Improve sourcing experience when working with new suppliers

  • Release version: Washingtondc
  • Updated February 1, 2024
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of Improve Sourcing Experience When Working with New Suppliers

    Enhance supplier onboarding and sourcing visibility by integrating Procurement Service Management with Supplier Lifecycle Management. This combination streamlines the workflow, providing stakeholders with a clear view of the sourcing process while improving the experience for new suppliers.

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    Key Features

    • Automated Workflow: Employees initiate sourcing requests through Shopping Hub or Employee Center, which are routed to procurement specialists.
    • Supplier Qualification: Automated processes create cases for onboarding new suppliers, ensuring efficient management.
    • Onboarding Playbook: Supplier managers utilize a playbook to manage onboarding tasks effectively, facilitating collaboration with suppliers.
    • Supplier Collaboration Portal: Suppliers can view and complete assigned tasks and questionnaires, ensuring transparency and engagement.
    • Complete Visibility: All stakeholders can monitor the status of onboarding and sourcing from their respective portals.

    Requirements for Sourcing with a New Supplier

    To initiate sourcing with a new supplier, ensure the following plugins are installed and activated:

    • Shopping Hub
    • Sourcing and Purchasing Automation
    • Procurement Case Management
    • Source-to-Pay Workspace
    • Playbooks for Sourcing and Procurement Operations
    • Advanced Work Assignment for Sourcing and Procurement Operations
    • Supplier Common Architecture
    • Supplier Lifecycle Operations
    • Supplier Collaboration Portal
    • Advanced Work Assignment for Supplier Lifecycle Operations
    • Source-to-Pay Common Architecture
    • Finance Common Architecture
    • Common Service Delivery
    • Risk Assessments Integration for Sourcing and Procurement Operations

    Next Steps to Get Started

    • Request Products or Services: If a desired product or service is not available, request it on Shopping Hub and add a new supplier.
    • Review and Qualification: Procurement specialists should review sourcing requests and begin the qualification process for new suppliers.
    • Onboarding Process: Supplier managers review onboarding cases and utilize playbooks to facilitate the onboarding of suppliers.
    • Supplier Engagement: Suppliers log into the Supplier Collaboration Portal to complete tasks and questionnaires essential for onboarding.
    • Assessment Review: Supplier managers evaluate submitted information to decide whether to proceed with the onboarding process.

    With Sourcing and Procurement Operations and Supplier Lifecycle Operations together, provide complete visibility to all the stakeholders involved in the sourcing process, along with improved supplier onboarding experience.

    Workflow of the sourcing experience

    The following figure shows how an employee, procurement specialist, supplier manager, and supplier use the SPO and SLO applications together to get complete visibility into the sourcing process and simultaneously enjoy improved supplier onboarding experience.

    Figure 1. Workflow of the sourcing experience
    Workflow of the sourcing experience
    In this workflow:
    1. An employee visits Shopping Hub (or Employee Center) and creates a sourcing request with a new supplier to be onboarded.
    2. Work assignment rules route the request to a procurement specialist's workspace.
    3. The procurement specialist initiates automated supplier qualification, which creates required cases, including a new supplier onboarding case that is assigned to a supplier manager.
    4. The supplier manager reviews the supplier onboarding case and uses the onboarding playbook in the supplier workspace to onboard suppliers.
    5. The playbook generates tasks and assigns them to the supplier being onboarded.
    6. The supplier contact views the assigned tasks in the Supplier Collaboration Portal.
    7. The supplier contact completes the assigned tasks and submits the required questionnaire in the Supplier Collaboration Portal.
    8. The supplier manager reviews the collected supplier data and completes the onboarding playbook in the supplier workspace.
    9. The employee, procurement specialist, and supplier manager have complete visibility into the status of work, including supplier onboarding, through process completion, from their respective portals.

    Requirements for sourcing with a new supplier

    Install and activate these plugins.
    • Shopping Hub [com.snc.sn_spend_uib]
    • Sourcing and Purchasing Automation [com.snc.sn_pr]
    • Procurement Case Management [com.sn_spend_psd]
    • Source-to-Pay Workspace [com.sn_spend_workspace]
    • Playbooks for Sourcing and Procurement Operations [com.sn_spend_cp]
    • Advanced Work Assignment for Sourcing and Procurement Operations [com.snc.sn_spend_awa]
    • Supplier Common Architecture [com.snc.sn_slm]
    • Supplier Lifecycle Operations [com.snc.sn_supplier_mgmt]
    • Supplier Collaboration Portal [com.snc.sn_supplier_sp]
    • Advanced Work Assignment for Supplier Lifecycle Operations [com.snc.sn_slm_awa]
    • Source-to-Pay Common Architecture [com.snc.sn_shop]
    • Finance Common Architecture [com.sn_fin]
    • Common Service Delivery [com.sn_spend_sdc]
    • Risk Assessments Integration for Sourcing and Procurement Operations [com.sn_spend_vrm]

    For information on the installation sequence, see Application plugin installation sequence.

    Get started with sourcing with a new supplier

    To get started with sourcing with a new supplier, follow these steps:
    1. Request for a product or service that you don't see on Shopping Hub, and add a new supplier that you prefer to source it from. For more information, see Requesting for products or services that you don't see on ShoppingHub.

      Role: sn_shop.shopper.

    2. Review the sourcing request and its associated purchase lines on the Source-to-Pay Workspace. For more information, see List page for Sourcing and Procurement Operations in Source-to-Pay Workspace.

      Role: sn_shop.procurement_specialist.

    3. Begin the qualification process to onboard the new supplier. For more information, see Supplier qualification.

      Role: sn_shop.procurement_specialist.

    4. Review the supplier onboarding case and start the supplier onboarding using playbooks. For more information, see Using the supplier onboarding playbook to onboard suppliers.

      Role: sn_slm.manager.

    5. The playbook automatically creates supplier tasks to conduct risk assessment and to collect supplier information, such as banking information and location details.
    6. Log in to the Supplier Collaboration Portal and complete the following:

      Role: sn_slm.contact.

    7. Review the collected supplier information and determine whether to continue or cancel the onboarding process.

      Role: sn_slm.manager.

    8. Complete the different activities in each stage of the playbook to successfully onboard the new supplier.

      Role: sn_slm.manager.