Rockville, MD — May 22, 2003 — e-Sourcing solution provider B2eMarkets this week unveiled a new supplier development and performance-management platform designed to help companies develop supplier management as a core competence in their organizations.
According to a recent study from technology consultancy Aberdeen Group and iSource Business magazine, enterprises that have implemented consistent supplier performance measurements programs have been able to improve the performance of their suppliers by more than 26 percent on average, and yet only 56 percent of enterprises have put formal supplier performance measurement procedures in place. According to the study, barriers to more effective supplier performance measurement included disparate data sources, labor-intensive data-collection processes and a lack of automated tools to measure supplier performance.
B2eMarkets said its Performance Manager module enables companies to develop strategies to manage an extended network of supplier relationships; track the performance, standardize supplier performance measurement procedures, collaborate with suppliers on performance metrics, reporting and improvements; and automate key supplier performance measurement activities.
Without requiring custom programming, Performance Manager supports company-specific definitions of scorecard structures, key performance indicator and performance category definitions, supplier parent/child structures, automated time-based scorecard generation and data collection, security access rights, data attribute definitions and business process flows, according to the solution provider.
Companies are able to report on performance data accumulated from such disparate sources as automated data interfaces, flat file data imports, manual input, collaborative team surveys and supplier self-reporting. Automated supplier score-rollups support visibility into any level of a multi-tiered supplier relationship.
In addition, the solution features configurable scorecard alerts and notifications that can be automatically routed to buyers and suppliers based on business rules. A supplier portal provides scorecard visibility, buyer and supplier comments, alert messages, action plans, surveys and other collaboration capabilities. These features may be integrated with other internal or external portal providers through single sign-on capabilities.
Optional capabilities in the new module include supplier development strategies, business process guides, end-user coaching, and action and improvement planning, as well as project and task planning. A company can implement these features according to the level of need or uniqueness of any supplier or commodity relationship.
Performance Manager is generally available as a standalone module or as part of B2eMarkets' integrated Supply Management Solution Suite.
B2eMarkets made news earlier this week with its purchase of rival Diligent Systems and the addition of Diligent's contract management solution to its line up. (See related story.)
Read the iSourceonline article "Best Practices for Supplier Performance Management" for more information on the Aberdeen/iSource Business study "The Supplier Performance Measurement Benchmarking Report: Measuring Supply Chain Success."
