Category Archives: Lyrics

It’s 24/7 for Robbie and the Coupa Factory, Part I

Since we last checked in on Robbie and the Coupa Factory last summer, the Coupa Oompa-Loompas have been coding up a storm developing Release Nine, in full deployment, and the upcoming Release Ten, to be released in Q4. Even though it’s been almost four years since we had Davie and the Coupa Factory and seven years since we had Procurement Independence, the Oompa-Loompas are coding like they’re still a start-up trying to build a product to take on the big guys, even though they’re already there with over 350 customers that do business in 17 languages, 40 countries, and 150 currencies with over 650,000 suppliers. It’s time to update the song (which first appeared in Davie and the Coupa Factory)!

Oompa Loompa Doom-pa-de-do
We can’t stop building products for you!
Oompa Loompa Doom-pa-dah-dee
If you are wise you’ll try it for free.

What do you get when you have lots of cash?
Filling coffers and enlarging the stash?
Teams of developers who never sleep.
Making the app work on Android’s heap.

For accessibility.

Oompa Loompa Doom-pa-dee-dar
If you are willing, you will go far
You will live in happiness too
Like the Oompa Loompa Doom-pa-dee-do

Oompa Loompa Doom-pa-de-do
We’re at release nine but we can not stop.
Oompa Loompa Doom-pa-dah-dock
Coding improvements around the clock.

Rapid expenses, enforced policies.
Frictionless invoices, support for AP.
Enhanced catalogs, a universal cart.
Taking Procurement to state of the art.

As we make your process smart.

Oompa Loompa Doom-pa-de-dart
But here at Coupa, that’s just the start.
Now you will source in happiness too.
Like the Oompa-Loompa doom-pa-dee-do

Oompa Loompa Doom-pa-de-do
We now have new e-Sourcing for you.
Oompa Loompa Doom-pa-de-door
It’s integrated, savings will soar.

We’re Source to Procure, and Procure to Source.
We’re true end-to-end, ’cause we stay the course.
To get all your spend managed for you.
Is the goal of the Oompa Loompa too.

Oompa Loompa Doom-pa-de-do
We can’t stop bulding products for you!
Oompa Loompa Doom-pa-dah-dee
If you are wise you’ll try it for free.

Just like the original, this is to the tune of the Oompa Loompa chant, as first heard in Willie Wonka & the Chocolate Factory.

Come back tomorrow for a deep(er) foray into Release 9!

I Am the Very Model of a Modern Global Sourceror!


I am the very model of a modern Global Sourceror,
With information analytic, subjective, and objector,
I know the rights of charter, and I quote the rates historical
From Vancouver to Singapore, in order categorical;

I’m very well acquainted, too, with matters mathematical,
I understand equations, both the lin’r and quadratical,
About scenarios optimized, I’m teeming with a lot o’ news,
With many baseline costs for the choice of the blue ocean routes.

From the Global-Sourceror’s Song, included below

And on a more serious note, Soheila Lunney, co-author of The Procurement Game Plan, recently asked a good question in her recent article over on ThomasNet.com “Are You a Member of a Modern Procurement Organization?”

A lot of Supply Management Organizations will claim to be modern, but many still have a ways to go. In her article, Soheila outlined some basics of a modern Procurement department that can provide you with a measuring stick for your own organization. If you can answer yes to the (vast) majority of these questions, then you too are the very model of a modern Global Sourceror!

  1. Does the head of Supply Management report directly to the CEO?
  2. Is Supply Management actively involved in high-level, long-term strategic planning?
  3. Is there a senior-management endorsed “Supply Management Governance Council”?
  4. Is every major sourcing process conducted with a cross-functional team that includes at least one member of Supply Management from cradle-to-grave?
  5. Does Supply Management actively manage its own organizational structure?
  6. Is Supply Management involved in the early stages of NPD (New Product Development)?
  7. Does Supply Management (co-) manage the sourcing of non-traditional and indirect spend?
  8. Is e-Commerce and e-Procurement actively used for day-to-day requisitioning and purchasing to maximize productivity, efficiency, and Spend Under Management (SUM)?
  9. Supply Management has (co-) responsibility for contract management, logistics, and inventory.
  10. The easy to use, end-to-end eProcurement system and corresponding compulsory-use policy has made Maverick purchasing a thing of the past (as the only time anything is bought off contract is in the event of an emergency or supply disruption and appropriate Supply Management authorization has been granted, keeping the Spend Under Management).
  11. Communication with major suppliers is paperless, from the first e-signature on the contract through to the final payment authorization.
  12. Collaborative relationships exist with all major suppliers and Supply Management is actively involved in Supplier Performance Management and Knowledge Transfer of best, and lean, practices to strategic suppliers.
  13. Supply Management buys globally from best-of-breed supplies and considers Total Value Management when deciding whether to home-source, near-source, or out-source.
  14. Supply Management has aggressive sustainability and corporate social responsibility goals in place.
  15. Communication is clear and concise across the board.

The Global Sourceror’s Song


I am the very model of a modern Global Sourceror,
With information analytic, subjective, and objector,
I know the rights of charter, and I quote the rates historical
From Vancouver to Singapore, in order categorical;

I’m very well acquainted, too, with matters mathematical,
I understand equations, both the lin’r and quadratical,
About scenarios optimized, I’m teeming with a lot o’ news,
With many baseline costs for the choice of the blue ocean routes.

With many baseline costs for the choice of the blue ocean routes
With many baseline costs for the choice of the blue ocean routes
With many baseline costs for the choice of the blue ocean routes


I’m very good at direct and indirect spend analysis
I know the HTS codes of products electronicalculous
In short, in matters analytic, subjective, and objector
I am the very model of a modern global sourceror

In short, in matters analytic, subjective, and objector
He is the very model of a modern global sourceror


I know our mythic history, Free Markets and Markets B2E
I answer hard acrostics, I’ve a pretty taste for oddities
I quote in elegiacs all the crimes of the major analysts
In auctions I can floor peculiarities ridiculous

I can tell undoubted RFPs from RFQs from RFIs
I know the croaking chorus from the mouths of the vendor sales guys
Then I can hum a fugue of which I’ve heard the vendor’s pitch before
And whistle all the airs from that infernal nonsense we abhor

And whistle all the airs from that infernal nonsense we abhor
And whistle all the airs from that infernal nonsense we abhor
And whistle all the airs from that infernal nonsense we abhor


Then I can write a shipping bill in Babylonic cuneiform
And tell you ev’ry detail of Custom’s CBP import form
In short, in matters analytic, subjective, and objector
I am the very model of a modern global sourceror

In short, in matters analytic, subjective, and objector
He is the very model of a modern global sourceror


In fact, when I know what is meant by “Dutch Auction” and “Japanese”
When I can tell at sight a credit letter from a guarantee
When such affairs as sorties and surprises I’m more wary at
And when I know precisely what is meant by “commissariat”

When I have learnt what process has been made in modern procurement
When I know more of tactics than a novice in an internment
In short, when I’ve a smattering of arbitration strategy
You’ll say a better Global Sourcerer had never sat a gee

You’ll say a better Global Sourcerer had never sat a gee
You’ll say a better Global Sourcerer had never sat a gee
You’ll say a better Global Sourcerer had never sat a gee


For my global sourcing knowledge, though I’m plucky and adventury
Has only been brought down to the beginning of the century
But still, in matters analytic, subjective, and objector
I am the very model of a modern Global Sourceror

But still, in matters analytic, subjective, and objector
He is the very model of a modern Global Sourceror!

I Am The Freight Container

I am the freight container
And I now just where I stand
Another freight enabler
And another caravan
Today I am your champion
As I have won your hearts
And I know the game
You won’t forget my name
And I’ll still be here
In a hundred years
As I’m still state of the artI am the freight enabler
As I have reduced your price
The things you did not know at first
You learned by doin’ twice
And you cannot replace me
No mater what they say
No one else can dent
by ninety seven percent
shipping costs compared
to loading freight impaired
by old bulky wooden crates.

Little did Malcom McLean know when he first invented, patented, and then sent the first metal shipping container on its way on April 26 in 1956 that it would do more to enable global trade than any treaty or global trade organization ever would. As pointed out in this recent economist blog that asked why have containers boosted trade so much, a recent paper by Daniel M. Bernhofen, Zouheir El-Sahli, and Richard Kneller on “Estimating the Effects of the Container Revolution on World Trade”, has disentangled the impact of trade deals from that of shipping containers and derived a rather shocking result. Analyzing the data from 22 industrialized countries, the study found that that containerization is associated with a 320% increase in bilateral trade over the first five years and a 790% increase in bilateral trade over 20 years. On the other hand, a bilateral free-trade agreement only boosts trade by 45% over 20 years and membership in GATT (the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade) raises trade by 285%. In other words, a trade agreement will boost trade 50%, membership in GATT will increase trade by a factor of two and a half, but containers will increase trade by a factor of 8!

So, not only did they greatly reduce shipping costs (by 97% according to the shipping records maintained by Mr. McLean who saw his costs per tonne fall from $5.83 per tonne for loose cargo to $0.16/tonne), but they have already done more for global trade than any long winded bureaucrats and diplomats ever will.

Rawhide!

Happy 100th, Frankie Laine.
Even though you’re gone, we’ll keep those (beef) supply chains moving, whatever it takes.

Lyrics (Sing along!)

Rollin’ Rollin’ Rollin’
Rollin’ Rollin’ Rollin’
Rollin’ Rollin’ Rollin’
Rollin’ Rollin’ Rollin’
Rawhide!

Keep rollin’, rollin’, rollin’
Though the streams are swollen
Keep them dogies rollin’
Rawhide!
Rain and wind and weather
Hell-bent for leather
Wishin’ my gal was by my side.
All the things I’m missin’,
Good vittles, love, and kissin’,
Are waiting at the end of my ride

Move ’em on, head ’em up,
Head ’em up, move ’em on,
Move ’em on, head ’em up
Rawhide!
Head ’em out, ride ’em in
Ride ’em in, cut ’em out,
Cut ’em out, ride ’em in
Rawhide.

Keep movin’, movin’, movin’,
Though they’re disapprovin’,
Keep them doggies movin’
Rawhide!
Don’t try to understand ’em,
Just rope and throw and brand ’em,
Soon we’ll be living high and wide.
My heart’s calculatin’
My true love will be waitin’,
be waiting at the end of my ride.

Move ’em on, head ’em up,
Head ’em up, move ’em on,
Move ’em on, head ’em up
Rawhide!
Cut ’em out, ride ’em in
Ride ’em in, cut ’em out,
Cut ’em out, ride ’em in
Rawhide.

Rollin’, rollin’, rollin’
Rollin’, rollin’, rollin’
Rollin’, rollin’, rollin’
Rollin’, rollin’, rollin’
Rawhide!

Rawhide!