TEIM Work

The latest software release now includes TEIM (Trade Extensions Instant Messaging) and helps sourcing teams to communicate with suppliers and colleagues during sourcing projects. When buyers log on they can immediately see which suppliers are online and it is possible to send individual messages and receive instant responses. This targeted communication makes the sourcing process more efficient as queries can be dealt with immediately. It is also possible for buyers to instantly send messages to groups of suppliers , for example all bidders on a particular project. The address lists are managed dynamically so buyers do not need to make adjustments as suppliers start bidding, they just need to ‘send to all bidders’. An additional benefit of TEIM is that all messages are stored and become a useful record of the negotiation process.

“How will I award my business?”™

It sounds straight forward but often the easiest questions to ask are the hardest to answer. When it comes to designing a sourcing process, “How will I award my business?”™ is the first query any buyer needs to solve.

It may sound counterintuitive starting at the end of process but deciding the award criteria up front, forces buyers to identify their ultimate objectives and any constraints they have.

The thought process might go something like this:

Q. “HOW WILL I AWARD MY BUSINESS?”™
A. “I want the cheapest solution.”

Q. “That means I could be working with lots of suppliers. Am I happy to do that?”
A. “OK, in that case, I want the cheapest solution with FIVE suppliers.

Q. “I’ve heard there’s some good new suppliers. Am I happy to work with them?”
A. “Mmm? Good point. OK, I am happy to introduce one new supplier if the overall cost is 10% less than last year.”

The thought process might go something like this:

Q. “What about quality control?”
A. “Obviously quality is vital and it goes without saying I would only invite suppliers to bid if they could guarantee quality.”

Q. “That means we need a pre-qualification stage. OK?”
A. “Yes. And leave me alone, I’m trying to get to sleep!”

And we could go on.

The point being that the process of deciding how business will be awarded forces buyers to think about the structure of the buying process.  In the example above, a desire to have the cheapest solution quickly becomes the lowest cost solution working with a maximum of five pre-qualified suppliers, one of which may be new on condition that the overall cost is 10% less than the previous year. 

Trade Extensions, VP Sales and Business Development, Joe Critchley says, “Asking yourself how you will award your business and then interrogating each answer so there are no more questions to ask will give you all the information you need to design a successful process.  It’s important to recognise  you are not committed to the using the precise award criteria you identify, but it is a good way of establishing what questions you are likely to be asking at the award stage to ensure you actually collect the relevant information during the RFI and RFQ stages.”

Collecting the correct information ensures buyers receive the full benefit of the Trade Extensions optimiser in the analysis phase.  Because it is so fast, numerous scenarios can be analysed very quickly so buyers can ‘play’ with the data and answer as many ‘what if?’ questions they can think of.  In the end, buyers often find solutions they would never have previously considered and that is only possible if they collect the information at the outset by answering “How will I award my business?”™

Back to Skool?

We are very proud of our academic heritage as it, literally, provides the brain power that makes our platform so effective. However, to the mere mortals in Trade Extensions and beyond who were off school when PhDs were awarded in Mathematics and/ or Linear Programming some of the concepts are a bit abstract. Therefore in this occasional series we shall try and explain some of the mechanics that allow us to operate as we do.

No.1 - OLAP Cubes

One of Trade Extensions’ key strengths is that all its data is stored in OLAP cubes and not traditional databases. OLAP (Online Analytical Processing) Cubes make analysis very fast because there is only one set of data and it can be manipulated and delved into to find the answer you are looking for. The term ‘cube’ is slightly misleading because OLAP cubes are not limited to three dimensions and are often multi-dimensional. This means there is no limit to the amount of data stored in the ‘cube’ and data is compatible at every stage of the sourcing process making Trade Extensions’ analyses effective and fast.