Supplier Management: Profiles, Transactions, and Collaboration

Let’s take a look at different modules.

Now I have a supplier relationship management module. Maybe I want to onboard a supplier — that’s great. I could also find out the status of them through having these blue ribbons at the top of the screen. These are entirely configurable blue ribbons, so each organization is going to have something different they want to display in their ribbons.

In this particular case, I’ve decided to pick my prospective suppliers.

We also have a badging system — a handy system that allows you to configure different badges to say, “This is what I want from this particular supplier.” And if they qualify for that, it bolds out and shows a green button. That green dot shows that this veteran-owned supplier has a valid certificate, and it will expire on date X.

You could have as many different types of badges as you choose, and there’s all types of information about this supplier.

Let’s clear that filter.

We could also go ahead and look at the registration. Maybe I want to submit that registration to a supplier and see if I can get them onboarded. Great. This will have your company name here, and then anything you’d like to write to that supplier. So when they get the email, they click the little blue button that takes them out to get onboarded, and it will have this language right here.

I’m going to show you now what the supplier view actually looks like in the Raindrop Marketplace.

You’ll see in the upper right-hand corner that we’ve left Great Products and now we’re in the Marketplace. My name is Fred Burke. I received that request to get registered, and here it is — it’s been requested. So I’m going to go ahead and take a look at that registration request.

As we saw, here is the email that I received that you typed up. Any business information I care to type in about my company — maybe a list of commodity types, a description of what my company does — any additional information you want me to fill in, I’ll be happy to do that.

Then there are supplier contacts. These are the people who are allowed to have access and influence the Raindrop Marketplace on the supplier’s behalf. You can decide, as the customer, who has access, or the supplier themselves could delegate and add another user — for example, the primary contact, invoice contact, or payment contact. These are all configurable fields based on your needs.

Any documents you’ve asked me to send over — the customer has asked me to attach my W-9 or maybe an NDA, and I’m happy to do that. I’ve attached the file right here, and it shows who updated it and on what date. Evidence-based tracking is really important.

I can see here that I have not added the business license or the bank letter. Those are open action items, as well as the supplier questionnaire, so I’ll need to add those.

Any certificates you’ve asked me to provide — for example, a certificate of insurance. If you required conflict minerals documentation, I would need to upload that as well. I can see when it expires, who updated it, and when it was last updated. Your audit teams will love this.

And of course, questionnaires. In this case, I have a two-section questionnaire — section one and section two.

I can also ask questions to the customer, or they can ask questions of me as the supplier. If I click here, it brings up a public view of a question being sent: “Can you please finish your onboarding questionnaire? We need to get you in our system.” I could respond back to Dave or Ward and say, “Yes, I received it. Here it is,” and we can message back and forth.

These messages stay in perpetuity with the questionnaire. Even when people leave the company, the answers are still there. It keeps everything centered in one organized place.

Payment information is entered here by the supplier. No one is allowed to change that information unless the appropriate organization within your company approves the change. This protects against fraud.

If I wanted to submit this, you’ll notice a small tooltip here. At Raindrop, we sprinkle tooltips throughout the entire system. It’s up to you where you want them and what you want them to say. Here’s another example.

Let’s go back to the supplier relationship management module.

Now I’m going to leave the supplier view, but if I were the supplier, I would receive all my purchase orders right here. I could say, “Great Products, thank you so much for sending me this purchase order.” I can view the PO, see a digital copy, and access all associated metadata. All columns are configurable based on your organization’s requirements.

I could take that purchase order and turn it into an invoice — what we call a PO flip. I enter the invoice number, create the invoice, save it, and there’s my invoice.

Suppliers will also see their sourcing events here. They can see they’ve been invited to participate, download agreements, confirm participation, view lots, and complete qualification questionnaires. Answers and pricing update instantly.

Suppliers can leave messages, add notes, and attach supporting documentation, making the experience more valuable for the customer.

There’s a question-and-answer section for one-to-one or one-to-many communication, as well as announcements. Responses include pricing, documents, and supporting information.

Any scorecards requested can be completed here as well. With Raindrop, sections can be dragged and dropped anywhere you want — modern software with a modern user experience.

Templates, such as supplier onboarding, can be reused, and questions can be asked and answered as needed.

Invoices appear here as well. I can send an invoice to the customer, and all metadata is included. Two-way and three-way matching is supported, so if something has been received, it can be referenced.

This is the supplier view. If the supplier is asked to digitally sign a document, they can use RainSign. If invited to an auction, they can digitally sign and submit documents directly within the system.