Category Archives: Vendor Review

iValua: Proving Their Mettle with Source to Settle, Part I

When we last covered iValua in 2010, they were one of the few providers tackling end-to-end sourcing and procurement in a single suite of integrated modules built on one common platform. We noted in Tackling End-to-End Sourcing and Procurement, Part I that this French company had capabilities that, at least to some degree, addressed each of the core phases of the basic sourcing-and-procurement cycle except decision optimization and tax reclamation. The platform still doesn’t address decision optimization, but in the past three years, in addition to adding considerable intelligence for tracking and managing taxes, ASN (Advanced Shipping Notice) support, and customizable pivot-tables for bid and auction analysis, they’ve made extensive additions to many of their modules, added powerful workflow capabilities, extremely powerful UI customization capabilities in Design Mode (considering the platform is accessed through a standard web browser), drag-and-drop document authoring capability (also through the web browser) and round-trip integration with Microsoft Word, a comprehensive supplier view (that integrates all of the data related to the supplier across all of the modules), and the ability to easily define and load custom data tables for surveys, questionnaires, tracking, and reporting through built-in native ETL tools, among other enhancements.

Version 8.0 of the iValua platform, being released at the start of Q4, is one of the most extensive integrated native Source-to-Settle platforms that SI has ever seen, especially considering their recent additions for the management of services. It comes as no surprise that they now have over 100 customers globally with a 99% renewal rate, that the majority of their customers have migrated to their SaaS platform, and that their current growth rate year-over-year is over 20%. Along with bPack and Wallmedien, they are making a serious play to take over the high-end of the Best-of-Breed market that was almost eliminated (with the exception of BravoSolution, that does have industry leading decision optimization) with the acquisitions of Ariba and Emptoris. (It truly looks like the European providers are starting to pull ahead of the pack where Spherical Supply Solutions — Part I, Part II, and Part III — are concerned.)

iValua divides their platform into Supplier Management, Sourcing, Contract Management, Catalog Management, Procurement, Invoice Management, Expense Management, Reporting, and Administration. So we will cover the highlights of the platform with respect to each of these categories. Note that, in addition to the application dashboard, each of these modules has their own dashboard that is extensively configurable so that a user can quickly see the status of supplier efforts, sourcing projects, contracts under construction, procurement processes, catalog integration, invoice processing, expense and budget management, and performance reports.

Supplier Management

Supplier Management in the iValua platform consists of Supplier Registration, Supplier Performance Management, Supplier (Related) Document Management, approved Supplier Lists, and Supplier Risk Profiles (called Supplier Risk Indicators). The on-boarding process is similar to the process employed by other SRM vendors, document management is the process of tracking certifications, proof of insurance, and compliance documentation, and approved supplier list management is quite straight-forward so we won’t go into any additional details on this functionality. What is interesting, and powerful, is the ability to identify and track anomalies from expected performance, create improvement plans, and access a supplier risk profile based on environmental, CSR, and other user-defined indicators, as this is functionality typically only found in SRM platforms, and not sourcing, procurement, or source-to-settle platforms.

The supplier management tab integrates all of the data associated with a supplier across the entire platform. The user can quickly access the basic info (name, address, credentials, risk score, etc.), the lifecycle workflows associated with that supplier (with respect to sourcing projects), the supplier’s credentials, associated users, pre-defined reports and analytics with respect to the supplier’s performance, current activity, commodities and services being provided, financial and risk KPIs, and overall performance and risk rating. It’s a one-stop SIM/SPM shop.

In iValua, an improvement plan, which can be created off of an anomaly (which is a user-defined record that describes an issue that needs to be addressed, such as an exceptional late delivery, quality problem, etc.) and associated with a commodity and/or organization, is an action plan designed to address an (underlying) issue (that caused the anomaly). It consists of a sequence of defined tasks that are expected to resolve the issue. Each task has a type, an associated user who is responsible for the task, a manager who will ensure the task is completed, start and end dates, and other attributes consistent with the definition of a project in a standard project management application. It’s interactive, and as steps are completed, the plan, and status thereof, are updated.

The supplier risk profile capability is quite advanced. A user can define any type of risk that they wish to track (supplier, product, sustainability, financial, product, etc.), how the risk indicator rolls up (finance, CSR, etc.), and where it comes from. iValua integrates with leading risk profile providers out-of-the-box, like D&B, and this integration goes beyond simple financial profile providers and also includes an integration with a leading provider of sustainability data, namely EcoVadis. (You can even access the native EcoVadis profile direct.)

We’ll cover the remaining parts of the platform in the remainder of this series. Come back tomorrow!

Nipendo: Streamlined Invoice Management for Even the Largest Organization

When we introduced Nipendo last month, a provider of order-to-payment automation software, we noted that they were bringing O2P and P2P to the Mainstream and that they recently introduced rules-based end-to-end invoice reconciliation. In Nipendo’s platform, invoices can come in through the portal, web services, EDI, supported supplier networks, and Nipendo’s own Print-to-Cloud solution. The invoice data is then processed and normalized into the Nipendo system, compared against purchase order data, and validated against a complete suite of rules that include data format validation, vendor data validation, referenced document (orders and receipts) validation, tax validation, quantity validation, amount validation, and total validation. If anything is off, it is pushed to a queue for manual verification or correction. These rules can be custom configured as needed and can include automatic data normalization and completion when the purchase order and / or good receipt document can be identified and the line item data accessed.

When this invoice verification and automation is combined with their supplier on-boarding process, their customers, which include a large number of Fortune 500 and Global 3000 Multinationals, quickly reach the point where:

  • 98%+ of all invoices flow through the system,
  • 99%+ of all errors are caught,
  • 90%+ of all invoices are automatically processed without human intervention, and
  • 80%+ process savings are realized and maintained.

Even their largest multi-national Fortune 500 customer reached this point within 24 months, with 80%+ of all invoices flowing through the system in 12 months. A lot of organizations offer e-invoicing, but not all offer all of the invoice submission options of Nipendo and even less reach the level of processing and automation that Nipendo has reached. It’s an impressive Order-to-Payment (O2P) solution.

3PLs, Make Your Deliveries Click with Airclic

Real-time package tracking, routing, and route optimization isn’t new, as the big global delivery companies have been doing it for a while now, and neither is Airclic’s Transport Perform solution, but its tight integration with their new Route Planning and Route Optimization solutions, their enhanced support for multi-national organizations and international routes, and their improved end-user configurability is.

SI doesn’t review real time vehicle tracking, route management and last mile delivery software very often as it is not core Supply Management functionality for the average enterprise, that typically outsources this aspect of Supply Management to a 3PL which has this solution in place, but Airclic’s recent incorporation of support for simultaneous high-volume cross-docking, multi-driver cross-border routes, their new web-portal that makes their platform as easy to use as a multi-tab spreadsheet, and extensive configurability options attracted our attention.

One fact that comes through loud and clear in a review of their solution is that they understand the importance of a clear, easy to use, non-distracting, straight-to-the-point interface for dock workers and truck drivers, especially when all these people have is a small, primarily text based, mobile device. The application, which can be pre-configured with relevant supplier data, including whether the supplier is ASN-based or non-ASN-based (Advance Shipping Notice), allows the application to be customized to each supplier so that a dock worker or driver only has to enter the absolute minimal amount of information (which, for an ASN-based supplier, can be as little as scanning a barcode) and when additional data has to be collected, is presented with a minimal list of options to choose from. For an average ASN supplier, it’s select the supplier, scan the barcode, and, if the item is damaged, check a box, record the reason and, optionally, upload a picture. For an average non-ASN supplier, it’s select the supplier, enter the piece or item ID, an (optional) container ID, and destination. The application supports receiving, loading, migration of pieces/items to containers, container consolidation, returns, and depot transfers for dock workers and route selection, stop identification, pick up, deliveries, returns, depot drop-offs (for undeliverable items) and unscheduled customer stops for drivers. All data is collected and transmitted in real time to the web portal over the cellular network and updates and alerts are transmitted back to the driver in real time. In addition, alerts can automatically generated and sent to the supplier when a driver is getting close to their location.

Their web-portal allows the dispatcher to see the current status of every route, driver, dock-worker, shipment, and item. The routes are simultaneously displayed in text view and on a Google Map and either option can be used for drill-down. The interface allows the dispatcher to make changes in real time, and updates the drivers and dock workers as appropriate. If the organization has a route optimization solution, it can be integrated with the solution and optimized routes pulled in on the fly. If the organization does not have a route optimization solution, the dispatcher can manually define new and altered routes or use Airclic’s route optimization solution.

The built-in reporting is very extensive, with just about every report (template) that a dispatcher will need. There are route and route item reports, full chain of custody reports, complete item history reports, proof of service reports, inventory reports, order reports, GPS and container tracking reports, damage reports, route reports, stop reports, etc. They can be automatically generated and directed to the right individual.

But the best part of the solution is the administrative panel. Everything is configurable at a very fine-grained level of detail. Groups (which correspond to different regions, divisions, or locales with different operating rules), users, locations, handsets, workers, internationalization, routes, loading and delivery processes, can be defined and customized as needed – and the right version of the application that is localized for the driver and delivery location can be delivered to the right handset every time. When a truck is handed off from an English speaking driver to a Spanish speaking driver after a border crossing, the application can be configured to be smart enough to recognize the changeover and deliver the Spanish version for the Spanish handset pre-configured with the delivery options for the Mexican market. A multi-national will a lot of trucks, drivers, pick-up, and delivery locations will have to invest the time to integrate with it’s current Supply Management solution and to configure the Airclic solution to the appropriate level of detail, but it’s easy to see how a 3PL will easily save 400/month per truck. That savings, which approaches 500K a year for a 3PL with 100 trucks in its fleet, adds up fast!

Kinaxis – A New Paradigm for Real-Time End-to-End Supply Chain Management! Part III

In Part I, we re-introduced you to Kinaxis, one of the most interesting companies in the entire Supply Management space. Billing themselves as a platform for Rapid Response designed to assist supply chain professionals in managing their change-ready supply chains, Kinaxis is actually a very extensive, but deftly integrated, end-to-end cross-functional supply chain what-if platform designed to help supply chain professionals determine how to respond to various unexpected situations. As discussed in Part II, by integrating all of your cross-functional Supply Chain Management applications into one centralized control center application, it has the unique ability to not only optimize production, distribution, and supply network models but to also allow a user to create what-if scenarios in real-time that will allow the user to, among other things,

  • model current, projected, and variations to, demand,
  • plan how production would have to ramp up, down, or shift to meet demand,
  • determine what the impacts would be to other customers if a preferred customer’s order was filled sooner,
  • understand the impacts to inventory and production if a certain raw material or part were unavailable for a short, or long, period of time,
  • comprehend the impacts to new product development and introduction of there is a delay in production, raw material acquisition, distribution, or if marketing wants to introduce a last minute change, and
  • manage the change process associated with demand, inventory, development, or production changes.

The Kinaxis platform does this, and more, because they believe that the key to not only surviving, but thriving, in today’s dynamic, constantly changing, and constantly interrupted global market is to know sooner, act faster. When it takes two days to understand what the impacts of a supply disruption of a material already in short supply will be, that’s too long (as the chances are that your competitor will have locked up the remaining supply before your organization even realizes it needs it). And when it takes a week to understand what the impact of a requested feature change by marketing will be to new product development, that’s too long (as the decision will always be ‘no’ because delaying production will be too risky – and if that results in a key-feature being left out, like e-mail on the Playbook, the resulting lack of marketshare could be devastating). And if you can’t tell your marquis customer whether or not you can expedite their order the day they call, that’s too long (as the end result is that they won’t be a marquis customer for long). That’s why the Kinaxis platform was built to allow these business critical questions to be answered within two-hours or less, on average (in the hands of a knowledgeable user). Many simple questions (such as what if I add this order, change this ship date, or expedite this order) can be answered in just a few minutes — and the full details as to why can be understood in under an hour.

And now the Kinaxis platform does this on a global scale. When SI first reviewed Kinaxis, it was primarily deployed in the English speaking world and single currency. Now, with offices in North America, Asia Pacific, and Europe they are deployed globally in multiple languages and support multiple currencies. In addition, they have added mobile (tablet) support so users can access the application on-the-go, in-the-plant, and on-site when a disruption is detected and has to be dealt with. Furthermore, all of the data is accessed in real time in both the mobile app and the main application. This is another powerful enhancement as what-if scenarios can be re-run as soon as data is updated in the ERP, Inventory Management, or Operations Planning system. No more waiting for the regularly scheduled sync.

Other key enhancements include namespaces, which allow different environments to be set up for different processes, geographic locations, or what-if scenario sets; integrated project management that ties together the project management capabilities of both the Kinaxis platform and the integrated applications (that are already supported by Kinaxis which supports all of the major ERPs); attribute-based planning; variant Bill-of-Materials support which allows multiple options to be considered simultaneously; “fair-share” constraints and additional constraint modeling capability; and process orchestration (that makes sure processes that are supposed to happen in sync happen in sync and those that are supposed to happen in sequence happen in sequence) that allows processes and activities to be defined and compiled in a logical, project-like, manner (that is intuitive to anyone used to using traditional project management tools).

What Kinaxis has built is a framework for modern enterprise-class end-to-end Supply Chain Management through a consolidated control center. It doesn’t replace your ERP, e-Sourcing, e-Procurement, Logistics and Transportation Management, Warehouse and Inventory Management, Trade Management, SRM and Visibility solutions — it allows you to take your operations to the next level by orchestrating their capabilities in an entirely new way (and, in fact, the Kinaxis system won’t reach it’s true potential unless your organization has most, if not all, of these systems in place). If all you have is a suite of best-in-class Supply Management applications, even if each application is 2.0, or even approaching 3.0, your Supply (Chain) Management organization as a whole is still 1.0 as it hasn’t mastered true process orchestration and functional collaboration. This is what Kinaxis gives you, if you are ready and prepared to embark upon the journey.

Kinaxis – A New Paradigm for Real-Time End-to-End Supply Chain Management! Part II

Yesterday, in Part I, we re-introduced you to Kinaxis, one of the most interesting companies in the entire Supply Management space. Billing themselves as a platform for Rapid Response designed to assist supply chain professionals in managing their change-ready supply chains, it is actually a very extensive, but deftly integrated end-to-end cross-functional supply chain what-if platform designed to help supply chain professionals determine how to respond to various unexpected situations.

How do they do it? The built a platform that functions as a Global Control Tower for your supply management operation by integrating all of your cross-functional Supply Chain Management (SCM) applications into one centralized control center application that allows you to access all of your data through one centralized application and

  • model current, projected, and variations to, demand,
  • plan how production would have to ramp up, down, or shift to meet demand,
  • determine what the impacts would be to other customers if a preferred customer’s order was filled sooner,
  • understand the impacts to inventory and production if a certain raw material or part were unavailable for a short, or long, period of time,
  • comprehend the impacts to new product development and introduction of there is a delay in production, raw material acquisition, distribution, or if marketing wants to introduce a last minute change, and
  • manage the change process associated with demand, inventory, development, or production changes

among other capabilities. By integrating all of your key SCM applications, including your ERP, transportation and warehouse management, SRM (Supplier Relationship Management), demand planning, and S&OP systems, it can construct elaborate supply chain models that link inputs, outputs, and resources that can answer these questions.

For example, by integrating your ERP/Inventory System with your order management system, it can not only generate an optimization model that can be used to create a distribution plan that minimizes the number of late shipments or missed orders, but automatically generate what-if scenarios that demonstrate what will happen if a certain customer order is given priority. It might be the case that accelerating an order for one customer will cause orders for 10 customers to be late due to volume requirements or production times.

In addition, because it can model dependencies and production cycles, it can also immediately calculate what would happen if a raw material shipment to your supplier’s production facility is six weeks late. It can immediately calculate how many customer orders would be missed or late, the impact on revenue, and the associated loss based upon inventory carrying costs, overhead costs, and workforce costs, among others. Thus, if your organization has a good visibility solution in place, the minute that a disruption is detected it can begin to calculate the impact, and within an hour understand the extent of the associated loss. Plus, it can start modelling the extent that the loss can be countered with each mitigation option the organization can identify using the what-if modelling capability to generate variant scenarios and analyze the associated costs and profits. Thus, if the organization can identify three different sources of replacement supply with different lead times and costs, it can use the Kinaxis platform to determine which option is best in a matter of hours and get on it.

And the best part of all is that the application is as easy to use as a multi-tab spreadsheet. They built a spreadsheet like interface that is familiar to Supply Management professionals with extensive drill-down capability, a visual supply chain network model, and visual reporting capabilities. The interface, which can display multiple linked spreadsheets automatically, and highlight where you are in the master sheet when you are drilling into a sub-sheet, automatically highlights warning situations, including late shipments, overruns, and projected losses. And if you’re not sure what to do, the built-in help not only explains every column, shading, and warning, but how to easily create new what-if scenarios (as a copy of the current scenario) where you can calculate the impacts of adding orders, removing inventory, changing shipments, etc.

The modeling and real-time optimization of the inventory, demand planning, and order management functionality is unique in the supply management space, but its not for the feint of heart.

Although the application is available on-demand, it’s not like an e-Sourcing or e-Procurement solution where you can start using it as soon as they create an instance for you. In order for your organization to experience the full potential of the platform, which has the potential to save a multi-billion dollar Global 3000 hundreds of millions of dollars, a few things have to happen:

  • all of your Supply and Operations Management applications have to be integrated,
  • the models have to be tailored to your business rules, processes, and constraints, and
  • the cross-functional team members critical to each function that is to be modelled and each task that is to be performed have to be trained on what the platform needs and how to use it.

This doesn’t happen overnight, and for the Global 3000, doesn’t happen for six figures either. While many of today’s on-demand Supply Management applications in e-Sourcing, e-Procurement, SRM, etc. can be obtained and implemented by a Global 3000 in the six-figure range, this isn’t the case for this type of a solution. Kinaxis has put ERP to shame where complexity is concerned. When you consider how much the application can do, ERPs, which are considered by most system integrators to be the most daunting integration projects in the private sector, look like simple App Store app installs in comparison. And, unlike ERP providers and integrators, they have a much better track record (with double digit revenue growth seven years running). They built their platform, and business, slowly — taking the time to understand the requirements and get it right. In other words, this isn’t a solution for an organization wanting a quick fix. It’s a solution for an organization that wants the ability to plan, and respond, in the long term. So where the mid-market is concerned, Kinaxis is for those organizations that are willing to make the effort and commitment it takes to become a market leader.