Hi @Tommaso2
Let me address your doubts about ServiceNow's Vendor Management Workspace (VMW) based on the current capabilities and scope:
Supplier Lifecycle Management vs. Vendor Management Workspace
You're correct that these serve different primary purposes. Supplier Lifecycle Management focuses on supplier onboarding, offboarding, and ongoing collaboration processes. It includes pre-built playbooks to automate complex onboarding tasks where legal teams handle NDAs, finance manages reviews, and procurement processes contracts.
Vendor Management Workspace concentrates on performance monitoring, relationship management, and data-driven decision making. It provides a centralized platform for tracking vendor performance against KPIs, managing contracts, and monitoring compliance.
Regarding terminology, ServiceNow uses both terms somewhat interchangeably in practice, though "supplier" often refers to entities in the procurement/sourcing context, while "vendor" typically relates to ongoing service delivery and performance management. The distinction isn't always rigid within the ServiceNow ecosystem.
Scope Clarification for VMW Implementation
For your client's VMW-only scope, Contract Management capabilities are indeed automatically included with the VMW plugin. The workspace provides contract review functionality, allowing administrators to easily view vendor contracts for evaluating service obligations and ensuring industry standards are met.
However, Risk Assessment requires the separate Vendor Risk Management plugin. The VMW can display risk ratings in vendor profiles when this integration is active, but the core risk assessment functionality isn't included in the base VMW package.
Asset Management integration depends on your specific configuration - while VMW can integrate with various ServiceNow applications, Asset Management isn't automatically included as a core VMW feature.
SLA Management in VMW
SLAs in VMW are not limited to incidents. The platform supports comprehensive SLA tracking that includes:
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Service-level agreements tied to vendor contracts - monitoring vendor performance against agreed-upon service commitments
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Service delivery metrics - tracking delivery times, service quality, and compliance rates
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Contractual obligations - ensuring vendors meet their commitual commitments beyond just incident response
You can create vendor SLAs and service commitments directly associated with vendors4. The system tracks performance against these SLAs and can apply service credits when vendors fail to meet commitments.
Vendor Comparison Tools
Yes, VMW includes built-in comparison capabilities. The platform provides:
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Vendor KPI groups for comparing performance within specific vendor categories6
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Vendor landing page where you can compare scores, costs, and details across vendors to assess performance health
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Success indicators that benchmark performance across your vendor base to identify common characteristics of high-performing vendors
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Standardized metrics that remove guesswork around performance assessment
The Vendor Directory enables filtered views of vendors by attributes, and the Vendor Score metric provides quick pulse checks on vendor health. This score combines average performance scores of service offerings with vendor satisfaction measurements, allowing for meaningful vendor-to-vendor comparisons.
The workspace also includes historical trend analysis capabilities, so vendor managers can see how scores change over time and make data-driven decisions about vendor relationship.
Hope that helps
Maik
