HELM Details

HELM — the Humanitarian Enterprise Logistics Manager — is a comprehensive, highly configurable platform designed to manage the full scope of humanitarian supply chain operations. Its modular architecture lets organizations tailor functionality to their unique missions while maintaining seamless integration across logistics, finance, and reporting.

Inbound

Donor Offers

Evaluate and respond to potential donations quickly and accurately. Offers can be reviewed by teams across regions, with workflows that gather input from donor relations, warehouse staff, and program managers. HELM makes it simple to refine quantities, lots, or product details and respond promptly to donors — strengthening relationships while avoiding the acceptance of items that cannot be used.

Gift In Kind

Widely regarded as the gold standard for managing donated goods, HELM’s Gift In Kind module handles the full lifecycle of donated products — from valuation, restrictions, and allocation to order building and donor reporting. Every product is license plated upon receipt, beginning end-to-end traceability. Complex donor rules, such as blocks or restrictions, are enforced automatically. Integrations with databases like First Databank and UPCItemDB streamline valuation, and every step is backed by detailed audit trails for donor and financial reporting.

Requisitions

Centralize internal requests for goods or services. Staff submit requisitions, route them for approval, and track status through fulfillment. By standardizing this process, HELM eliminates paper-based inefficiencies, surfaces demand trends, and ensures resources are allocated according to organizational priorities.

Purchasing

Full lifecycle management of vendor orders. Generate purchase orders, monitor vendor performance, and track inbound shipments. Purchasing integrates with financial workflows, applying valuation, cost allocation, and donor rules where required — keeping purchasing decisions aligned with operational and financial requirements.

Delivery Management

Capture the arrival of goods into the system, whether from donors, vendors, or internal transfers. HELM records critical details such as lot numbers, expiration dates, serial numbers, weights, and dimensions — all linked to license plates for traceability. Deliveries can be received into unlimited warehouses, zones, and locations, with products automatically configured using integrations to supplier barcodes and external databases.

ASN Inbound

The Advance Shipment Notification (ASN) Inbound module prepares warehouses for incoming shipments by receiving electronic notifications from suppliers or donors. HELM validates shipments against expected details — down to serialized products — reducing errors and speeding up receiving. This is especially critical for large-scale inbound logistics, such as international sea containers and pharmaceutical donations.

EPCIS Inbound

For pharmaceuticals, HELM supports inbound EPCIS XML files, ensuring serialized tracking in compliance with DSCSA and emerging international regulations. The system validates products at every level — pallet, case, and individual unit — so organizations can be confident that what was shipped is exactly what was received.

Inventory

Inventory

The backbone of HELM. Track products across unlimited warehouses, zones, and bin locations, with support for cycle counting, opportunistic counts, and full physical inventory audits. Every material change is recorded with before-and-after history for compliance and reporting. HELM handles complex attributes such as lot numbers, serials, hazmat designations, cold chain requirements, expiration dates, and units of measure. With mobile barcode scanning, users update stock in real time for system-wide accuracy.

Assets

Complete lifecycle management of organizational assets. From laptops to vehicles and medical equipment, assets can be tracked by location, assigned to individuals or teams, and linked to maintenance schedules. The module supports asset templates, warranty management, and audit trails to ensure accountability.

Kitting

Assemble multiple products into ready-to-ship packs. HELM supports both simple kits (e.g., hygiene packs) and complex assemblies (e.g., medical supply kits that mix purchased and donated items). The system tracks every component and enforces donor restrictions even when products are combined, giving visibility into both the kit and its underlying items.

Maintenance

A Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS) for tracking preventive and corrective maintenance of facilities, vehicles, and equipment. Schedule recurring tasks, log work orders, and record maintenance history. Linking maintenance to assets helps organizations maximize equipment uptime and ensure safety and compliance.

Customer RMA

Manage product returns from customers or partners. HELM captures reasons for return, inspects items, and determines whether they can be restocked, quarantined, or destroyed. Returns are tracked with full audit trails to ensure compliance with donor and regulatory requirements.

Vendor RMA

Manage items sent back to suppliers — streamlining authorization requests, shipment tracking, and financial reconciliation. By integrating with purchasing and financial modules, HELM ensures returned items are properly credited and accounted for.

Outbound

Partner Offers

Allow partner organizations to view, request, or accept offers of goods. HELM honors donor restrictions, allocations, and compliance rules while enabling partners to participate directly in planning shipments.

Standard Orders

Traditional order processing with workflows for creation, approval, picking, packing, and shipping. Orders can represent domestic transfers, international shipments, or any combination of purchased, donated, or kitted products.

Retail Orders

For smaller, high-volume orders — such as those from clinics, field offices, or local partners — the Retail Orders module enables fast, efficient processing. Orders can be built and shipped with minimal steps, supporting last-mile distribution.

Picking

Multiple picking methods, including wave, batch, zone, and single-order picking. Integrated barcoding ensures accuracy, while mobile devices provide real-time updates to the system.

Shipping

Manage logistics details from generating labels, packing lists, and container manifests to tracking freight forwarders, consignees, and shipping charges. The system can also capture shipment events, such as customs holds, and track products through final delivery.

ASN Outbound

Outbound ASNs give partners advance visibility into shipments, improving their ability to plan resources and confirm receipt details.

EPCIS Outbound

For pharmaceutical products, HELM generates outbound EPCIS XML files that comply with DSCSA and international regulations, ensuring serialized traceability throughout the supply chain.

Financial & reporting

Invoicing

Generate detailed invoices for purchased or donated goods, supporting donor valuation, cost recovery, and compliance. Invoices can be customized to client-specific formats and integrated directly into ERP systems.

Finance

Track all financial activity, applying business rules to create General Ledger–ready exports. HELM supports real-time integration with ERP platforms, keeping financial data synchronized and audit-ready.

Data Warehouse

Capture every transaction in detail, creating a secure, queryable history. The Data Warehouse supports complex reporting and analytics while preserving full audit trails for transparency and compliance.

Reports

A robust suite of standard reports covering operations, compliance, donor activity, and more. Reports can be scheduled, exported, and customized for stakeholders.

Adhoc Queries

Powerful self-service analytics. Filter, sort, and drill into data, generate graphs and dashboards, and export custom datasets for further analysis.

External Integration

Real-time and batch integration with ERP, financial, donor, and legacy systems. Through event-driven messaging queues and APIs, HELM ensures data flows securely and reliably across platforms.

Integrations & accessories

REST API

HELM’s REST API goes far beyond CRUD operations. With configurable templates, it can link multiple data sources and return custom JSON outputs. The API supports secure authentication, real-time updates, and integration with both modern and legacy systems.

First Databank (FDB)

Integration with First Databank provides real-time access to comprehensive pharmaceutical data — including NDC codes, drug classifications, packaging, and cost history — so HELM can automatically configure and value pharmaceutical products as they are received.

Labeling

Generate compliant labels for products, cases, and pallets. HELM supports GS1 standards, serialization, and integration with Zebra printers, keeping labeling consistent, accurate, and traceable.

Barcoding

Integrate with handheld scanners, mobile computers, and rugged tablets for real-time data capture throughout the warehouse. From receiving to picking to shipping, barcoding drives accuracy and efficiency.

Client Portal

Through the Portessa accessory, HELM enables partners, clinics, and field offices to interact with supply chain data directly. Portals let users place orders, track shipments, complete onboarding, and view compliance data — all in real time and within the look and feel of the client’s corporate website.

Ready to see HELM in action? Schedule a demo to get a look at everything Humanitarian Software can do for you.