{"id":3189,"date":"2012-10-05T18:03:00","date_gmt":"2012-10-05T18:03:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/2012\/10\/05\/the-nuts-bolts-of-implementing-a-spend-visibility-solution\/"},"modified":"2021-07-06T08:40:36","modified_gmt":"2021-07-06T12:40:36","slug":"the-nuts-bolts-of-implementing-a-spend-visibility-solution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/blog\/the-nuts-bolts-of-implementing-a-spend-visibility-solution\/","title":{"rendered":"The Nuts & Bolts of Implementing a Spend Visibility Solution"},"content":{"rendered":"

Our friends over at Sourcing Innovation, in conjunction with one of their sponsors, have released arguably the most detailed eBook on implementing a spend visibility solution ever.\u00a0 It is entitled \u201cSpend Visibility:\u00a0 An Implementation Guide\u201d and I\u2019m going to review some of the more interesting aspects of the eBook here and then tell you how you can get your free copy.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t miss updates on Procurement & Supply Chain, Subscribe here!<\/p>\n

First, I have to advise you that this eBook is highly scientific.\u00a0 It really gets into a lot of granular details and, occasionally, some tech-speak that may scare off the merely curious.\u00a0 However, if you\u2019re looking to implement a spend visibility solution, you will appreciate this level of detail as the eBook covers a lot of the many, many landmines that one can encounter when taking on that task.\u00a0 Obviously, it\u2019s better to identify the mistakes that are common before a project rather than learning them through making them on your own!<\/p>\n

The majority of the paper revolves around a 10-step spend visibility implementation plan designed to \u201censure that savings opportunities will be maximized year after year.\u201d\u00a0 The paper takes a deep dive into each of those 10 steps.<\/p>\n

Now, because this is a detailed eBook, even summarizing each section would be quite a lot for you to read.\u00a0 Therefore, let me quickly share some thoughts on my favorite parts.<\/p>\n

Data Aggregation:\u00a0<\/b> Right from the beginning, the eBook stresses the importance of identifying where all of your spend data resides.\u00a0 Even in smaller mid-size companies, spend data is captured in various places and, as a result, isn\u2019t easy to aggregate.\u00a0 Got a p-card program?\u00a0 Guess what\u2026you already have a separate bank of data that you\u2019ll need to aggregate with your ERP data.\u00a0 The eBook gives plenty of examples of other places spend data resides and, more importantly, some best practices on how to aggregate it for across-the-enterprise spend visibility.<\/p>\n

Change Management:<\/b>\u00a0 Despite the fact that this eBook is highly scientific, it does not ignore some of the human elements and challenges associated with spend visibility implementation.\u00a0 For example, it advises that \u201cputting in a spend analysis<\/a> system that \u2018makes analysis easy\u2019 may feel threatening to [a current analyst] if their job is to be \u2018the data person\u2019\u2026Change can be frightening, so you need to work to prevent pushback from these people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Merging Data:\u00a0<\/b> About 1\/3 of the way through the eBook, the authors shine some serious light on how data should be merged properly to avoid common problems that certainly plague the unsuspecting.\u00a0 From currency challenges to timing issues to more, the eBook alerts implementers to simple things that might get ignored, but can have an impact later.\u00a0 This is best illustrated via an excerpt:\u00a0 \u201cData draws from different systems may have different timing.\u00a0 You will need to confirm that transactions for the month of February represent the same range of dates.\u00a0 For example, one system might use the accounting date for transactions.\u00a0 Another system may use the check date.\u00a0 These will be close, but you will need to determine if adjustments need to be made.\u201d<\/p>\n

Commodity Classification:<\/b>\u00a0 This is certainly my favorite part of the eBook because it is very consistent with what Next Level Purchasing teaches in our online course \u201cSavings Strategy Development.\u201d\u00a0 I will be the first to agree that getting your commodity classification scheme down is one of the most important things to do to maximize the success of a sourcing initiative.\u00a0 There are plenty of great pieces of advice for doing just that in the eBook, including how large a single commodity\/category should be and how to determine where one commodity\/category ends and another begins.\u00a0 Truly great stuff!<\/p>\n

Commodity Mapping:<\/b>\u00a0 Once you decide on your commodity classification scheme, it\u2019s time to take all of that data you\u2019ve collected, bring it into one central place, and have commodity codes assigned.\u00a0 Sounds much easier than it is.\u00a0 In my experience, I\u2019ve built some pretty solid mapping schemes.\u00a0 But the mapping approach in this eBook is much more sophisticated than anything I\u2019ve done in this area.\u00a0 It uses a \u201cswiss cheese\u201d analogy and sends the data through multiple layers to ensure that an extremely high level of commodity mapping accuracy is achieved.\u00a0 It\u2019s easy to see how this approach can help get commodity mapping done right much earlier than a \u201ctry to do a decent job and tweak it later\u201d approach that many organizations follow.<\/p>\n

Again, I know that this summary is already long.\u00a0 But, if you\u2019re still reading, you\u2019re clearly interested in spend visibility best practices and I won\u2019t take any more of your time.\u00a0 Instead, I suggest you go over to Sourcing Innovation and click on the Lexington Analytics logo under \u201cSponsors\u201d on the right-hand side.\u00a0 You\u2019ll get immediate (and free) access to the eBook.\u00a0 If you\u2019re looking to implement a spend visibility solution, I don\u2019t know of a more thorough resource out there on the topic!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Our friends over at Sourcing Innovation, in conjunction with one […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":4061,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3189","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-procurement"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Nuts & Bolts of Implementing a Spend Visibility Solution - Next Level Purchasing Association (NLPA)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/blog\/the-nuts-bolts-of-implementing-a-spend-visibility-solution\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Nuts & Bolts of Implementing a Spend Visibility Solution - 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