What is Source-to-Contract Technology?
Source-to-contract (S2C) refers to the collective set of procurement processes adopted when sourcing products or services
S2C technology facilitates the upstream procurement process by standardizing and automating sourcing activities.
S2C technology improves agility, visibility, and business continuity for procurement teams. The process begins with analyzing the product or service requirements and developing a sourcing strategy.
Scanmarket's S2C Features
Analyze sourcing data with the click of a button, and run real-time reports on the following:
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Number of Sourcing Events Run
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Sourcing Cycle Time
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Number of Participating Suppliers
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Savings Generated
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Categories Covered
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Contract Status
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Contract Expiration Dates
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Supplier Accreditation
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Supplier Pricing from Previous Sourcing Events
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Supplier Pricing Trends & More...
Source-to-Contract Benefits
Leverage Sourcing Data
Eradicate the potential for human error in the data collection process. With quick and easy access to accurate sourcing data, decisions can be made quickly based on factual data, not intuition. Benefit-tracking reports show the true value and impact of sourcing teams, whereas figures would be diluted by the time annual figures get to the board.
Increase Spend Under Management
Procurement professionals are essentially automating and streamlining processes by digitalizing sourcing. Speed up cycle time, and increase the percentage of spend under management. For example:
- Click on a category to view all registered suppliers in that category will appear.
- The software will collate and analyze supplier responses providing buyers with one comprehensive report with all qualitative and quantitative data for analysis.
- Push RFx data through to another round of bidding or to an e-auction.
eAuctions have been proven time and again to increase savings and significantly reduce negotiation time. The average e-auction lasts less than one hour without compromising quality. Supplier onboarding and approval processes are streamlined as suppliers independently register by responding to questionnaires and uploading documents for approval.
Strengthen Internal & Supplier Compliance
Digitalization effectuates more structure, visibility, and control of daily activities. Sourcing processes can be more easily standardized using workflow technology, and management can access project status dashboards to see which projects are on time and which are behind schedule. Supplier compliance is optimized by having all data readily available online with reports, notifications, and flags to alert the buyer of non-compliance.
Improved Auditability
Audit logs show what has been done, who did it, and when. There is no need to constantly search for emails and hunt through spreadsheets collating information for audits. The data is readily available in one place including:
- Supplier onboarding
- eRFx
- Messaging
- Supplier responses
- Award decisions
- Internal notes
Webinar: The Case for Best-of-Breed Procurement Technology
Source-to-Contract Processes
Spend Analytics
Pull data from your organization’s existing Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and Financial Management Systems (FMS) software to cleanse, categorize, enrich, and normalize it. Machine learning and third-party integrations are much more efficient than manual checks subject to human error.
The enriched data is displayed across multiple dashboards that highlight spending spikes, savings opportunities (both operational and financial), compliance issues, and potential risks. Users can drill down and filter the data across multiple dimensions and levels of depth and detail.
eRFx
Automate and streamline the vendor selection process to award RFPs and RFQs in a fraction of the time of a manual approach. eRFx manages risk, increases visibility, and improves compliance, resulting in reduced cycle times and cost savings. Massive quantities of complex data points can be collected and organized to make data-informed business decisions. A library of templates and questionnaires within the platform increases compliance adherence and efficiency. All historical information is benchmarked for future sourcing events to enhance speed to market and more easily manage supply risk events.
eAuctions
Challenge shortlisted suppliers against each other in the highly competitive environment of an e-auction to drive down costs and uncover true market prices. Typical Reverse Auctions take less than an hour to run, meaning that weeks of face-to-face negotiations can be condensed into as little as 30 minutes.
Contract Lifecycle Management
Digitize and streamline contract authoring, red-lining, approval, and signature processes, while increasing the visibility and accessibility of contract data and documents.
Through the use of approved contract clause libraries, automated approval workflows, and eSignature functionality, a contract management solution can significantly speed up manual admin-heavy processes and eliminate paper-based elements. Reporting and dashboard functionality provides improved visibility and control of contracts, and expiry reminders help mitigate costly contract overruns.
Supplier Risk & Performance Management
Automate and streamline the supplier onboarding process by making suppliers responsible for uploading information such as certificates, contracts, accreditations, and other documents through a supplier portal, which expedites risk evaluation and the approval process. With all the supplier information in one place, your team can ensure all potential and awarded suppliers remain compliant and that accreditations and certificates are up to date; collect ad-hoc information from the supply base to mitigate against disruptions; and comply with new laws and regulations (e.g., Modern Anti-slavery Act). You can also monitor supplier performance against agreed KPIs.
