Former business-to-business superstar turned spend management guru Ariba Inc. on Tuesday announced a new module to help companies realize their spending objectives through supplier management.
The Ariba Supplier Performance Management module is designed to help companies manage corporate spending through performance measurement, collaboration and better supplier relationships. The software essentially provides a business process whereby buyers define, measure and enhance the performance of suppliers through proactive communication, collaboration and monitoring, said Ariba officials, in Sunnyvale, Calif.
Part of Aribas Spend Management platform, SPM automates what are currently manual processes in many companies. SPM provides processes for gathering, analyzing and improving performance by linking the setting of performance expectations at the sourcing and contracts level and performance delivery at the procurement and payment stage.
The end result is that buyers can monitor supplier performance to make sure that suppliers conform to contract terms. In addition, buyers can encourage supplier performance through business incentives.
Features in the SPM module include pre-delivered key performance indicators, scorecards and survey templates that enable the aggregation of supplier data from transactional systems, other stakeholders and suppliers across the Internet. An analysis template provides buyers with a fairly comprehensive view of suppliers spend, processes and performance data. A best practice SPM activity template helps buyers and suppliers collaborate.
The SPM module will be available at the end of this month, along with the latest upgrade of Aribas Spend Management suite.