Daily Archives: May 4, 2009

New and Upcoming Events from the #1 Supply Chain Resource Site

The Sourcing Innovation Resource Site, always immediately accessible from the link under the “Free Resources” section of the sidebar, continues to add new content on a weekly, and often daily, basis. In fact, the total number of unique, active resources now exceeds the 2,600 mark! Unlike many “resource”, “best of”, or “portal sites” that are abandoned almost as quickly as they are thrown together, the resource site is actively maintained (and dead links are removed on a regular, usually weekly, basis).

The following is a short selection of new and upcoming events:

Conferences

Dates Conference Sponsor
2009-May-11 to

2009-May-12

The Responsible Business Summit

London, England, UK (Europe)

Ethical Corp
2009-May-27 to

2009-May-28

6th Trade & Supply Chain Finance Solutions Conference

Munich, Germany (Europe)

Exporta Publishing & Events
2009-Jun-3 to

2009-Jun-3

Global Sourcing after the Meltdown: In Search of Sustainability

New York, New York, USA (North-America)

Global Sourcing Council
2009-Jun-4 to

2009-Jun-4

5th Annual Innovations in Trade Finance Solutions

New York, New York, UNited States (North-America)

Exporta Publishing & Events
2009-Jun-11 to

2009-Jun-12

The Global Corporate Responsibility Summit

Brussels, Belgium, USA (Europe)

Ethical Corp
2009-Oct-23 to

2009-Oct-24

Ontario Institute of the Purchasing Management Association of Canada Annual Conference

Ottawa, Ontario, Canada (North-America)

OIPMAC

Webinars

Date & Time Webcast
2009-May-8

11:00 GMT-04:00/AST/EDT

Supply Chain Talent – Where Next?

Sponsor: SCC

2009-May-15

9:00 GMT-04:00/AST/EDT

Managing Cash and Cost Using SCOR Metrics

Sponsor: SCC

2009-Jun-30

14:00 GMT-04:00/AST/EDT

How do you select a software solution?

Sponsor: Vormittag Associates Inc

2009-Jul-29

8:00 GMT-07:00/MST/PDT

Successful Supply Chain Risk Management

Sponsor: QAD

which are all readily searchable from the comprehensive Site-Search page. So don’t forget to review the resource site on a weekly basis. You just might find what you didn’t even know you were looking for!

And continue to keep a sharp eye out for new content and even more new content categories which will be coming on-line in the near future!

Competitive Advantages of Contract Management Solutions

A recent article in Material Handling Management provided a good overview of why “contract management is a critical competitive advantage” for today’s supply chain centric organizations. When you consider that a typical fortune 1000 company cannot locate over 10% of its 20,000 to 40,000 active contracts at any given time, the importance of a good contract management application should be immediately clear. But just in case it’s not, here are seven more reasons a contract management solution is important, as covered in detail in the article:

  • Standard Contract Templates
    This can help to insure consistent contract creation across departments using standard templates with standard terms and conditions sanctioned by the organization’s legal department.
  • Organization-Wide Visibility
    This allows all departments easy access to contracts created by other departments. Sourcing can immediately query existing logistics contracts, R&D can review existing sourcing agreements, etc.
  • Status & Metric Tracking
    Certain conditions, such as automatic renewal dates, spend tolerances, limit quantities, and pricing need to be tracked and monitored for compliance. In addition, certificates of insurance, price adjustments, and escalator clauses need to be monitored.
  • Maverick Spend Control
    With a contract management system that maintains a centralized contract repository, it’s easy to determine if a contract exists for a given good or service, who the suppliers are, what the prices are, and what any associated conditions are. There’s no excuse for off-contract buying.
  • Compliance
    All your contracts in one place make it much easier to comply with operational policies, regulatory requirements, and corporate performance requirements.
  • Internal Controls (SOX)
    SOX requires that signing officers are personally responsible for establishing and maintaining internal controls designed to ensure material financial information is known to those officers. Contract Management helps a company meet that requirement.
  • Competitive Advantage
    For each dollar earned, as much as eighty percent is lost to procurement costs. As most of these costs are external expenditures, the strategic importance of good contract creation, execution, and monitoring cannot be underestimated. A good contract management system will reduce costs, improve compliance, and rope in maverick spend … giving you an edge over your competition.