One of our clients recently presented us with a challenge: streamlining their supplier interactions. They envisioned a single, unified portal where suppliers could seamlessly submit and track customer service management (CSM) cases, access knowledge articles, and engage with third-party risk management (TPRM) assessments. They had already committed to using CSM for supplier support and had the TPRM portal already live and therefore did not want to revisit other solutions. This presented a unique challenge, as out-of-the-box solutions TPRM portal and CSM portals relay on different types of users. For example, TRPM expects a vendor contact user to log in and interact with risk assessments and CSM expects a customer contact record to be the log in to open CSM cases. In short, we want one type of user account to log in and do both.
The Data Model:
Below is the account data model for both TRPM and CSM
The Solution:
We explored several options, including customizing the CSM portal to incorporate TPRM functionalities or vice-versa. After careful consideration, we determined that leveraging the TPRM portal as the foundation and extending it to include CSM features would be the most efficient approach. This strategy minimized disruption to the existing TPRM workflows while allowing us to leverage the robust access controls already in place.
Key Architectural Decisions and Customizations:
- Data Model Harmonization: The crux of the integration lay in linking the vendor contact records with the customer contacts. A crucial customization involved creating a linkage between vendor contacts and their corresponding customer contacts. This link enabled us to establish relationships and control data visibility between the two systems. As illustrated below, the "CSM Access" flag on the vendor contact record triggers the creation of a linked, but login-disabled, customer contact record.
- Custom Query Rules: We implemented unique query rules within the CSM system. These rules ensured that logged-in vendor contacts could only view cases associated with their linked customer contact(s), guaranteeing appropriate data segregation.
- Record Producer Enhancement: To further automate the process, we customized record producers within the CSM portal. This customization automatically populated the customer contact field based on the logged-in vendor contact's linked record.
Outcome:
The result is a seamless and intuitive supplier portal.
Suppliers could now:
- Submit and track CSM cases.
- Access relevant knowledge articles.
- Participate in TPRM assessments.
- Manage their company profile and contacts.
This unified portal, currently a proof of concept, demonstrates the feasibility of a streamlined supplier experience with minimal customization. We are collaborating with the client to chart a course for full implementation. Ideally, this demonstration will encourage the client to reconsider more purpose built source-to-pay solutions for their supplier portal, which offer this unified experience with significantly less customization effort.
I'd love to hear from you: Is integrating disparate supplier portals a challenge your organization faces? What creative solutions have you implemented or explored to address this issue?
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