Optimal supplier management

Dirk Jan Leppers: ''Vendor Management offers a wide range of functionalities that are useful for compliance purposes. Here is a peek at a number of functionalities''

• Request supplier data and documentation and keep it up to date;
• Assess the incoming information internally by means of a workflow;
• Handle supplier or client complaints;
• The onboarding of new suppliers;
• Carry out internal and external performance measurements.

''You request supplier documentation from suppliers via the Supplier Portal and then save this information in Vendor Management after internal approval. Suppliers can log in themselves to supply the necessary documentation. You then use Vendor Rating to make experiences with suppliers measurable. You carry out surveys and share these with the organisation to bring experiences to the surface. We zoom in further on these two functionalities in Vendor Management.''

Dirk Jan Leppers explains the Supplier Portal in more detail: ''Requesting all kinds of documentation from suppliers can be an arduous task for the procurement organisation. Certifications need to be requested, price lists must be up to date, and questionnaires about, for example, ESG have to be completed. With the Supplier Portal, you enable suppliers to supply documents and information themselves and save them in one central place.  Invite suppliers so they can log in to the Supplier Portal and supply the documentation requested. The procurement organisation can then oversee the process in the software and accept and save the documentation. Has the validity of the documents lapsed? Then this process can simply be repeated.''

Whether it concerns ISO certification documents, extracts, or price lists: the Supplier Portal provides you with an automated insight into the information required from suppliers. ''You can create a workflow for a particular procurement category or supplier group to request the right details and documents quickly and easily. These documents are then presented to the specialists in the organisation for approval. A validity period can be attributed to all data and documentation. When the validity of these documents has expired, the supplier receives automatic notification to renew them.''

''Who is more able to provide better insight into the performance of suppliers than the employees who actually have contact with suppliers? Vendor Rating offers buyers a quantitative, but above all qualitative insight into supplier performance. Based on these insights, suppliers can be managed better, savings can be made and buyers can make better decisions about the contracting of new suppliers'', explains Dirk Jan.

You can evaluate suppliers using various methods in the Vendor Rating module. These scores are shown on the Vendor Rating dashboards, making it clear in a single summary which suppliers are performing well and which are not.

''You can create your own survey templates with different chapters, questions and weighting factors via Vendor Rating. Share these surveys with employees who work with suppliers a great deal in order to gain insight into experiences. The results of these surveys are then included in the evaluation of the supplier. You gain insight into trends by conducting regular surveys. Surveys can also be sent to the supplier to gather important information.''