispatch management with Waybill generation and Proof of Delivery

  • Real-time inventory visibility across central, regional, and mobile warehouses

  • Stock health monitoring with automated alerts for low stock and expiring items

  • OCHA Cluster coordination for multi-agency humanitarian response

Core workflows#

DRIMS manages four interconnected workflows:

Workflow

Purpose

Key users

Donations

Track pledged and received supplies from UN agencies, NGOs, governments, and private donors

Warehouse Staff

Requests

Submit and approve relief supply requests from distribution points and field teams

Field Officers, Approvers

Dispatches

Pick, pack, and deliver supplies with waybill documentation

Warehouse Staff, Logistics

Returns

Process damaged, expired, or excess items returned from the field

Warehouse Staff

All operations are linked to specific disaster incidents to maintain clear accountability and enable incident-specific reporting.

OCHA cluster integration#

DRIMS implements the standard OCHA/IASC humanitarian cluster system for coordinated disaster response:

Cluster

Example supplies

Food security

Rice, fortified foods, agricultural inputs

Health

Medical kits, vaccines, PPE

WASH

Water purification tablets, jerry cans, hygiene kits

Shelter

Tents, tarpaulins, blankets, tools

Nutrition

Therapeutic foods, supplements

Protection

Safety supplies, dignity kits

Education

School supplies, temporary classroom kits

Each request and deployed personnel can be tagged with a cluster, enabling:

  • Sector-specific reporting to cluster leads

  • Gap identification across humanitarian sectors

  • 4W Reports (Who does What, Where, When) for coordination meetings

Key capabilities#

Inventory management#

  • Multi-warehouse support - Central, regional, and mobile warehouses

  • Lot tracking - Batch numbers and expiry dates for perishables

  • Stock health indicators - Visual status (critical/warning/good) based on thresholds

  • Real-time dashboard - Stock levels, values, and distribution metrics

Alerts and monitoring#

  • Low stock alerts - Automatic detection when inventory falls below thresholds

  • SLA monitoring - Track request fulfillment against delivery deadlines

  • Expiry alerts - Warnings for items approaching expiration dates

  • Activity feed - Real-time audit trail of all DRIMS operations

Coordination#

DRIMS supports multiple coordination modes for disaster response:

Mode

Description

Use case

Lead Agency

Single agency coordinates all partners

Government-led national response

Cluster system

UN-led sector coordination

Large-scale humanitarian emergencies

Consortium

NGO-led partner coordination

Multi-NGO regional response

Bilateral

Direct agency-to-agency

Focused bilateral assistance

Personnel Directory#

Track deployed disaster response staff by:

Quick Start Guides#

For government staff and field workers:

For implementers configuring DRIMS:

How it works#

        graph LR
    A[Donation<br/>Announced] --> B[Donation<br/>Received]
    B --> C[Warehouse<br/>Stock]
    D[Field Request<br/>Submitted] --> E[Request<br/>Approved]
    E --> F[Dispatch<br/>Created]
    C --> F
    F --> G[Supplies<br/>Delivered]
    G --> H[Beneficiaries<br/>Served]
    G -.-> I[Returns<br/>Processed]
    I --> C

  1. Donors announce pledges - UN agencies, NGOs, governments, or private donors commit supplies

  2. Donations received - Warehouse staff inspect and stock items with lot/expiry tracking

  3. Field teams request supplies - Distribution points submit requests for specific items and quantities

  4. Approval workflow - Multi-tier approval based on request value and priority

  5. Warehouse dispatch - Picking operations with waybill generation

  6. Proof of delivery - Field confirmation of receipt

  7. Returns processing - Handle damaged, expired, or excess items

Security and access control#

DRIMS includes role-based access control:

Role

Access level

Typical users

DRIMS Viewer

Read-only access to all data

Coordination staff, donors

Field Officer

Create requests, confirm deliveries

Distribution point managers

Warehouse Staff

Manage inventory, process donations/dispatches

Warehouse managers, stock clerks

Request Approver

Approve/reject supply requests

Program managers, cluster leads

District Coordinator

Coordinate within assigned districts

District disaster management officers

DRIMS Manager

Full administration and configuration

DRIMS system administrators

Dependencies#

DRIMS integrates with other OpenSPP modules:

  • spp_hazard - Disaster incident management

  • spp_area - Geographic area hierarchy for location tracking

  • spp_approval - Multi-tier approval workflow engine

  • spp_alerts - Alert management and notifications

  • spp_audit - Complete audit trail of operations

Next steps#

New to DRIMS? Start with the user guides:

Setting up DRIMS for your organization? See the implementer guides:

Questions?

Learn more#