spend360 discussion document
DESCRIPTION
Helpful information regarding Spend360 uniques and benefits for all StakeholdersTRANSCRIPT
Title Spend360 Discussion Document
Date 08.09.2011
Location Nottingham, UK
Author Adrian Lowther
M : +44 (0) 7884 312005
Version 1.1
Spend360 Limited
Suit 4
54 Epsom Road
Guildford
Surrey
GU1 3UF
www.spend360.co.uk
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1.0 DOCUMENT HISTORY & LEGAL STATEMENT ................................................................................................................................................................. 4
2.0 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 5
3.0 DELIVERABLES ................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 6
3.1. EXAMPLE REPORTS ..................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 7 3.1.1. MAIN DASHBOARD ................................................................................................................................. 7 3.1.2. FINANCE DASHBOARD .......................................................................................................................... 7 3.1.3. CATEGORY MANAGEMENT DASHBOARD ............................................................................................ 7 3.1.4. CATEGORY DASHBOARD ...................................................................................................................... 7 3.1.5. TAIL ANALYSIS........................................................................................................................................ 8 3.1.6. INVOICE ANALYSIS ................................................................................................................................ 8 3.1.7. NORMALISED SUPPLIERS ..................................................................................................................... 8 3.1.8. CONTRACT DASHBOARD ...................................................................................................................... 8 3.1.9. ADDRESSABLE SPEND .......................................................................................................................... 9 3.1.10. MANAGEMENT & BESPOKE REPORTS ................................................................................................. 9
4.0 BENEFITS ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 10
4.1. SPEND360 BENEFITS FOR PROCUREMENT .................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 10 4.2. SPEND360 BENEFITS FOR STAKEHOLDERS .................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 11 4.3. SPEND360 BENEFITS FOR COMPANIES ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 12
5.0 SPEND360 ARCHITECTURE ............................................................................................................................................................................................. 13
5.1. DATA MODELLER ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 13 5.2. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 13 5.3. THE VIEWER ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 14
6.0 ARCHITECTURAL SIGNIFICANCE.................................................................................................................................................................................... 15
6.1. ADDRESS ACCESSIBILITY ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 15 6.2. ADDRESS QUALITY .................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 16 6.3. ADDRESS ENRICHMENT, REPETITION & IMPROVEMENT ................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 17
7.0 TYPICAL PROJECTS ......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 19
8.0 DEPLOYMENT SCENARIOS .............................................................................................................................................................................................. 20
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8.1. IMPLEMENTATION – WITHOUT ENTERPRISE SERVER ..................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 20 8.2. IMPLEMENTATION – WITH ENTERPRISE SERVER ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 20 8.3. IMPLEMENTATION – TYPICAL SCENARIO ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 21
9.0 SPEND360 PRICING ........................................................................................................................................................................................................... 22
9.1. FREE AND CHARGEABLE ELEMENTS ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 22 9.2. FLEXIBILITY ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 22 9.3. INITIAL CLASSIFICATION EXAMPLE ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 23 9.4. CLASSIFICATION AND REFRESH EXAMPLE .................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 23 9.5. CLASSIFICATION, REFRESH AND CHANGE EXAMPLE ...................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 23
10.0 SPEND VIEWER OPTIONS ................................................................................................................................................................................................ 25
11.0 SCOPING QUESTIONNAIRE .............................................................................................................................................................................................. 26
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1.0 Document History & Legal Statement
Circulation
Spend360 Contacts By Agreement
Spend360 Unrestricted
Ver. No. Date Issued Status Comments
1.0 06.10.2009 Draft Internal Draft for Review
1.1 08.09.2011 Update Customer release
This document has been created and submitted following our recent discussions, demonstrations or meetings. The views and comments expressed within it are
not necessarily those of Spend360. The document may contain views and opinions which are solely those of the document author and for which Spend360 is not
responsible in law. This document is not to be taken in any way as a contractual document. Any information provided, indicated, attached or implied in this
document is confidential and subject to legal privilege and unless agreed in writing shall not form part of any express or implied contract between the parties. If you
are not the intended recipient you are notified that any use, dissemination, distribution or copying of this document or data is prohibited. If you have received this
document in error, please notify the author immediately and erase all copies and attachments.
Circulation is restricted to this individuals and companies listed above. Any outline pricing, sample architectures, project plans, correspondence or other
information contained in this document are illustrative only, based on high level research, experiences and precedents, and can only be considered indicative in
the absence of formal acknowledgement by authorised Spend360 personnel.
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2.0 Introduction
We are pleased to be able to provide some outline information to you regarding our unique artificial-intelligence-based Spend360 offering. This offering is to assist
Procurement Subject Matter Experts and Procurement Stakeholders analyse their company spend.
This document is intended to provide background information and to facilitate future discussions and hopefully illustrates, in conjunction with other materials and
demonstrations we offer, our desire to partner with you to deliver Procurement savings and increase spend under management.
Spend360 has Public, Private and Academic customers, FTSE and Fortune companies, as well as smaller customers. Each obtains benefit from the use of
Spend360 to support their Procurement and Finance tactics. Whilst the benefit areas may be similar there is a variation on the priorities and emphases of each
customer. This means :
• Spend360 fits the objectives of the user(s) and their priorities
• Spend360 can be adopted by any size organisation
• Spend360 can be, and is, used in a variety of ways
• Spend360 supports multiple Stakeholders and disciplines
• Spend360’s ease of use and personalisation allows support for the real world – ie. Multiple category structures, Geographies, Operating and Business Units, Currencies, Languages, Cost-centres, Stakeholders etc.
The characteristics of typical Spend360 customers prior to them adopting it are summarised by :
• Lack of availability, quality, quantity, or completeness of spend data
• An overload of information, which is not, in fact, useful or relevant
• A sense that more could be accomplished if better quality data was available in context
• A sense that Transactional or Finance reports if they do exist, and are complete, are not in fact the optimum solution since they are not
“Procurement friendly”.
• A sense that greater insight provided by a properly classified spend map, enriched with associated data, would allow delivery of greater value-add by the Procurement Function.
Spend360 uses artificial (and a little human) intelligence approaches to Spend Analysis which dramatically reduces barriers to, resources needed for, and
accuracy of, spend analysis allowing more spend to be managed. If these benefits are of interest then the following sections provide additional information which
might be helpful to explain our approach further and suggest topics to explore for business cases.
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3.0 Deliverables
Below is a sample of the types of output we can provide. This is by no means exhaustive and is both highly customisable and user-friendly. Support for the needs
of multiple Stakeholders, with no overhead, and the ability for complex analysis and interrogation of spend data within 1, 2 or 3 clicks means that a user can be
drilling from a summary through to the supporting transactional detail, or using advanced techniques such as pareto analysis, within a few minutes of being
exposed to the spend data. 95% of users’ needs are satisfied immediately, with power-users able to create their own additional, bespoke reports without IT
inhibitors.
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3.1. Example Reports
The number of, and type of, reports we provide varies depending upon the scope and completeness of data provided by our customers. We cater for new
requirements easily, but users can also create their own reports over the classified data. Reports are available by Topic, by Stakeholder, Business Area etc. We
provide a helpful data extract template which enables you to determine which source data is required for each report. Data can be viewed and interrogated using
any of the information filters on the left hand of the viewer, which are common to all of the reports, or by a click on the data in any of the displayed panels.
3.1.1. MAIN DASHBOARD
The main dashboard provides answers to most queries in 1 or 2 clicks by
providing information with regard to the top suppliers in each top level
category, by period, Business Unit etc.
3.1.2. FINANCE DASHBOARD
The Finance dashboard provides information regarding supplier spend and
various key financial indicators such as payment terms, local currency of
spend, on or off contract and country / category spend.
3.1.3. CATEGORY MANAGEMENT DASHBOARD
This provides each category manager with the ability to drill into their
category to find out spend by supplier, number of invoices and on or off
contract etc. and interrogate aspects of category spend in context.
3.1.4. CATEGORY DASHBOARD
This provides a top down view of all categories from Level 1 to Level 3 / 4 for
use perhaps in context with trend or budget information and is useful when
filtered by period, Business Units, Regions and Cost Centres etc.
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3.1.5. TAIL ANALYSIS
The Tail Analysis reporting tab provides Category Managers with the data
about the top 10 (or any number) suppliers and the number of ‘Tail’ suppliers
in each category. This information can be amplified when combined with the
Parent/Child analysis or analysis of vendors who might supply more than
one part of your organisation. The output can then be used for rationalisation
and to support a programme of work for re-negotiation.
3.1.6. INVOICE ANALYSIS
This provides the breakdown of spend into invoice bands and number of
invoices per supplier. This can be useful to rationalise payment terms and/or
analyse suppliers who may be submitting incorrect or multiple, low-value
invoices which may cost your business more to process than the value of the
good provided. We provide variables and allow “what-if” analysis to facilitate
calculations in this and other areas. These can be added to the filters and/or
we can add them to separate, bespoke tabs for you.
3.1.7. NORMALISED SUPPLIERS
Another key element of Spend360 is the provision of normalised suppliers
and supplier’s global parent/owner data, which pulls together all of the
vendor spend into a single chart element (which can then be exploded into it
components part by simply clicking on it). To determine this we have internal
algorithms we apply to the list of vendor names we receive but also use
external sources such as Dunn & Bradstreet.
3.1.8. CONTRACT DASHBOARD
The Contract Dashboard shows the spend that is On or Off Contract or
Expenses, aspects of contract period analysis as well as normalised supplier
and currency of the spend. When combined with views of Business
Operations, Category Manager etc. this aides contract, compliance and
process analysis, putting into context for Procurement and other
Stakeholders when spend is under management and optimised. It can also
provide “factoring” variables for Addressable Spend.
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3.1.9. ADDRESSABLE SPEND
Once spend data is properly classified we can provide views on it which are
supported by analysis of what is Addressable spend. This can be done at a
number of levels and aids analysis and savings projections, “what-if”
analysis and prioritisation when analysing spend by Category, Business Unit, Country etc.
3.1.10. MANAGEMENT & BESPOKE REPORTS
Each customer normally has a set of KPI’s which we can accommodate in
Management dashboards or reports. Typically these are quickly built for
initial delivery and then iteratively improved by power users, or by Spend360
as projects progress. Examples might include budget and forecast
information, “What-If” analysis etc.
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4.0 Benefits
It is indicated by Aberdeen Group that only 20% of industry currently has complete, accurate visibility of properly classified spend data. The balance of
organisations make do with transactional reports, monthly or annual reports, or data-warehouse solutions that may be somewhat helpful but “are not quite right” as
they suffer from “Rubbish In – Rubbish Out”. Consequently, “not quite right” in this context means there is either too great a volume of data which is not visualised
and usable, or not enough, or there are issues with accuracy or quality. Some large organisations have the resources to – quite rightly – fix their problem at
source(s). Many do not and so Spend360 provides a solution to businesses who have:
• Poor line of sight of spend data which undermines Procurement improvement programmes
• Multiple Languages to support or analyse
• Master data issues
• Fragmented data entry, misclassifications
• Incomplete descriptions (or none)
• Inconsistent taxonomy or taxonomies (or none)
Consider the following statistics drawn from various professional bodies and industry analysts:
• 91% of purchasing professionals agree they need more, and better, data to manage their relationship with suppliers
• 82% of Finance Directors that have limited or zero view of indirect spend
• 60% of spend, in a typical organisations IS NOT “under management” according to CIPS
• 75% of organisations are adversely affected by current market conditions
• 55% of organisations have recently had purchasing budgets cut
• 59% of organisations recently surveyed had “aggressive” savings targets
• 9 is the MINIMUM average number of sources of spend data in most organisations
If these figures are familiar to you then you probably would benefit from Spend360.
4.1. Spend360 Benefits for Procurement
Our customers benefit by using Spend360 in different ways. Whilst there are commonalities we are able to support our clients’ priorities. Some focus on
aggregation opportunities, some focus on compliance, some focus on vendor rationalisation or “tail analysis”. The chart below shows some of the key reasons,
and the changes in importance of spend analysis over the past couple of years.
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The architecture and capabilities of Spend360 enables you to support Procurement-specific programmes and tactics due to:
• Rapid turnaround spend data – measured in days and not weeks, or weeks and not months - delivering key data to support downstream activities such as
e-procurement, auctioning and supplier performance monitoring.
• Granularity of the data – from management, dashboard views right through to the supporting detail in a few clicks making the data actionable.
• Flexibility of the solution – breaking down barriers to data collection and usability with easy to use screens and the flexibility to create individual outputs so
that individual requirements are met, but not at the expense of group or company-wide requirements.
Accurately classified spend data, combined with the speed of delivery, are the key elements to what makes Spend360 unique in its ability to deliver business
benefits
4.2. Spend360 Benefits for Stakeholders
The information provided by Spend360 can be used by subject matter experts in Procurement, but we can also support other Stakeholders, typically Finance. This
is entirely under the control of Procurement. The additional insight provided by Spend360 which, for example, allows finance-orientated views of spend data such
as payment terms, invoice analysis, compliance, supplier credit rating etc. is useful to provide a 360 degree of spend in a particular business area, category etc.
This means that different Functions can be exposed to the same data when making decisions. Our expectation is that the accuracy of classification, the ability to
interrogate data in multiple ways, and the speed of delivery supports three things :
• Benefit from existing plans – for example being able to do unit cost comparisons.
• Additional benefit from existing plans – for example using only approved suppliers or leveraging parent/child relationships.
• Additional benefit from new plans – for example rationalising multiple payment terms with a supplier
• Pressures to focus on Spend Analysis :
– 28% Track off-contract (“Maverick”) Spend
– 38% Place more spend under management *
– 40% Improve negotiation leverage
– 41% Identify/prioritise top spend categories
– 54% Identify savings opportunities within categories
* Spend under management delivers 5%-20% savings per each new $ of spend brought under management
*
**
2010 2009 2008
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Spend360 can double or even triple the amount of planned savings from existing or new sourcing tactics. Put simply the business case for Spend360 Spend Analysis comes from reducing effort to obtain enriched, accurate, granular, Procurement-Function-specific data, maintenance of control of spend already managed, and insight into new areas where spend management may not be optimised.Spend360′s ability to accurately classify and enrich multiple sources of spend data (whether internal or external) means that a business case is about workload savings, workload avoidance, workload efficiencies, increased visibility, financial and contractual compliance and many other aspects of sourcing.
4.3. Spend360 Benefits for Companies
Spend360 can ensure leverage of existing plans, and inform new, additional plans. The case below suggests possible percentages and savings in addition
to existing plans. For comparison the example also shows the corresponding increase in sales that would be required in order to deliver the same profit or working
capital contribution. The logic for this case is based on the architecture and capabilities of Spend360 enabling you to more quickly and easily support
Procurement-specific programmes and tactics due to the accuracy, usability and rapid turnaround of spend data to support downstream activities such as e-
procurement, auctioning and supplier performance monitoring.
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5.0 Spend360 Architecture
5.1. Data Modeller
The Data Modeller allows us to map your different types of internal and external data to a format which allows us to accurately classify your spend. This
component of Spend360 is managed and used only by us and provides a rapid means of removing the traditional obstacles to spend analysis in areas of data
collection - such as those described in Section 6 below, but which are normally characterised by inaccessibility or lack of complete, accurate, refreshed
“Procurement-friendly” source data.
5.2. Artificial Intelligence
The Artificial Intelligence ( AI) capability we have developed replaces much of the normally labour-intensive task of manual analysis, or the brittle, rules-based IT-
centric approaches taken in organisations that do not use Spend360. Much of the “heavy lifting” of rationalising, normalising, enriching and classifying your spend
data is done by a mechanism which “learns” from each engagement and enables us to infer and generate patterns which aide classification even with poor quality
data. The AI therefore provides a means of removing the traditional obstacles to spend analysis in areas of classification and enrichment of data.
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5.3. The Viewer
The Viewer is the user element of the system and provides access to all of the specifically tailored reports that exist in the spend360 environment. This is the
single front end that all users will access the data. There are two classes of user:
• Standard Users – which are free of charge - who can view and interrogate data, create complex enquiries on spend data by using intuitive filters:
o Explore files configured by others interactively in visually-rich tabs and filter and select with instant feedback/re-visualisation
o Print and export data via cut and Paste and auto-create PDF/PPT/XLS files
o Build preconfigured queries
• Power Users – which are chargeable - who can view and manipulate data and have more rights over the data than viewers:
o Explore, filter and analyse data and create and edit data sets, as well as define macros and formulas and variable assumption-driven models
o Continuously refresh data from source and customise filters, views, tabs, layout and branding
o Create and share files, secure and highly-compressed, ideal for internet delivery, with unlimited Viewers
o Design and export Flash Data Players, for embedding in documents or websites with full interactivity, as well as export in multiple file formats
More detailed summary of capabilities for users is shown in Spend Viewer Options.
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6.0 Architectural Significance
The following chart indicates just some of the hurdles which organisations face when addressing spend analysis requirements.
As you can see the hurdles appear to be consistent over the past few years of the analysis and increasing in significance. The key ones, which can be addressed
without significant process implications by Spend360 are data quality and access to spend data sources. Procurement is normally not responsible for data quality
and cannot necessarily influence it. Similarly Procurement does not necessarily “own” the sources of spend data. Not owning, and not being responsible for, spend data, but being expected to analyse and use it presents some challenges to most organisations. Spend360 removes or reduces these challenges and positively influences the other hurdles too.
6.1. Address Accessibility
The common claim here is that there is not enough (or too much) spend data available at the right time, whenever that is. The reasons for this are normally
numerous but are typically characterised by difficulties in obtaining the right data, in a useable, familiar format when it is needed, overcoming any political, fiscal,
resource, geographical or other organisational barriers. To boil this down you need several things to get good spend data:
• Knowledge of what you want and from whom and when, together with a willingness and ability on their part to provide it or for them to nominate (and
indirectly or directly fund) someone who will.
• Some standardisation, normalisation and rules explanation, building and maintenance rules by which the data is to be provided, sorted, and structured to
make is usable plus a set of complex, IT-centric conversion tools and rules or expertise to merge everything together and a further set of complex, IT-
centric rules to classify the data into something which represents “Procurement-friendly” spend data
• A willingness to probably accept that you will have to operate at the lowest common denominator or try and factor in an error rate or means of converting
Materials Groups, GL codes, cost centre numbers, incomplete fields etc. to something meaningful.
**
*
2010 2009 2008
• Hurdles to successful Spend Analysis :
– 43% Insufficient process automation
– 45% Lack of standardised processes
– 51% Too many sources, where and how data is stored
– 55% Poor data quality, extraction and aggregation
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Spend360 removes or reduces these barriers to a practical level since we can, within reason, accept most formats of AP, PO, Supplier Master etc data and provide you with a spend analysis “service” which requires very little IT involvement or infrastructure investment. Typically we receive multiple files, in multiple formats, from multiple places, or multiple files which have been made available for us to collect electronically. This is easier for most customers as it removes the needs for a large number of people to be involved and is “practical” as an approach to data which will only need to be refreshed periodically. It also means that once the initial data extract has been done it can simply be added to a schedule and run automatically at say a monthly or quarterly period.
6.2. Address Quality
The common problem with quality, if you can fix the quantity and availability, is that the sources of spend data are often incompatible with good Procurement-
specific requirements. This is because spend is a result of multiple other, interconnected processes where IT has been set up to support them. As a result you
might get data which has supplier details but PO or invoice descriptions are poor because of process deficiencies, knowledge gaps or compliance issues.
If you can manage to get all of the spend data you need together, without gaps, then the problem is how to get it from its different formats into a common format,
and from that into a classified and meaningful structure (or structures) upon which you can act. This is a form of “sorting” and typically requires a significant
contribution of time and effort from a dedicated resource just to try and understand the data. Bearing in mind the data is, as mentioned above, not normally the
province of the Procurement person doing the “sorting” this is a labour intensive task and often results in a series of restrictive, brittle “rules” which ultimately may
undermine the results and a hope that the business does not in any way change.
Spend360 removes or reduces these barriers by eliminating all human involvement in these tasks and passing them to an artificial intelligence capability which does the “heavy lifting” of rationalising, normalising, sorting and classifying the multiple sources of data.
This means that, irrespective of the source, wherever possible we can organise and classify internal and external sources, enriching the data, making it “Procurement-friendly” and adding perspectives to support multiple Stakeholders - for example Finance – not just by classifying it, but by enriching it – for example by adding supplier parent/child relationships and credit ratings.
GET DATA FROM BUSINESS A in
FORMAT A
GET DATA FROM BUSINESS B in
FORMAT B
PASS TO
SPEND360
GET DATA FROM BUSINESS C in
FORMAT C
GET DATA FROM BUSINESS D in
FORMAT D
Data :
AP, PO, Supplier
Master, GL Codes, Org
Structure, Currency
Conversion Tables
etc.
The format(s) can be
different system
types, data type s etc
but as simple as XLS,
CSV files and include
multiple formats,
structures, language,
currencies etc.
GET DATA FROM EXTERNAL SOURCE
E in FORMAT A
GET DATA FROM EXTERNAL SOURCE
F in FORMAT D
Get helpful template from
SPEND360
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Supplier Name Account
No.
Account
Name
Cost Centre Cost Centre
Name
Description Spend
Duplikat Sweden AB 5490 Vrinvigt
fvarbSDukings
material
K3016500 Print
Mvdindal
DVD-R taiyo
Yudrn Vit inkjet
printable Fvdr
Accent
$2,347
AI :
The Artificial
Intelligence matches
patterns and infers
classification based on
the wealth of “learned”
classifications.
Secondary Keys
Primary Keys
PATTERN MATCHING
CONFIDENCE
LEVELS
Artificial
Intelligence
UNSPSC
Code
Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 4
14111507 IT, Broadcasting &
Telecommunications
Information
Technology
Media
Storage
Services
Read Write
Digital
Versatile Disk
DVD
There are no rules to write, understand and maintain and the artificial intelligence “learns” from each engagement. What the AI learns is used to accurately classify and categorise customers’ data, support multiple languages, and plug gaps.
When we classify customer data we “ignore” any existing classifications and use the AI to analyse the data to look for patterns in full and partial records and descriptions and combinations of factors. We use industry standard classifications like UNSPSC for those organisations that do not have a taxonomy, and/or map this to customers’ own taxonomies if they do.
6.3. Address Enrichment, Repetition & Improvement
In order for spend data to be useful in feeding cost control, reduction or avoidance programmes it must be refreshed and in line with changing business practices,
products, process and environments (supplier rationalisations, mergers and acquisitions, new product introductions and so on).
If this is easier it is more likely to happen, and consequently this increases the opportunity for benefits of the analysis to be accurately monitored and delivered.
In addition data can be enriched with external data sources, such as parent/child relationships for vendors, together with their credit scores and other information.
The process shown below can be repeated as required and covers initial classification of data as well as refreshes. The time taken to complete the process varies
according to volumes and complexity but is always shorter and significantly less labour intensive than in-house approaches. Where in house solutions take months
Spend360 takes weeks, where in-house solutions take weeks spend360 takes days.
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We have a good right-first-time accuracy but we supplement the artificial intelligence (it is artificial after all) with some quality assurance for the small percentage of
transactions which cannot be classified or perhaps have been misclassified.
For this reason we also have a quality assurance and personalisation phase with customers which is typically measured in a few hours due to the drag-and-drop
reclassification capability we have that provides new “learning” for the artificial intelligence engine. In other words reclassification is quick, easy and one-time and
time to delivery of cleansed data is very short.
RECEIVE
CUSTOMER DATA
PASS TO ARTIFICAL
INTELLIGENCE
QUALITY ASSURE
OUTPUT
PASS TO ARTIFICAL
INTELLIGENCE
Repeat as necessary
QUALITY ASSURE
OUTPUT
CUSTOMER Q.A. & PERSONALISATION
DATA
ENICHMENT
FROM 3rd
PARTIES
E.G. DUNN &
BRADSTREET
RELEASE TO
VIEWER
Repeat as necessary
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7.0 Typical Projects
To provide some idea of the resource requirements and elapsed time for a typical project the chart below shows the key tasks and milestones that could normally
be expected. This is for guidance as it varies by organisation, scope, size and complexity. There are checks and deliverables at various stages of a project so that
project sponsors and Stakeholders can be apprised of progress and quality throughout the project(s). Timescales for refreshes of the data are significantly shorter
than for initial classification since they are scheduled and the artificial intelligence will have “learnt” classification rules for your data.
Activity Key : Spend 360 Activity Customer Activity
Task Month 1 Month 2
7 14 21 28 35 42 49 56
Planning & Preparation Kick-off Meeting - Procurement, IT, etc.
Distribute data request, obtain extracted data from participants
Extracts Available ★
Review, clean and validate extracts
Collect top-line spend estimates
Compare data collected to spend estimates
Collect supporting data (exchange rates, GL codes, Business Units etc.)
Normalisation Domestic and International Parent Child, Credit Risk, SIC, DUNS numbers etc.
Auto-normalisation of suppliers
Review and refine normalisation ★
AI Auto-Classification
Develop classification hierarchy using automatic UNSPSC structure
Develop/apply customer specific hierarchy map to UNSPSC
Categorise suppliers, materials and commodities to hierarchy
Validate Classification/Normalisation
Data Complete ★
Configure and Deploy spend360 Administrator/Viewers
Deliver ★
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8.0 Deployment Scenarios
Irrespective of geography Spend360 can be adopted by organisations or all sizes. There is little to install beyond the Viewer normally and therefore little if any IT
impact. The scenarios below can be used in combination and represent practical solutions to Procurement’s need to get good spend data without a large IT
overhead. This has been done to achieve optimum costs to get started and also to keep ongoing costs to a minimum.
See also the Pricing and Spend Viewer Options sections of this document.
8.1. Implementation – Without Enterprise Server
In a scenario where Enterprise Server is not used, manual receipt, security and distribution tasks must be completed. A nominated Power User can receive the
transmitted Spend360 file(s) and distribute around your organisation. This can be done by email or file distribution on your network.
8.2. Implementation – With Enterprise Server
In a scenario where Enterprise Server is used tasks can be automated. This adds to the costs however for larger organisation this may provide a cost-effective
means of automating receipt, security and distribution tasks electronically.
ENTERPRISE
SERVER
SPEND DATA
FILE(S)
FREE OF CHARGE
VIEWERS
CHARGEABLE
POWER USERS
Enterprise Server automates certain
administration and distribution tasks.
CHARGEABLE
POWER USERS
FREE OF CHARGE
VIEWERS
SPEND DATA
FILE(S)
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8.3. Implementation – Typical Scenario
For most of our customers the scenario below represents a viable initial starting point and project development.
CHARGEABLE
POWER USERS
FREE OF CHARGE
VIEWERS
SPEND DATA
FILE(S)
By Priority
Some of the data for
some of the companies or all of the data for
some of the companies
CHARGEABLE
POWER USERS
FREE OF CHARGE
VIEWERS
SPEND DATA
FILE(S)
By Geography
Some of the data for
some of the Regions or all of the data for
some of the Regions
CHARGEABLE
POWER USERS
FREE OF CHARGE
VIEWERS
SPEND DATA
FILE(S)
By Decree
Some of the data for
the entire Business or all of the data for
the entire Business
Then/Or Then/Or
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9.0 Spend360 Pricing
We have provided options for our customers which are cost effective compared to other solutions, and to the actual or opportunity costs of doing spend analysis
themselves. This is in part down to the removal of barriers as described in the preceding sections of this document but also due to the way in which Spend360
charges for classification services and deliverables.
The Spend360 pricing model is influenced by a number of factors;
• The number of items to be classified
• The complexity of the project – measured in numbers of different data sources, languages etc.
• The frequency of refreshes of the data
• Whether chargeable, external data sources are to be included for enrichment
9.1. Free and Chargeable Elements
Spend360 currently offers Viewers free of charge. The optional chargeable elements of a Spend360 solution are made up of the following:
• One-Time Charges for initial classification (based on the volume and complexity)
• Optional Charges for refreshes (based on the frequency of the refreshes, but a planning assumption is quarterly)
• Optional Annual Charges for Power users (based on ability to manipulate data once classified)
• Optional Charges for external data enrichment such as Dunn & Bradstreet credit details and suppliers parent/child relationships
9.2. Flexibility
A charge model based on volume and complexity and optional refreshes means that:
• The cost of our solution is proportionate to the size of the project
• We can accommodate one-off, bespoke tactics or support long-term strategic programmes
• Costs are only incurred when the service is consumed
• Costs are variable insofar as you have choices as to refresh frequency (if at all)
• Costs for external enrichment are variable. For example if you have 5000 suppliers, you may not need credit scores and parent/child relationship
information for all of them so you can decide if you want, say, the top 2000 measured by size of spend.
Pricing for projects can be provided upon application but for planning purposes and to articulate the model the following examples are provided.
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9.3. Initial Classification example
This illustration is for an organisation that requires a one-time classification of spend data, enrichment with D&B data and no power users or refreshes of the data.
This might be useful for a specific tactic where costs must be kept to a minimum.
9.4. Classification and Refresh example
This illustration shows a 3 year scenario for an organisation that requires classification of spend data, power users, refreshes and D & B enrichment. This is useful
for most organisations as costs for refreshes are only incurred when they happen and are a percentage of the initial classification costs.
9.5. Classification, Refresh and Change example
This illustration shows a 3 year scenario for an organisation that requires classification of spend data, power users, refreshes and D & B enrichment etc. but also
requires additional classification later in the project. This is indicative of an organisation taking an incremental approach to a project, perhaps acquiring a new
company during the project, or adding in a new part of the organisation to the analysis which changes the original scope.
CHARGEABLE
POWER USERS
(B)
INITIAL CLASSIFICATION
COST (A) +REFRESH COSTS
x 3 (C)+EXTERNAL DATA
ENRICHMENT
(e.g. D&B) (D)+ (A)+(B)+(C)+(D)=
CHARGEABLE
POWER USERS
(B2)
INITIAL CLASSIFICATION
COST (A) +REFRESH COSTS
x 4 (C2)+EXTERNAL DATA
ENRICHMENT
(e.g. D&B) (D)+ (B2)+(C2)=
CHARGEABLE
POWER USERS
(B3)
INITIAL CLASSIFICATION
COST (A) +REFRESH COSTS
x 4 (C3)+EXTERNAL DATA
ENRICHMENT
(e.g. D&B) (D)+ (B3)+(C3)=
Year 1
Year 2
Year 3
CHARGEABLE
POWER USERS
(B)
INITIAL CLASSIFICATION
COST (A) +REFRESH COSTS
x 3 (C)+EXTERNAL DATA
ENRICHMENT
(e.g. D&B) (D)+ (A)+(D)=
Year 1
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The illustration also shows that power users have not been added or renewed in subsequent years and that the external data enrichment has not been applied to
the newly classified data in Year 3. Consequently these items have not been charged.
CHARGEABLE
POWER USERS
(B)
INITIAL CLASSIFICATION
COST (A) +REFRESH COSTS
x 3 (C)+EXTERNAL DATA
ENRICHMENT
(e.g. D&B) (D)+ (A)+(C)+(D)=
CHARGEABLE
POWER USERS
(B2)
INITIAL CLASSIFICATION
COST (A) +REFRESH COSTS
x 4 (C2)+EXTERNAL DATA
ENRICHMENT
(e.g. D&B) (D)+ (B2)+(C2)=
CHARGEABLE
POWER USERS
(B3)+
REFRESH COSTS
x 4 (C3)+EXTERNAL DATA
ENRICHMENT
(e.g. D&B) (D)+ (A3) +(C3)=
Year 1
Year 2
Year 3
ADDITIONAL CLASSIFICATION
COST (A3)
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10.0 Spend Viewer Options
Most organisations and users are supported with the Free of Charge Viewer provided. However for comparison purposes the table below indicates the functionality
of different classes of user.
Viewer Power User Enterprise Server
Main Functionality Read only/view spend files
Manipulate and create views of spend files
Location of Spend data published by Spend360
Open and navigate all existing Spend360 files (read/query only) Yes Yes Yes
Print to PowerPoint and Acrobat Yes Yes Yes
Automatically refreshable files Yes Yes Yes
Access to manipulation/what if functions Yes Yes Yes
Import/Export data to Excel: create and save publishable Spend360 files that can be opened by any activated Spend360 AND free Spend360 Viewer
Yes Yes
Connect directly to databases and SWL-generated tabular reporting views using ODBC/JDBC Yes Yes
Produce interactive Flash Dataplayers for documents and the web Yes Yes
Refresh data from (and back to) source spreadsheets. Refresh/update from database or Spend360 source file in real time over a local network or the Internet
Yes Yes
Merge multiple spreadsheets and/or databases Yes Yes
Create multiple tabbed reports and presentations Yes Yes
Branding of files by inserting logos, images, backgrounds, banner ads etc Yes Yes
Protect data with locking and passwords Yes Yes
Connect to/import real-time updates from Bloomberg terminal services Yes Yes
Commercial publishing of Spend360 files Yes Yes
‘Zero Footprint’ Web Start Spend360 deployment options for clients lacking installs Yes Yes
Scheduled automatic data refresh and re-distribution of files Yes
On-demand generation of files using customised data sets Yes
Advanced file security and anti-copying/revenue protection features e.g. locking etc Yes
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11.0 Scoping Questionnaire
We use the following questions to guide us to the areas where data needs to be gathered, scope needs to be agreed or other volumes are required in order to
clarify requirements, validate pricing or other estimates. The more detailed an answer we can obtain to each question area the more detailed our responses will
be.
Enterprise Company 1 Company 2 Company 3 Company 4
Sourcing Organisation
• How many buyers do you have ? • Where are they located? • Do they cover direct and indirect purchases? • How many locations/facilities do you have ? • Who is the key business contact for this division? • Who is the key technical contact for this division?
• What are the key milestones and timescales for this/these project(s)?
Spend Profile
• What is your overall spend?
• What are your highest priority sourcing categories for the division?
Scope
Do you have a desired timeframe for rollout of the solution/results? • What Geographies are in scope? • What Spend and currencies are in scope? • What languages are in scope? • What categories are in scope? • How has spend analysis information been obtained in the past? • Is supplier name standardisation required? If so, approximately how many suppliers do you estimate you have? • Is third-party content required? (Parent / Child, D&B, SIC, Risk ratings?) • Is there a standard spend categorisation scheme defined yet?
• What is the desired frequency of spend updates?
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Systems Landscape
• How many sources of information are available? AP, PO/MRO, PCard, Vendor, 3rd Party, Other? • What is the level of detail available from these systems? • Are transaction level details available? • Are transactions internally classified by system? • Who owns the systems? Describe your IT organisation; is it centralised or decentralised? Are there any existing processes in place to extract data? • Are there major changes going on the systems landscape? Major ERP rollouts?