Improve sourcing experience when working with new suppliers

  • Release version: Yokohama
  • Updated January 30, 2025
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of Improve sourcing experience when working with new suppliers

    This feature enhances the sourcing experience when engaging with new suppliers by integrating Sourcing and Procurement Operations (SPO) with Supplier Lifecycle Operations (SLO). It provides complete visibility for all stakeholders—employees, procurement specialists, supplier managers, and suppliers—throughout the sourcing and onboarding process, improving collaboration and efficiency.

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    Workflow of the sourcing experience

    • An employee initiates a sourcing request for a new supplier via the Shopping Hub or Employee Center.
    • Work assignment rules route the request to a procurement specialist, who starts the automated supplier qualification process.
    • This qualification creates necessary cases, including a new supplier onboarding case assigned to a supplier manager.
    • The supplier manager uses a playbook in the supplier workspace to onboard the supplier, which generates tasks assigned to the supplier contact.
    • The supplier contact completes assigned tasks and submits questionnaires through the Supplier Collaboration Portal.
    • The supplier manager reviews the data collected and completes the onboarding playbook.
    • Throughout the process, employees, procurement specialists, and supplier managers have real-time visibility into the status via their respective portals.

    Requirements

    To enable this seamless sourcing and onboarding experience, the following plugins must be installed and activated:

    • Shopping Hub
    • Sourcing and Purchasing Automation
    • Procurement Case Management
    • Source-to-Pay Workspace
    • Playbooks for Sourcing and Procurement Operations
    • Advanced Work Assignment for Sourcing and Procurement Operations
    • Supplier Common Architecture
    • Supplier Lifecycle Operations
    • Supplier Collaboration Portal
    • Advanced Work Assignment for Supplier Lifecycle Operations
    • Source-to-Pay Common Architecture
    • Finance Common Architecture
    • Common Service Delivery
    • Risk Assessments Integration for Sourcing and Procurement Operations

    Refer to the Sourcing and Procurement Operations documentation for the recommended plugin installation sequence.

    Getting started

    • Employee: Request products or services not available on Shopping Hub, specifying a new preferred supplier.
    • Procurement Specialist: Review sourcing requests and purchase lines in the Source-to-Pay Workspace and initiate supplier qualification.
    • Supplier Manager: Review onboarding cases and use the onboarding playbook to manage supplier onboarding activities, including task creation for risk assessments and information gathering.
    • Supplier Contact: Access the Supplier Collaboration Portal to complete assigned tasks and risk assessment questionnaires.
    • Supplier Manager: Review submitted information, decide whether to proceed or cancel onboarding, and complete all playbook stages for successful supplier onboarding.

    This integrated process streamlines supplier onboarding, improves transparency, and facilitates efficient collaboration across all sourcing stakeholders within the ServiceNow environment.

    With Sourcing and Procurement Operations and Supplier Lifecycle Operations together, provide complete visibility to all the stakeholders involved in the sourcing process, along with improved supplier onboarding experience.

    Workflow of the sourcing experience

    The following figure shows how an employee, procurement specialist, supplier manager, and supplier use the SPO and SLO applications together to get complete visibility into the sourcing process and simultaneously enjoy improved supplier onboarding experience.

    Figure 1. Workflow of the sourcing experience
    Workflow of the sourcing experience
    In this workflow:
    1. An employee visits Shopping Hub (or Employee Center) and creates a sourcing request with a new supplier to be onboarded.
    2. Work assignment rules route the request to a procurement specialist's workspace.
    3. The procurement specialist initiates automated supplier qualification, which creates required cases, including a new supplier onboarding case that is assigned to a supplier manager.
    4. The supplier manager reviews the supplier onboarding case and uses the onboarding playbook in the supplier workspace to onboard suppliers.
    5. The playbook generates tasks and assigns them to the supplier being onboarded.
    6. The supplier contact views the assigned tasks in the Supplier Collaboration Portal.
    7. The supplier contact completes the assigned tasks and submits the required questionnaire in the Supplier Collaboration Portal.
    8. The supplier manager reviews the collected supplier data and completes the onboarding playbook in the supplier workspace.
    9. The employee, procurement specialist, and supplier manager have complete visibility into the status of work, including supplier onboarding, through process completion, from their respective portals.

    Requirements for sourcing with a new supplier

    Install and activate these plugins.
    • Shopping Hub [com.snc.sn_spend_uib]
    • Sourcing and Purchasing Automation [com.snc.sn_pr]
    • Procurement Case Management [com.sn_spend_psd]
    • Source-to-Pay Workspace [com.sn_spend_workspace]
    • Playbooks for Sourcing and Procurement Operations [com.sn_spend_cp]
    • Advanced Work Assignment for Sourcing and Procurement Operations [com.snc.sn_spend_awa]
    • Supplier Common Architecture [com.snc.sn_slm]
    • Supplier Lifecycle Operations [com.snc.sn_supplier_mgmt]
    • Supplier Collaboration Portal [com.snc.sn_supplier_sp]
    • Advanced Work Assignment for Supplier Lifecycle Operations [com.snc.sn_slm_awa]
    • Source-to-Pay Common Architecture [com.snc.sn_shop]
    • Finance Common Architecture [com.sn_fin]
    • Common Service Delivery [com.sn_spend_sdc]
    • Risk Assessments Integration for Sourcing and Procurement Operations [com.sn_spend_vrm]

    For information on the installation sequence, see Application plugin installation sequence in Sourcing and Procurement Operations.

    Get started with sourcing with a new supplier

    To get started with sourcing with a new supplier, follow these steps:
    1. Request for a product or service that you don't see on Shopping Hub, and add a new supplier that you prefer to source it from. For more information, see Requesting for products or services that you don't see on ShoppingHub.

      Role: sn_shop.shopper.

    2. Review the sourcing request and its associated purchase lines on the Source-to-Pay Workspace. For more information, see SPO list page.

      Role: sn_shop.procurement_specialist.

    3. Begin the qualification process to onboard the new supplier. For more information, see Supplier qualification.

      Role: sn_shop.procurement_specialist.

    4. Review the supplier onboarding case and start the supplier onboarding using playbooks. For more information, see Use the supplier onboarding playbook to onboard suppliers.

      Role: sn_slm.manager.

    5. The playbook automatically creates supplier tasks to conduct risk assessment and to collect supplier information, such as banking information and location details.
    6. Log in to the Supplier Collaboration Portal and complete the following:

      Role: sn_slm.contact.

    7. Review the collected supplier information and determine whether to continue or cancel the onboarding process.

      Role: sn_slm.manager.

    8. Complete the different activities in each stage of the playbook to successfully onboard the new supplier.

      Role: sn_slm.manager.