Marianne Hafkenscheid (Contract & Vendor Management Advisor) works in the ILM (Procurement Intelligence & Supplier Management) department of Procurement at ProRail. Since 2013, ProRail has used ISPnext to automate Vendor Rating and gain insight into spend per procurement category.
Performance measurement ran through Excel sheets that were difficult to maintain, contracts from SAP weren't linked to supplier assessments, and there was a need for better insight into spend per procurement category.
Vendor Rating automated with ISPnext since 2013: around 600 surveys per quarter in which employees rate suppliers on a scale of 1 to 10, linked to contracts from SAP. Alongside this, a double-sided measurement pilot and category managers mapping spend per category.
An automated, repeatable assessment process, a 360-degree view per supplier, an expanding double-sided measurement pilot, and clear spend dashboards per procurement category, with automating accreditations as the next step.
Manual performance measurement gave no structural overview
ProRail's ILM (Procurement Intelligence & Supplier Management) department needs information on how procurement happens, how many suppliers exist per category, and how satisfied ProRail is with them.
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Performance measurement difficult to maintain in Excel
"We were already doing performance measurement, but that was very difficult to maintain in the Excel sheets we were using at the time," explains Marianne Hafkenscheid, External Quality Advisor.
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Contracts in SAP not linked to supplier performance
Contracts at ProRail are entered into SAP and, without automation, had to be tracked separately for performance measurement, without automation, this would be a tall order.
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Need for insight into spend per category
ProRail spends a lot of money on its core business, the railways, but also on other things like office automation and ICT solutions.
From automated Vendor Rating to double-sided measurement and spend by category
ProRail built its solution step by step: from automated performance measurement through Vendor Rating, to a double-sided measurement pilot, to insight into spend per procurement category.
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Automated Vendor Rating since 2013
ProRail started using ISPnext in 2013 to facilitate Vendor Rating as an automated process. "We chose to automate our performance measurements, and in collaboration with ISPnext, we succeeded. We send out about 600 surveys each quarter, allowing employees to rate our suppliers on a scale of 1 to 10," says Marianne.
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Contracts from SAP linked to performance measurement
"Contracts at ProRail are entered into SAP and transferred to ISPnext's solution. We measure performance on those contracts," says Marianne. "We are very proud that we can now automatically measure contract performance and monitor supplier performance." Each department determines its own criteria for measuring supplier performance, with contract sum, risk and importance to ProRail as leading factors.
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Double-sided measurement pilot launched with engineering firms
ProRail launched a pilot of double-sided measurement last year: not only does ProRail evaluate its suppliers, but suppliers also indicate how they experience working with ProRail. "The double-sided measurement enables a robust conversation with the supplier. We can enter the conversation better informed, using both our own rating and that of the supplier," says Marianne. The pilot started with engineering firms and is now being expanded to other suppliers.
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Spend per category mapped for category managers
Thanks to the solution, ProRail can now interpret these categories very clearly, mapping how purchasing happens and detecting where the money is being spent. Each category has its own category manager(s); along with tender managers, procurement managers and cost engineers, they are the people within ProRail who work with ISPnext.
"We chose to automate our performance measurements, and in collaboration with ISPnext, we succeeded."
Automated assessments and a 360-degree view per supplier
ProRail now assesses suppliers in an automated, repeatable way, is expanding double-sided measurement further, and has clear visibility into spend per category, with automating accreditations as the next step.
What it delivers for ProRail
- Automated quarterly measurement through around 600 surveys, without manual Excel work
- Contracts from SAP automatically linked to supplier performance
- A 360-degree view per supplier: contracts, rating, spend and budget holders within ProRail
- Double-sided measurement pilot, started with engineering firms, expanding to more suppliers
- Spend per procurement category visible through dashboards, organised around category managers
Frequently asked questions about supplier assessment at ProRail
ProRail is responsible for the rail network in the Netherlands: construction, maintenance, management and safety. As an independent party, ProRail distributes railroad space, regulates all train traffic, and manages stations, tracks, switches, signals and level crossings.
ProRail has used Vendor Rating (now Vendor Management) since 2013 to automate supplier performance measurement. ProRail also uses spend insight per procurement category.
ProRail sends out about 600 surveys each quarter, in which employees rate suppliers on a scale of 1 to 10. The measurements are linked to contracts transferred from SAP to ISPnext.
Alongside rating suppliers, double-sided measurement lets suppliers indicate how they experience working with ProRail. The pilot started with engineering firms and is being expanded further.
Each procurement category at ProRail has its own category manager(s), who work with ISPnext together with tender managers, procurement managers and cost engineers to see how much and where money is spent within their category.
ProRail is working on rolling out dashboards per category manager organisation-wide and on automating accreditations, a development ProRail benefits from because another ISPnext customer has already done the groundwork.
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