Supplier Portal

Overview

The Supplier Portal is a password protected website that provides a secure entry point for all your suppliers enterprise wide. The Supplier Portal delivers the following key capabilities:

• Single Entry Point: ensure all suppliers see one face for your enterprise and have a consistent entry and touch point to your enterprise and resources
• Maintain Master Data: let suppliers have the ability to maintain all relevant master data. Periodic reminders ensure there is no out-dated supplier information within your ERP systems
• Relationships: allow suppliers to view multiple relationships and status of each, with your various legal entities and businesses around the globe
• Content Aggregation: integrate content from various systems to share with suppliers, such as purchase orders, invoices, RFx's, contracts, etc...
• Collaboration: allow suppliers to collaborate with you on various pre-defined processes or ad-hoc (e.g. upload catalogs, submit invoices, Req2Pay support, etc...)

How does it work?

The ESM supplier portal is designed to be simple enough for suppliers to use and understand without any training, ensuring that it won't become an operational nightmare for your internal resources. Any employee, within your global enterprise, can invite new suppliers by filling in just a few fields, the system intelligent agent checks automatically for duplicates and if none are found the login information is sent to the supplier to go onto your Enterprise Supplier Portal and complete the necessary registration. This global flexibility should not alarm procurement as the workflow defined within ESM can guarantee that no supplier will come in unless you approve it. Flexibility and control can now be achieved with ESM!

The supplier has the ability to provide certain standard information and additional things which you define, such as:

• Company and contact information
• Bank details
• Required documents, certifications, and licenses
• Answer questionnaires, you define, to evaluate their compliance regarding different policies of your company
• Agree to and accept necessary terms and conditions

ESM helps ensure that suppliers read messages and keep information up to date by establishing periodic alert dates, and sending out reminders as needed, keeping both suppliers and internal stakeholders informed. However for any Supplier Portal strategy to be successful, value should also delivered to suppliers as well. By using the flexible integration manager you can very easily allow suppliers to view the status of their invoices or even allow them to submit invoices electronically directly to Accounts Payable or your preferred invoices processing system. This is just one of many possible scenarios. The possibilities to enhance collaboration with the ESM supplier portal are endless and can ramp up as your organization and processes mature.