Challenge:

-  Redesign Corporate procurement from decentralized processes throughout the firm to a  functionalization model with ‘center-led’ oversight and governance over the sourcing, risk  assessment, contracting, purchasing, approval and payment of good and services.

-  Additional Objectives/Challenges:

o Mandated Cost savings from:

▪  Establishing an environment of spend discipline

▪  Identifying duplicative services

▪  Reining in un-concentrated spend – too many vendors

▪  Establish competitive bidding

o Competing priorities

▪  Vendor Management – Risk assessment, accurate records, governance

▪  Internal Clients – mandated/goal is speed to market

Selection: Visualization

-  I chose the tool of visualization to inform the firm (specifically senior leadership, the business  owners of vendor relationships and users of procurement services) of our automated future state  with a ‘Procure to Pay’ solution.  The process will include a vetted catalog of goods and services,  automated approval workflows, centralized order management and streamlined invoice processing.    The vendor team will be taking work off the desk of everyone who engages with a 3rd party – from  contract services through fulfillment to billing.

Application:

-  I started by depicting a diagram of the existing, decentralized state of 3rd party Vendor management  with the gaps and inefficiencies evidenced.  The slides progressed to an ‘Amazon’ like purchasing  tool, whereby business owners will put desired objects in their ‘cart’ for purchase.  For certain  spend, such as office supplies or contract workers, the user will be directed to a preferred partner  website, such as Office Max or Staples or other internally managed tool for that particular category  spend.  Any desired goods or services that cannot be located in the catalog will direct the user to  the Strategic Sourcing team for a separate procurement workflow.  Items ‘purchased’ in the cart will  be routed to the person’s manager for approval (and further upward if required by cost and signing  level authority).

-  This will be socialized throughout the firm via a variety of communication methods:

o Senior leadership and direct report staff meetings  o Business owner user group – town hall meetings  o Short videos announced on the firm website banner  o The ‘Community of Practice’ Vendor Management internal website best practice blogs

Insight:

-  The first several meetings have been going very well.  Most users are happy to hear of the help they  will be getting in the future with their procurement needs and didn’t realize there was an internal  group available to assist.  Additionally, we have received many appreciative comments of the  vendor ‘vetting’ activities that vendor management provides such as Information Security  Assessments, Financial Viability Analysis and Business Continuity Reveiws.

-  The meetings have also made us aware of the need to communicate this broader and deeper as we  want everyone to be responsible for 3rd party oversight.

-  We should weave some ‘storytelling’ vendor examples into our meeting discussions to better  illustrate opportunities for negotiation, contract & information security improvements and other  governance enhancements.

Approach:

-  As we finalize the selection of the system application to be implemented, we will need to engage  end users as to some of the optionality choices (albeit limited) we will make along the way.  Our  intent is to have an automated workflow process designed in the tool with a sample catalog and  test the user experience prior to going live.


Challenge : - Redesign Corporate procurement from decentralized processes throughout the firm to a functionalization model with ‘ center - led ’ oversight and governance over the sourcing , risk assessment , contracting , purchasing , approval and payment of good and services . - Additional Objectives / Challenges : o Mandated Cost savings from : ▪ Establishing an environment of spend discipline ▪ Identifying duplicative services ▪ Reining in un - concentrated spend – too many vendors ▪ Establish competitive bidding o Competing priorities ▪ Vendor Management – Risk assessment , accurate records , governance ▪ Internal Clients – mandated / goal is speed to market Selection : Visualization - I chose the tool of visualization to inform the firm ( specifically senior leadership , the business owners of vendor relationships and users of procurement services ) of our automated future state with a ‘ Procure to Pay ’ solution . The process will include a vetted catalog of goods and services , automated approval workflows , centralized order management and streamlined invoice processing . The vendor team will be taking work off the desk of everyone who engages with a 3rd party – from contract services through fulfillment to billing . Application : - I started by depicting a diagram of the existing , decentralized state of 3rd party Vendor management with the gaps and inefficiencies evidenced . The slides progressed to an ‘ Amazon ’ like purchasing tool , whereby business owners will put desired objects in their ‘ cart ’ for purchase . For certain spend , such as office supplies or contract workers , the user will be directed to a preferred partner website , such as Office Max or Staples or other internally managed tool for that particular category spend . Any desired goods or services that can not be located in the catalog will direct the user to the Strategic Sourcing team for a separate procurement workflow . Items ‘ purchased ’ in the cart will be routed to the person ’s manager for approval ( and further upward if required by cost and signing level authority ) . - This will be socialized throughout the firm via a variety of communication methods : o Senior leadership and direct report staff meetings o Business owner user group – town hall meetings o Short videos announced on the firm website banner o The ‘ Community of Practice ’ Vendor Management internal website best practice blogs Insight : - The first several meetings have been going very well . Most users are happy to hear of the help they will be getting in the future with their procurement needs and did n’t realize there was an internal group available to assist . Additionally , we have received many appreciative comments of the vendor ‘ vetting ’ activities that vendor management provides such as Information Security Assessments , Financial Viability Analysis and Business Continuity Reveiws . - The meetings have also made us aware of the need to communicate this broader and deeper as we want everyone to be responsible for 3rd party oversight . - We should weave some ‘ storytelling ’ vendor examples into our meeting discussions to better illustrate opportunities for negotiation , contract & information security improvements and other governance enhancements . Approach : - As we finalize the selection of the system application to be implemented , we will need to engage end users as to some of the optionality choices ( albeit limited ) we will make along the way . Our intent is to have an automated workflow process designed in the tool with a sample catalog and test the user experience prior to going live .