Archive for the ‘Scorecards’ Category

A simple supplier scoring system may provide key performance indicators for the future.

Thursday, July 15th, 2021

 

Todays post is by Ron Southard, CEO at SafeSourcing Inc.

Having a large international supplier database to drive sustainable results in e-procurement events such as ant e-RFX function is critical to that events success. Maybe even more critical is making sure that the suppliers once selected for participation in an event are of the highest quality, professional, responsive and have your best interests at heart. There are several areas in the early strategy stages of a  an e-RFX process which if properly monitored can be leading key performance indicators as to future performance. These KPI’s are; the initial supplier response and supplier training schedule adherence. If suppliers are not interested enough during these early stages, this may be an indicator of future performance in other more critical areas such as on time delivery, back order management, documentation and audit compliance.

A reasonable process for measuring these KPI’s would be to measure the number of days between the project start date or initial supplier contact and the event start date, where the supplier has been sent an invitation but has not responded either positively, negatively or given a reason  for their response. Maintaining an active status of response dates could be scored based on the number of days it takes invited suppliers to respond. The longer it takes a invitee to respond the lower KPI score that supplier would receive.  Another possible KPI measurement or filter once the invitation has been accepted would be the number of days between the date accepted and the event start date, where the supplier has accepted an invitation but has not completed their automated training.

These are not intended to be punitive measures. In most cases suppliers will perform beyond your expectations. Sustainability and quality require measurements regardless of how simple.

If you’d like to learn more about The SafeSourceIt™ Supplier Database, please contact a SafeSourcing customer services account manager.

We appreciate and look forward to your comments.

There is much ado about new retail supplier or vendor scorecards.

Wednesday, October 29th, 2014

Todays post is from Ron Southard, CEO at SafeSourcing Inc.

Do you remember bringing home your report card from school as a child and maybe even receiving an early warning that you were having problems a couple of weeks before the actual report card arrived. You worried and worried but ultimately it took you just a minute to view it and determine if you were in trouble when you got home or not. Some parents even gave rewards for good performance. These were your first look at scorecards. They were simple, easy to react too and easy to measure against over time.

The first goal of a supplier scorecard is to use the KISS method and keep it simple. Know what you are trying to measure and measure it. Don?t go adding things that have nothing to do with what your original goal was.

An example of a scorecard for a new supplier or vendor that was just awarded business from a reverse auction or other e-RFX event might include the following and not much more.

1.?Objective Elements
2.?Quality Elements?
3.?Delivery Elements
4.?Quote or Pricing Accuracy Elements

Unfortunately too many companies in attempting to simplify analysis create tools that support the phrase that a camel is a horse created by committee? The simplicity of the statement just emphasizes how ineffective a committee can be by having too many conflicting opinions that influence, grow or make unwieldy a potentially simple project like designing a new supplier or vendor scorecard.

Included in the four elements above for a new vendor are the following.

1.?Did the award of business take place as described within the terms and conditions?
2.?Did a contract get executed as described within the terms and conditions?
3.?Were samples viewed, inspected and approved if required?
4.?Did the supplier deliver the specification as bid?
5.?Did the supplier deliver the product or service on time?
6.?Did the supplier deliver the product or service at the price quoted?
7.?did the product or service work as promised?

Don?t fall into the trap of measuring more than you need to. At the end of the day a score of 90-100 is still an A and a score of below 60 is an F. A quick look should still tell you if you are in trouble or not.

If you’d like to learn more about SafeSourcing’s dashboard and scorecards, please contact a SafeSourcing Customer Services Account Manager.

We look forward to and appreciate your comments.