3 Ways to Track Vendors: Take Control of Vendor Management

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    CobbleStone's vendor management software helps with vendor tracking.

    When it comes to vendor management, efficiency and process unity are key.  A vendor management process that relies on disparate documents, spreadsheets, and emails for vendor key data, contract information, certificates of insurance, and performance data for vendor comparison may not cut it.  Such methods can leave organizations with a disorganized process that might lead to missed deadlines, failed compliance, insufficient payments, agreement breaches, and poor vendor selection.  Eliminate manual, time-consuming processes by successfully keeping track of what’s essential with vendor management software.  Here are three critical aspects of vendor management to track.

    #1 – Vendor Q&A, Rating, and Scoring

    During a bid process, organizations leveraging vendor management software can afford potential vendors the opportunity to ask questions.

    Organizations can use questionnaires and set specific due dates, so vendors would only be able to submit questions or answers within an organization’s defined time frame, based on their needs.  Once that date has passed, the organization’s system would no longer allow vendors to submit feedback, giving organizations control of the timing of their process as well as a streamlined way to communicate and track communications with prospective vendors.

    System administrators can configure their system so that notifications may be sent to users when a vendor submits a response or when due dates are looming.  There are also options for how organizations can respond to potential vendors.  Users may address responses one-by-one, or they may choose to provide their feedback on a spreadsheet or document, which they can make public for vendors.

    With the ability to control the weight of specific vendor criteria over other criteria, vendor response ratings and vendor scoring help organizations keep track of important rating information that can help them identify, in an easily comparable format, the vendor that may meet their needs.

    #2 – Vendor OFAC Search Data

    Vendor management software integrated with OFAC (the Office of Foreign Assets Control) for risk analysis, risk management, and risk mitigation lets organizations perform scheduled checks on vendors (as well as customers, partners, and employees) against OFAC’s Sanctions Lists.

    Software administrators can leverage ongoing checks with scheduled OFAC search and integrate search results with vendor records for centralized vendor risk mitigation and analysis.  Organizations can define whether or not they want to include AKA (also known as) entries in OFAC search that check for potential aliases or “previously known as” names for persons or organizations being reviewed.  Furthermore, organizations can establish a minimum percentage at which their system flags a “match” between OFAC data and vendor data.

    Utilize simple and thorough national compliance checks and risk analysis details for vendors at a glance!  CobbleStone Software introduced OFAC search integration as an optional, licensed add-on module with the release of Contract Insight® Version 17.6.0.  See the Contract Insight Version 17.6.0 video below.

     

    #3 – Vendor Certificate of Insurance & Other Vendor Data

    Vendor management software can improve COI management (or the management of certificates of insurance) and the management of other documents by allowing organizations to import, store, manage the expiration of, track data, and run reports on COI and more vendor documents.

    Users can set up data fields and alerts for vendor records and contract records, including those for critical metadata for COI documents such as certificate expiration date, insurance limits, certificate types, and more.  As such, organizations can easily track, manage, and edit key data in one centralized location.  Third-party integration may be available for the importation of updated vendor data if changes are made in an ERP or another system.  For a timely process, rules-based notifications and alerts can be set, so appropriate users can be made aware of key dates.

    Additionally, organizations using leading contract management software with integrated vendor management can import virtually unlimited electronic documents to both contract and vendor records, including electronic COI documents sent by counterparties, for example.  Intelligent reporting and analytics on extracted contract data allows organizations to create valuable reports so that crucial contract information can be shared with the right people at the right time.  Standard ad-hoc reports such as those for key dates, contract amounts, expiring contracts, milestones, and more, streamline data aggregation and encourage sharing and collaboration while reducing the need for IT support.

    A vendor collaboration gateway module can enhance the way organizations directly interact with vendors.  With a self-serve vendor registration portal, organizations can allow vendors secure access to published contracts, requests, documents, and more.  Vendors may also submit key data, documents, and other relevant files, including COI documents.

    Upgrade Your Vendor Management Process

    Stop wasting money, time, and opportunities with an antiquated vendor management process.  It’s time to strategically, efficiently, and straightforwardly manage vendors with Contract Insight®, Cobblestone’s highly recommended, robust, and user-friendly contract management software with built-in vendor management.  

    Contract Insight has helped thousands of vendor management, purchasing, sourcing, procurement, and risk management professionals from leading organizations and government agencies.  

    Take control with complete vendor lifecycle management that offers self-serve vendor registration, advanced vendor selection tools, game-changing vendor data tracking and reporting, terms and negotiations tracking, practical vendor performance management, and streamlined online collaboration.

    Do not hesitate.  Book a free demo of CobbleStone’s award-winning and scalable contract management, vendor management, eProcurement, and eSourcing software suite today!

    Make your case for contract management software. Download your guide now. 

    Published: 06/12/20
    Sean Heck

    Written by Sean Heck

    Sean Heck is Content Marketing Manager at CobbleStone Software

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