TrueCommerce’s Supplier Onboarding Service Allows You to Maximize Your Supplier Adoption Rates
HOW DOES IT WORK?
Supplier onboarding can be a complex and arduous task, particularly when a large number of suppliers are involved. TrueCommerce manages the entire onboarding process for you, removing complexity.
TrueCommerce’s supplier onboarding process consists of three phases:
- The requirements gathering phase during which an experienced EDI consultant will work with you to understand the scope and objectives of the project.
- The adoption phase which encompasses the end-to-end communication with the suppliers, from first contact advising them of a new initiative (or move from an existing EDI provider), through to the assignment of an implementation consultant.
- The enablement phase during which all EDI supplier messages are tested to ensure compliance with the scope and objectives that were defined at the beginning of the process.
BENEFITS
- Enable your complete supplier network to exchange digital documents very quickly.
- Free up your IT department to focus on more value-added activities, without losing control.
- Increased speed and accuracy of information exchange.
Requirements Gathering
- Workshop for each document type
- Confirmation of business rules
- Implementation guide created
- Training stakeholders in benefits of service
Adoption
- Supplier list uploaded to the TrueCommerce cloud database where you can see onboarding progress
- Letter sent to suppliers to start the onboarding process
- Suppliers provided with online portal or EDI access
- Non compliant suppliers followed up on
Enablement
- All document types are mapped and tested
- Business rules tested for compliance
- Testing with EDI suppliers before go-live
Managed Service
- Supplier onboarding process is completed
- Support for the service is handed over to the managed service team
THE 4 STEP ONBOARDING PROCESS
Each of the 4 steps involved in the onboarding process is critically important in ensuring the maximum number of suppliers are adopted. Technical specifications must be agreed and implemented correctly, a transparent onboarding process must be put in place and the process itself must be constantly followed up on. These steps are broken down and covered in more detail below:
Requirements gathering
A supplier enablement project commences with a workshop for each document type that is in scope. We learn about your business objectives; these may be to improve invoice matching rates, eliminate manual input or simply reduce keying errors. We agree on business rules that you want to deploy to meet your objectives.
We will agree who, within your organization, is responsible for the various stages of the project and if required train the stakeholders to ensure that the benefits of embarking on an EDI project are effectively communicated. This enables them to work with their external contacts towards the common goal of onboarding as many suppliers as possible. We typically achieve an onboarding rate of 70– 80% of the target list.
Adoption
A project coordinator from TrueCommerce uploads the supplier list to the TrueCommerce Supplier Adoption Database. This is portal based and allows you, the Client, to follow the adoption progress.
Suppliers will receive a letter notifying them of the initiative together with logon details to access a questionnaire.
The project coordinator will follow-up with suppliers who do not respond. Once EDI capabilities have been ascertained, the suppliers are either given login details, if they will be using the portal.
Enablement
The implementation consultant will have worked with your technical team to ensure that the document types have been mapped and tested, that any cross referencing and business rules comply with the DLD and that communications are working between you and the EDI platform.
The consultant will then test the messages with your EDI-enabled suppliers and agree a go-live date with you.
Managed Service Desk
Once the supplier onboarding process is completed, TrueCommerce’s Managed Service team will be the main point of contact for you and your suppliers. The Managed Service Team will continue to support the supplier community going forward including onboarding and removal of suppliers from the network. Whether it is setting up and deleting user profiles, a question regarding message validation or just general advice, the managed service team will be able to assist you and your suppliers.