Imagine having to procure 36 units of an important medicine, when your hospital needs only two, because of supplier minimum order quantities. One of the advantages that the National Surveillance Center (NSC) has brought to the South African public health supply chain is the ability to identify medicine stock levels across districts, provinces, and indeed the whole country. The National Department of Health and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)-funded Global Health Supply Chain Program – Technical Assistance (GHSC-TA) collaborated and developed the NSC, a web-based performance monitoring and evaluation tool.