Archive for the ‘E-procurement Tools’ Category

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This author loves all kinds of Salami. Is it traceable?

Monday, January 25th, 2010

Rose said, ?toughie (their nick name for me) get out of the Salami?. I had this bad habit of reaching in the refrigerator (possible contamination) and taking 5 or 6 slices that had been cut in half for pizza and stuffing them in my mouth all at once. The Salami was either Genoa or Volpi or some other top quality brand. I did not even know where it came from and I?m sure that neither Rose nor Margaret (both from Italy) the proprietors could trace it either.

Today I live in Arizona. We have a few good Italian eateries here but not a very large Italian community. I was reading the Arizona Republic today when an article jumped out at me titled R.I. Company recalls salami. This article was attributed to the Associated Press. Being as Rhode Island is very close to Boston and also has a great Italian section called Federal Hill and the subject was salami I read on. As you are aware, my most recent post was also on product safety and traceability, titled Procurement Professionals can aid in product safety adherence.

The article went on to say that a Rhode Island meat company had recalled 1.24 million pounds of pepper coated salami after month?s long investigation of a salmonella outbreak that sickened 184 people in 38 states by comparing shopping receipts of those who got sick. This certainly supports one forward and one back accountability from a retailer?s perspective but this author is not sure that the intention of the rule is to have to chase down receipts which is extremely time consuming, costly and a strategy that provides the possibility of an extremely limited sample.

The definition of traceability according to Wikipedia refers to the completeness of the information about every step in a process chain. Traceability is the ability to verify the history, location, or application of an item by means of documented recorded identification. Doing this systematically is where the retail industry needs to be.

This author has discussed this in numerous previous posts. One of my favorites is from September of 2008 titled Traceability-also-requires-sensibility-if-you-want-a-safe-supply-chain.? So what can you do as a retailer? Begin by asking your e-procurement solutions provider how they address traceability with their tools.

We look forward to and appreciate your comments.

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What consitutes a complex e-negotiation event or reverse auction.

Thursday, January 14th, 2010

Definitions are often tied to the concept of a set of parts or elements which have relationships among them differentiated from relationships with other elements outside the relational regime.

So how does one define a complex e-negotiation event? On the surface it may be an event with a large number of line items within a particular product set such as generic drugs in the retail space or raw materials used to manufacture components that require special handling, shipping and standards adherence.

This author would suggest that any event including multiple line items each with different specifications, order quantities, delivery locations, multiple suppliers not bidding on each line item, a split award of business and the size of the spend qualifies as a complex event. Adding to the complexity may be the overall strategy required when sourcing the right mix of suppliers to compress pricing properly and drive early and consistent bid activity…

The above example would qualify as organized complexity where there is a non-random, or correlated, interaction between most of the parts. In order to support? complex events, your supplier needs to have an understanding of the specific market place and practices and processes in place that allow these activities t bring complex events to market? in the shortest period of time. Generally this should occur within less than two weeks from event notification to event completion.

In a two part post from October of 2008, this author tried to define the relative complexity of the retail environment and its potential impact on the use of e-procurement tools. Specifically we identified the following areas of interlocking complexity.

1.?Supply Chain complexity.
2.?Rate of change in the global supply chain.
3.?Long term inherited supplier relationships.
4.?Lack of retail procurement staff.
5.?Lack of time.
6.?Multiple sources of supply.
7.?Limited view of new sources of supply.
8.?Confusion as to who?s the customer and who?s the supplier

Being comfortable that your solution provider understands your market place and has a well defined process for hosting Complex e-negotiation events insures that they are not difficult to host.

We appreciate and look forward to your comments.

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Creating a sustainable e-procurement or reverse auction program is based on more than just savings.

Tuesday, January 12th, 2010

Primary success in e-procurement programs such as reverse auctions of which there are many types is in many cases measured by cost reductions. That?s because within a budget period they drop directly to a company?s bottom line plus or minus some switching costs. On more than one occasion I have heard; ?did we hit a home run?? Less emphasis seems to be placed on cost avoidance in an up market and creating a sustainable process. This often results in less spend be assigned to these very effective tools then should be.

In order to ensure that results are sustainable; the strategies for all targeted e-procurement categories require consistent deployment across all departments throughout the host company. This is accomplished by utilizing a well planned repeatable process for category selection and discovery, supplier selection, and a solid strategy that is well understood by all buyers and category managers for negotiation and the award of business process.

Supplier selection and management is a critical stage that requires the understanding and participation of all sourcing professionals within an organization. One small mistake by anyone within the procurement or supply chain organization could negatively impact the potential results of an e-procurement event. Historical long term relationships that drive behind the scene comments like; ?don?t worry we?ll be fine? to a long term supplier may drive inappropriate bid behavior and lack of ongoing credibility with your program. Not to mention the potential legal implications.

If you are not having the results you would like to or have less than twenty percent your total corporate spend assigned to e-procurement tool?s that are offered in the form of? Software as a Service or cloud computing, ask your provider why?

We appreciate and look forward to your comments

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What is Green-e certification? Does your company’s CSR program mandate the purchase of renewable energy products?

Friday, January 8th, 2010

For over ten years, the nonprofit Center for Resources (CRS) has developed and implemented consumer-protection standards for the voluntary renewable energy market through the Green-e program.

What is Green-e? Green-e is the nation’s leading independent consumer protection program for the sale of renewable energy and greenhouse gas reductions in the retail market. Green-e offers certification and verification of renewable energy and greenhouse gas mitigation products. It is a program of the Center for Resource Solutions.
Green-e Energy certifies renewable energy products sold to residential, commercial, industrial and wholesale customers. Certification services are available to all companies selling renewable energy. The process to get a renewable energy product certified varies depending on the type of product seeking certification, based on the following two categories of companies offering renewable energy products.

Ask your procurement solutions provider if they can tell you what companies carry this certification. SafeSourcing can.

We look forward to and appreciate your comments.

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What is Green-e certification? Does your company?s CSR program mandate the purchase of renewable energy products?

Friday, January 8th, 2010

For over ten years, the nonprofit Center for Resources (CRS) has developed and implemented consumer-protection standards for the voluntary renewable energy market through the Green-e program.

What is Green-e? Green-e is the nation’s leading independent consumer protection program for the sale of renewable energy and greenhouse gas reductions in the retail market. Green-e offers certification and verification of renewable energy and greenhouse gas mitigation products. It is a program of the Center for Resource Solutions.
Green-e Energy certifies renewable energy products sold to residential, commercial, industrial and wholesale customers. Certification services are available to all companies selling renewable energy. The process to get a renewable energy product certified varies depending on the type of product seeking certification, based on the following two categories of companies offering renewable energy products.

Ask your procurement solutions provider if they can tell you what companies carry this certification. SafeSourcing can.

We look forward to and appreciate your comments.

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Some closing thoughts on e- procurement goals and resulting resolutions for the New Year.

Wednesday, December 30th, 2009

As an example, let?s take an individual look at our? #10? procurement thought ?Evaluation of low cost technology solutions?

Each and every year companies spend millions of dollars developing new business plans for the upcoming year. Basically these are the company?s New Year resolutions. Most of the fourth quarter of every year is focused on this endeavor. As we discussed in our first post of this series this means there is no excuse for not having your e-procurement goals written down.

Because of new open source software applications you should no longer have to shell out a ton of money for license fees. Your current e-procurement solution provider if using the most current technologies should not have to charge you an arm and a leg for using their application. In fact, your prices should be continuing to scale down. The need to pay increases in license fees or use fees today to have software installed behind your firewall or in a hosted environment should be compressing dramatically as a result of lower development costs for newer versions of applications based on the use of inexpensive or in some cases free open source tools. The resulting applications are then being offered in the form of Software as a Service or Cloud Computing where you use only what you need and pay accordingly.

Companies can begin to seek lower fees by simply asking their present solutions provider; why their costs have not dropped. The size of your providers IT organization adds to your providers overhead and as a result to the fees you are paying for using their tools. These organizations should be shrinking. If a current application has its roots in the late 1990?s or early in this decade you are paying more to use it as a result of the embedded cost to develop it. More current applications that use a variety of freeware tools make it possible? for today?s developers to do? multiples of the work? a single developer could accomplish as little as five to ten years ago.

Next generation applications should also include a level of intelligence that was not available five to ten years ago. Whether that is simple language versus HTML or the use of intelligent agents, the result should be easier to use applications resulting in shorter cycle times and not increases in new service offerings to compensate for reduced development costs.?
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What this all leads to for the e-procurement knowledge worker is lower embedded development costs, lower ongoing support costs and more flexibility relative to customization requests going forward. It also means that it is easier to change providers because there is relatively no technology cost required and ramp up time is almost immediate. This in and of itself will hold your current solution provider accountable to the service levels you require.

Have this discussion with your e-procurement solution provider; it may save you thousands or dollars.

We appreciate and look forward to your comments

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More thoughts on e- procurement goals and resulting resolutions for the New Year.

Tuesday, December 29th, 2009

Companies with as few as three stores and companies with thousands of stores are often looking for the same types of issues. The process and the results are very similar regardless of scale and as such require the same careful focus to drive those results. If we were to white board what should be included in our goal or resolution setting it would certainly include many of the following areas.

1.?Lower costs
2.?Consistent and improved quality
3.?Products that guarantee safety for your consumers
4.?Smooth transition to new supplier relationships
5.?Quality product specifications
6.?Unlimited new sources of supply
7.?Well thought out internal and external collaboration and aggregation
8.?Support for environmentally focused products
9.?Support of CSR Initiatives.
10.?Evaluation of low cost technology solutions
11.?Joining and collaborating with a share group
12.?Review of Incumbent suppliers
13.?E-Sourcing or e-procurement training.
14.?Existing procurement tool evaluation
15.?Existing contracts evaluation
16.?Spend evaluation
17.?Alternative geography sourcing
18.?Sourcing and Supply Chain Knowledge transfer
19.?For resale sustainable practices review
20.?Perfecting The expense category
As your organization develops their list similar to the one above, prioritization and elimination sessions will lead you to a best few focus from which you can refine your e-procurement goals and or resolutions for 2010. Please use the above guidelines as a source for your thinking. Simple goals written down are the most achievable. During the balance of this week, we will focus on many of the above five areas in more detail.

We appreciate and look forward to your comments

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SafeSourcing Announces New Software Version 1.5

Tuesday, November 24th, 2009

SafeSourcing is pleased to announce the simultaneous launch of our industry leading SafeSourceIt ? e-procurement software suite upgrades – Releases 1.4 and 1.5.

Releases 1.4 and 1.5, which are now in full production, offer many advanced tools that enhance support of the procurement practices of retail procurement professionals and their suppliers. The new releases allow for faster event setup for administrators in addition to a number of powerful new features that include:

? Flexible quote capability for suppliers
? Automated supplier management and tracking
? Improved supplier search capability
? Increase in the number of countries and suppliers that are included in the SafeSourceIt? retail supplier database

According to SafeSourcing CEO Ron Southard, ?These releases allow us to run more e-negotiation events over a shorter period of time by significantly reducing the amount of time required of a SafeSourcing customer service associate to build and host an event. Additionally, suppliers benefit because it takes less time to enter and react to bid data in optimizing their offers.?

SafeSourcing provides information and services to customers through e-procurement tools that drive reduced costs, higher quality and an immediate improvement in earnings while pro-actively supporting consumer safety and environmental standards in the global supply chain.
Releases 1.4 and 1.5 support the SafeSourcing mission to provide disruptive technology for retail procurement professionals, continually refreshing its solutions as requests for change are received and tool optimization is required by the retail industry.

We look forward to and appreacite your comments.

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SafeSourcing Website experiences significant traffic growth.

Thursday, October 22nd, 2009

During the last ninety day period the SafeSourcing website www.safesourcing.com has experienced significant growth globally. According to a number of rating services including Alexa and Google Analytics our website has had visitors from thirty seven (37) countries. Our reach which is a percentage measure of global internet users has grown 130%. Our traffic rank has increased 168% and our page views have increased 150%.

This growth places us amongst the top websites in the procurement space. Spend Matters and Sourcing Innovation continue to be the ranking leaders in our space. Both are required daily reading for this author.

We are very proud of our growth as it indicates that SafeSourcing is providing valuable content to regular visitors as well as registered members. We are also enjoying a good mix of both returning and new users. In reviewing these data the entire website is being explored on a regular basis including the following areas.

1. Sourcebook our professional social network for procurement professionals.
2. The SafeSourcing Wiki
3. The SafeSourcing daily Blog
4. SafeSourcing environment and safety alerts
5. SafeSourcing specifications template library
6. The SafeSourceIt? Supplier Database
7. The SafeSourcing Query tool
8. SafeSourcing Product Information Sheets
9. SafeSourcing White Papers
10. SafeSourcing Press Releases.

Thank you to those of you that have allowed us to achieve this growth.

As always, we look forward to and appreciate your comments.

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