About the Customer
The customer, a global leader in mining and minerals with 70+ years of experience, manages 80-100 annual tenders for critical mining services. These tenders are vital to operational success, making vendor selection a key part of their procurement strategy. The company recently embarked on a modernization journey, moving its systems to the ServiceNow platform to enhance security, streamline workflows, and optimize vendor management and contract processes.
Customer Challenges
- Source-to-Contract Process Deviations. Many procurement activities occurred outside the existing CLM processes, and due to a lack of a robust source-to-contract framework, the customer often struggled with non-compliance with internal protocols, leading to increasing operational and legal risks.
- Absence of a Centralized Contract Repository. A major gap in the procurement process was the lack of a standardized process to thoroughly assess vendor risks before awarding contracts. This lack of visibility and control significantly hindered the organization's ability to manage contracts effectively and meet its contractual obligations.
- Missing Standardized System for Vendor Onboarding and Risk Assessment. A major gap in the procurement process was the lack of a standardized process to thoroughly assess vendor risks before awarding contracts. The customer was looking to implement a robust system for vetting vendors before contract awards to safeguard against these risks and ensure sustainable, reliable partnerships.
- Time-consuming and Manual Tendering Process. The manual tendering process involved multiple disconnected systems that led to inefficiencies and delays in managing tenders. The company needed an integrated platform to manage tenders, assess vendor submissions, and automatically transition tender awards into contracts.
- Current Legacy System Open to Data Security Risks. The company’s legacy system posed significant data security risks, with vulnerabilities that were flagged as a potential cyber threat. The customer was scouting for a robust and secure system that will address the security gaps essential for safeguarding critical business data, ensure compliance, and prevent potential breaches.
Approach and Solution
The company sought an end-to-end solution for vendor risk assessments, tender submissions, contract awards, and post-signature management. Aavenir’s Source-to-Contract (S2C) solution, seamlessly integrated with ServiceNow, modernized procurement operations and provided oversight of all contract-related processes and a centralized platform for efficient management that allowed the company to:
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- Float 80-100 tenders annually, ensuring all procurement processes are streamlined.
- Assess vendor risk, ensuring only qualified vendors can participate in tenders.
- Provide a vendor portal for onboarding new suppliers, tender submissions, and contract management.
- Ensure secure, compliant procurement processes with audit trials and data security measures.
- Contract Intake Form. Aavenir developed a unified contract intake form - the Contract Planning and Recommendation Form on ServiceNow to streamline contract requests. It captures key procurement details upfront and routes them through automated workflows for review and approval, enhancing efficiency and team alignment.
- RFX Creation and Management. The solution enables the procurement team to create and manage RFX documents efficiently, assign reviewers, and attach relevant files. Once finalized, the RFX is scheduled and published to vendors via the supplier portal, with seamless management of updates or modifications through the republishing feature.
- Vendor Portal for Supplier Management. The Vendor Portal on ServiceNow simplifies supplier management, allowing seamless RFX participation for new and existing suppliers. New suppliers are securely onboarded with MFA and email verification, ensuring compliance, while existing suppliers are efficiently managed using their SAP vendor IDs.
- Vendor Evaluation and Scoring. After vendor submissions, section reviewers evaluate responses and attachments using a 0-10 scoring system, ensuring consistent and objective assessments. This structured approach fosters fairness and transparency, enhancing the quality of procurement decisions.
- Tender Award and Contract Creation. After vendor evaluations, the top-scoring vendor is awarded the tender, triggering a contract intake request. The contract is reviewed, redlined, and approved through dynamic workflows involving key stakeholders. Once signed via Adobe e-signature, it's stored in ILUKA's SharePoint repository and automatically activated (in the system).
- Post-Signature Contract Management. After the contract is activated, any amendments or variations are treated as changes, ensuring that all modifications are properly tracked. Active contracts are integrated into SAP for Outline Agreements, ensuring seamless post-signature management.
Result and Outcomes
