Skip to main content
  • login
  • contact
  • language
    • English
    • Français
    • Español
    • Português
    • Deutsch
    • Italia
    • 简体中文
    • 日本語
  • search
X
GEP Logo GEP Logo
  • Company
    • About Us
    • Leadership
    • Customers
    • Partners
    • AI-First at GEP
    • Sustainability at GEP
    • News
    • Events
    • Culture
    • Mission & Vision
    • Awards & Recognition
  • Solutions
    • Software
      • GEP SMART  
        • AI-First Source-to-Pay
        • Procurement Software
        • Product Accessibility
        • Direct Procurement Software
        • Indirect Procurement Software
        • Intelligent Category Management
        • Digital Procurement Transformation
        • Master Data Management
        • AP Automation
        • Spend Management
        • GEP COSTDRIVERS
      • Midsize & High Growth Enterprises  
      • GEP NEXXE  
        • AI-First Supply Chain Management
        • Supply Chain Visibility and Execution
        • Supply Chain Planning
        • Supply Chain Collaboration
        • Supply Chain Control Tower
        • Should-Cost Modeling
        • Inventory and Warehouse Management
        • Direct Material Sourcing
        • GEP Multienterprise Collaboration Network
      • GEP QUANTUM  
      • GEP GREEN  
      Strategy
      • Procurement Consulting  
        • Procurement Transformation
        • Digital Procurement Transformation
        • Opportunity Assessment
        • M & A Services
        • Strategic Cost Management
        • Supply Risk Management
      • Supply Chain Consulting  
        • Environmental, Social and Governance
        • Socially Responsible Sourcing
        • Supply Chain Strategy
        • Supply Chain Diagnostics
        • Inventory Optimization
        • Network Optimization
        • GEP Total Inventory Management Solution
      Managed Services
      • Procurement Outsourcing  
        • Source-to-Contract
          • Spend Analysis
          • Strategic Sourcing
          • Category Management
          • Supply Market Intelligence
          • Tail-Spend Management
          • Procurement Support Services
        • Procure-to-Pay
          • Cost Recovery & Invoice Auditing
          • Accounts Payable
      • Supply Chain Outsourcing  
        • Planning & Forecasting
        • Inventory Management
        • Logistics Management
        • Supply Chain Data Management
        • Supply Chain Risk Management
  • Industries
    • Automotive
    • Chemicals
    • Consumer Packaged Goods
    • Energy & Utilities
    • Financial Services
    • Government & Nonprofit
    • Industrial Manufacturing
    • Life Sciences
    • Oil & Gas
    • Private Equity
    • Retail
    • Telecommunications, Media & Technology
    • High-Tech
    • Media & Entertainment
    • Software, Social & Platforms
    • Telecom
    • Travel & Hospitality
  • Knowledge Bank
    • Explore by Topic
      • Artificial Intelligence  
      • Digital Transformation  
      • Software & Technology  
      • Strategy & Planning  
      • Operations  
      • Procurement  
      • Sustainability  
      • Inflation Strategies  
      Explore by Type
      • White Papers  
      • Research Reports  
      • Bulletin  
      • Case Studies  
      • Webcasts  
      • Blogs  
      • Podcasts  
      • Insights From the Top  
      • Glossary  
      Global Supply Chain Volatility Index

      Latest Insight

      Navigating shifts Read More  

      Rethinking Supply Chains for Greater Efficiency, Resiliency, and Sustainability Read More  

  • Careers
    • Join Us
    • GEP Per Se
    • Campus Connect
  • Partners
   
  • GEP Software ›
    • GEP Software
    • ‹ Back
      • GEP SMART ›
        • GEP SMART
        • ‹ Back
          • AI-First Source-to-Pay
          • Procurement Software
          • Direct Procurement Software ›
            • Direct Procurement Software
            • ‹ Back
              • Bill of Materials Management
              • Data Analytics & Reporting
              • Inventory Management
              • Master Data Management
              • Quality Management
              • Supplier Collaboration Portal
              • Supply Chain Operations
          • Indirect Procurement Software ›
            • Indirect Procurement Software
            • ‹ Back
              • Source-to-Contract
              • Spend Analysis
              • Savings Project Management
              • Category Management
              • Contract Management
              • Savings Tracking
              • Sourcing
              • Supplier Management
              • Procure-to-Pay
              • Guided Buying
              • Procurement Portal
              • Catalog Management
              • Order Processing
              • Invoice Management
          • Intelligent Category Management
          • Digital Procurement Transformation
          • Payments
          • Spend Management
          • Master Data Management
          • AP Automation
          • Product Accessibility
          • GEP COSTDRIVERS
          • Midsize & High Growth Enterprises
      • GEP NEXXE ›
        • GEP NEXXE
        • ‹ Back
          • AI-First Supply Chain Management
          • Supply Chain Visibility and Execution ›
            • Supply Chain Visibility and Execution
            • ‹ Back
              • Inventory and Warehouse Management
              • Logistics Visibility
              • Control Tower
          • Supply Chain Planning ›
            • Supply Chain Planning
            • ‹ Back
              • Supply Chain Control Tower
              • Should-Cost Modeling
              • Demand Planning
              • Supply Chain Bill of Materials
              • Supply Chain Direct Sourcing
              • Supply Planning
          • Supply Chain Collaboration ›
            • Supply Chain Collaboration
            • ‹ Back
              • Forecast Collaboration
              • Purchase Order Collaboration
              • Quality Collaboration
              • Capacity Collaboration
              • Quality Management Software
          • Supply Chain Control Tower
          • Should-Cost Modeling
          • Inventory and Warehouse Management
          • GEP Multienterprise Collaboration Network
      • GEP QUANTUM ›
        • GEP QUANTUM
        • ‹ Back
          • AI, ML & Automated Technology
          • AI-Powered Data Analytics
          • Cloud Integration
          • Low-Code Application Development
      • GEP GREEN
      • Innovation ›
        • Innovation
        • ‹ Back
          • Emerging Technologies
          • Native to Cloud
          • Native to Mobile
          • One Unified Platform
          • Security
          • User-Centric Design
  • GEP Strategy ›
    • GEP Strategy
    • ‹ Back
      • Procurement Consulting ›
        • Procurement Consulting
        • ‹ Back
          • Procurement Transformation ›
            • Procurement Transformation
            • ‹ Back
              • Procurement Strategy
              • Org. Design & Implementation
              • Capability Building
              • Change Management
              • Governance & Performance
              • Processes & Policies
              • S2P Operations
              • Sourcing & Category Management
              • Technology
          • Digital Procurement Transformation
          • Opportunity Assessment
          • M&A Services ›
            • M&A Services
            • ‹ Back
              • M&A Clean Room
          • Strategic Cost Management ›
            • Strategic Cost Management
            • ‹ Back
              • Zero-Based Budgeting
          • Supply Chain Risk Management
      • Supply Chain Consulting ›
        • Supply Chain Consulting
        • ‹ Back
          • SUSTAINABILITY AND RESILIENCE
          • Environmental, Social and Governance
          • Socially Responsible Sourcing
          • Scope 3
          • PLAN
          • Digital Planning, S&OP, S&OE
          • Collaborative Planning
          • PROCURE
          • Source To Contract
          • Procure To Pay
          • MAKE
          • Inventory Strategy & Management
          • Operations & Manufacturing Excellence
          • GEP Total Inventory Management Solution
          • DELIVER
          • Network Strategy & Optimization
          • Warehousing & Transportation Management
  • GEP Managed Services ›
    • GEP Managed Services
    • ‹ Back
      • Procurement Outsourcing ›
        • Procurement Outsourcing
        • ‹ Back
          • Source-to-Contract
          • Spend Analysis
          • Strategic Sourcing ›
            • Strategic Sourcing
            • ‹ Back
              • MRO
              • CAPEX
              • Logistics
              • Packaging
              • IT & Telecom
              • Energy
              • Direct Materials
          • Category Management ›
            • Category Management
            • ‹ Back
              • Contract Management
              • Supplier Performance Management
              • Savings & Compliance Tracking
          • Supply Market Intelligence
          • Tail-Spend Management
          • Procurement Support Services ›
            • Procurement Support Services
            • ‹ Back
              • eSourcing
              • Supplier Performance Management
              • Savings & Compliance Tracking
              • Sourcing Support
          • Procure-to-Pay
          • Cost Recovery & Invoice Auditing
          • Accounts Payable
      • Supply Chain Outsourcing ›
        • Supply Chain Outsourcing
        • ‹ Back
          • Planning & Forecasting
          • Inventory Management
          • Logistics Management
          • Supply Chain Data Management
          • Supply Risk Management
  • Industries ›
    • Industries
    • ‹ Back
      • Automotive
      • Chemicals
      • Consumer Packaged Goods
      • Energy & Utilities
      • Financial Services
      • Government & Nonprofit
      • Industrial Manufacturing
      • Life Sciences
      • Oil & Gas
      • Private Equity
      • Retail
      • Telecommunications, Media & Technology
      • High-Tech
      • Media & Entertainment
      • Software, Social & Platforms
      • Telecom
      • Travel & Hospitality
  • Knowledge Bank ›
    • Knowledge Bank
    • ‹ Back
      • Explore by Topic ›
        • Explore by Topic
        • ‹ Back
          • Artificial Intelligence
          • Digital Transformation
          • Operations
          • Procurement
          • Software & Technology
          • Strategy & Planning
          • Sustainability
          • Inflation Strategies
      • Explore by Type ›
        • Explore by Type
        • ‹ Back
          • Insights From the Top
          • White Papers
          • Research Reports
          • Bulletins
          • Case Studies
          • Webcasts
          • Blogs
          • Podcasts
          • Glossary
      • Global Supply Chain Volatility Index
  • Company ›
    • Company
    • ‹ Back
      • About Us
      • Leadership
      • Customers
      • Partners
      • AI-First at GEP
      • Sustainability at GEP
      • News
      • Events
      • Culture ›
        • Culture
        • ‹ Back
          • GEP Core Values
          • Women@GEP
          • Diversity
          • GEP Cares
      • Mission & Vision
      • Awards & Recognition
      • Contact Us
  • Global Presence ›
    • Global Presence
    • ‹ Back
      • Americas ›
        • Americas
        • ‹ Back
          • English
          • Español
          • Portugués
      • Europe ›
        • Europe
        • ‹ Back
          • English
          • Deutsch
      • Asia-Pacific ›
        • Asia-Pacific
        • ‹ Back
          • English
          • 中文
      • Middle East ›
        • Middle East
        • ‹ Back
          • English
          • العربية
  • Contact Us
  • Careers ›
    • Careers
    • ‹ Back
      • GEP Per Se
      • Campus Connect
  • Language ›
    • Language
    • ‹ Back
      • English
      • Français
      • Español
      • Deutsch
      • Italia
      • Português
      • 简体中文
      • 日本語
  • BLOGS
  • Strategy
  • Technology
  • MIND
Contact Us
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  

Breadcrumb

  1. HOME
  2. BLOG
  3. STRATEGY
  4. TRUTH FOR SUPPLIER KPI SPM SRM
Blog Image

Why Supplier KPIs Often Can’t Capture the Whole Truth

  • SPM and SRM are the foundation on which the organization’s partnerships are made and, in some cases, broken
  • The process needs to be updated to efficiently measure supplier performances
  • The right KPIs allow organizations to have scorecards to determine which suppliers need extended retainership and which need to go on performance improvement plan

March 31, 2022 | Supplier Management Strategy

An effective and efficient supplier management process is one of the forces behind an organization’s consistent success.

However, managing relationships with suppliers through a well-defined process is not as simple as having a vendor management work group.

There are multiple workstreams within an organization that need suppliers to meet business demands as efficiently as possible.

It important to obtain the right supplier within the organization. There are various stages related to assessment, such as the supplier risk assessment, supplier performance evaluation, supplier risk assessment, managing the right KPI’s, etc are leveraged to vet a supplier. Most organizations have an over complicated process, or the process is not leveraged effectively.

Therefore, it’s imperative for business to simplify the SPM/SRM process. Simplifying a relatively complex process helps the organization understand the parameters on which the suppliers were evaluated, and its efficiency saves a lot of time and helps improve the process.

Organizations may classify their suppliers into various buckets such as contracted, preferred, approved, registered, non-compliant, deferred, etc. These buckets determine if a supplier is available for business or not, can they be utilized or not.

Therefore, suppliers are like a foundation on which the organization’s partnerships are made and, in some cases, broken.

Most organizations have a defined supplier performance management (SPM)/supplier relationship management (SRM) process that is supposed to yield the best supplier relationships based on the study and performance of a supplier.

It weeds out suppliers not cut out to be a part of the organization. This helps the company bring in new players or increase the scope of existing players.

Setting the right KPIs

Organizations today rely on various factors such as KPIs that are used to measure supplier performances and benchmark their best-performing and under-performing suppliers.

Yet, often, the SPM/SRM process is not a fully implemented solution.

This is because of the following reasons.

First, there are various SPM projects that go out on a mid-year or on a yearly basis, but may not carry the right KPIs that can effectively do a 360-degree supplier performance measurement.

Second, such KPIs are outdated and have been blindly reused over and over. The performance ratings, although qualitative, contain the same scorecard ratings and have no significant differences from past SPM projects.

Third, supplier self-evaluation has seldom been taken seriously.

In short, the SPM/SRM is process-driven and probably needs to be updated to efficiently measure supplier performances.

Asking the right questions

Some of the pitfalls that contribute to a half-implemented solution is that there is no adequate measurement to gauge how long has the supplier been with the organization.

  • What is the supplier’s demographic scope?
  • What is its contribution to spend?
  • What are the number categories it caters to?
  • What is its supplier spend percentage per category versus overall spend?
  • What is the savings the organization has achieved over the years with the supplier?
  • How many of them are based on supplier rebates versus negotiations on contract?

For a successful SPM/SRM, there needs to be an exhaustive benchmarking exercise done on the list of suppliers within the organization.

One would need to consider some of the benchmarking initiatives listed above to group suppliers within a bucket based on above parameters.

A scorecard to benchmark suppliers

SPM/SRM KPIs, when applied to these groups, and when their performance is measured, allow organizations to have score cards that can be compared and analyzed to determine which of the suppliers need extended scope, contract, retainership and which of those need to be on a performance improvement plan.

Another way of determining a prerequisite to an action plan can be a combination of supplier benchmarking methodology combined with a supplier incident management report.

The incident management report is a powerful tool to draw out facts pertaining to the number of incidents that have occurred with a supplier over a period.

Critics will argue that the incidences are bound to happen and are minor and there may not be a need to consider an incident report for an SPM/SRM initiative.

This is true, in some cases.

An action plan for unreliable suppliers

From the organization’s perspective, across the list of categories and subcategories that suppliers cater to, across regional and global demographics the accumulation of supplier incidences big and small can cost an organization on administration costs, time, and resources.

For example, let’s say we have a hypothetical supplier ABC Inc. The supplier has a contract with XYZ Inc for a year. In this year, there have been 15 incidents where the supplier has shipped wrong goods, damaged goods, goods that went to the wrong location and goods that have missing parts or components.

The downstream impact this on the organization can be daunting.

Let’s look at it from a procure-to-pay perspective. The receipt has to be reversed; the invoice has to be blocked; a credit note may have to be issued; the accounting, the receiving, the end user who may have an urgent requirement would need to dish out on the same item from a non-contracted vendor which could cost the company; plants can be shut down. Even if there is an organized inventory control and management system, unforeseen things can happen.

Logistics can take days if not weeks depending on the order and volume.

About these incident reports, these could act as a catalyst to the benchmarking effort needed for executing the SPM/SRM process efficiently.

There also needs to be an action plan for suppliers who are in PIP and did not have a great score card.

The action plan methodology helps the vendor manager assign tasks, sub-tasks and milestones to the supplier and monitor the contingency and improvement the supplier is showing.

If there is a need to close out an action plan, if the supplier is doing well, then another chance and another mid-year or a yearly review of their scorecards will determine their effort and they may or may not fall into the PIP process.

For those not able to close an action plan on a supplier on a PIP gives the organization reasons to consider terminating the contract on whichever grounds applicable.

This way, there is due diligence, documentation and facts and it shows the various methodologies used to retain or remove a supplier from a contract.

Author: Apurva Malewar

 

Tags: supplier relationship management , Procurement

Add Comment +

FEATURED POST

...
Inventory Management Software

Achieving Supply Chain Resilience With Total Inventory Management Solution

...
Supply Chain Strategy

Sodium-ion vs. Lithium-ion Battery: Which is a Better Alternative?

...
Supply Chain Strategy

3 Best Practices to Tackle Inflation in Supply Chain Network Design

    BLOG CATEGORIES

  • Supply Chain Strategy
  • Procurement Strategy
  • Sourcing Strategy
  • Risk Management
  • Miscellaneous
  • Supplier Management Strategy
  • M&A
  • Cost Management
  • Supply Chain Risk Management
  • Inventory Management
  • Digital Supply Chain Transformation

TAGS

sustainability
Procurement Software
supply chain strategy
Inflation
Russia-Ukraine War

By checking the box below, you consent to GEP using your personal information to send you thought leadership content – such as white papers, research reports, case studies – and other communications. GEP representatives may contact you to provide additional information or answer questions.

If at any point in time you decide to withdraw your consent, you may unsubscribe by emailing your request to us at privacy@gep.com.

Please refer to the GEP Privacy Statement to understand how we manage and protect your personal information.

Terms of Use | Privacy Statement

Contact Us

Ask Us

Send us your question(s)

RFP

Request for a business proposal

Feedback

Share your thoughts, comments and suggestions

Demo

Schedule a live demo of our software

Discover
STRATEGY
Strategy
  •   Procurement Consulting
  •   Digital Procurement Transformation
  •   Strategic Cost Management
  •   Opportunity Assessment
  •   Supply Chain Risk Management
  •   Supply Chain Consulting
  •   Supply Chain Strategy
  •   Supply Chain Diagnostics
  •   Inventory Optimization
  •   Procurement Transformation
  •   Sustainability and ESG Consulting
SOFTWARE
Software
  •   Procurement Software
  •   Supply Chain Software
  •   Source-to-Contract
  •   Procure-to-Pay
  •   Supply Chain Planning
  •   Supply Chain Collaboration
  •   Supply Chain Visibility & Execution
  •   Supply Chain Control Tower
  •   Should-Cost Modeling
  •   Inventory & Warehouse Management Software
  •   Source-To-Pay Software
  •   Midsize & High Growth Enterprises
MANAGED SERVICES
Managed Services
  •   Procurement Outsourcing
  •   Strategic Sourcing
  •   Tail-Spend Management
  •   Category Management
  •   Procurement Support Services
  •   Supply Chain Outsourcing
  •   Supply Chain Planning & Forecasting
  •   Inventory Management
  •   Logistics Management
COMPANY
Company
  •   About Us
  •   Leadership
  •   Customers
  •   Sustainability at GEP
  •   Careers
  •   News
  •   Awards
  •   Partners
  •   Contact Us

Fresh Insights, Now on Your Phone

  • GoGEP app on Apple App Store
  • GoGEP app on Google Play Store
Stay Connected
  •  
  •  
  •  

Latest Tweets

© Copyright GEP 2023. All rights reserved. Terms of Use | Privacy Statement | Cookie Policy |   | Quality Policy | GEP Logo