For many procurement organisations, a one-size-fits-all solution for their own supplier management is just right. It is relatively easy and cost-effective to implement and includes all core functions, from registration and qualification to the possible phase-out of a supplier.
But what if you want to determine the level of technical and procedural sophistication yourself? What if you want to completely customise the questionnaires for your suppliers so that you only receive the information you really need? And if your questionnaire should follow your corporate design? Or if you need very specific information for your compliance?
We could go on and on with this list. But we'll keep it short: together with Schaeffler, leading manufacturer of components and systems for engines, transmissions and chassis, we have developed apsolut Squando. And with it, we offer you a modern supplier management tool tailored to your organisation, with the look and feel of SAP!
Together with the Schaeffler Group, apsolut developed a new tool for the qualification and onboarding of direct material suppliers as well as for material group management.
Squando helps you qualify your suppliers quickly and at the level of detail you require. Squando is based on the SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP) and can be fully integrated into your SAP ERP landscape (S/4HANA or ECC). Collect internal and external supplier data in a holistic process that can be configured flexibly by regional, industry or technology-specific aspects.
As already mentioned, Squando is customised for each company. The Squando of a global corporate procurement organisation will differ from that of an upmarket SME company. But it is a Squando in either case.
Here is the best-practice workflow for the automotive industry, which was developed in our collaboration with Schaeffler:
Collect all relevant data and documents of external suppliers using a one-touch form. At your request, the suppliers fill in a customisable form in your corporate design without having to access a portal.
Customise your workflows. Arrange the approval steps according to your requirements and include the required approvers. The workflow history ensures revision security by documenting all the decisions and comments made by all approvers.
You can provide approvals for specific categories, material groups or product groups for which suppliers are actually qualified. Further categories and materials can subsequently be approved and existing approvals deleted as and when required with another approval workflow.
The Squando framework is configured according to your requirements and thus represents an alternative to standard cloud applications. You can determine the degree of complexity you need.
We have customised the Squando framework to the requirements of numerous different industries. This means that there is a best practice workflow for automotive, manufacturing and technology companies that can be flexibly adapted for other sectors and SMEs.
Based on SAP BTP, Squando can easily be incorporated into SAP architectures and integrated with third-party tools and it offers users a modern look & feel.
Qualify suppliers using a one-touch form that is fully customisable and conforms to your corporate design. Relevant master data, documents, certificates etc. provided by the supplier are entered into the system directly, speeding up the qualification process. Such a form can replace a supplier registration portal entirely.
As early as during the initial supplier qualification, region-specific, legal and technological documents and data can be collected automatically. This ensures maximum compliance.
Manage your suppliers at the level that is appropriate for your processes. You can approve suppliers for individual categories or material groups, approve further categories later on if required and delete existing approvals if the supplier no longer meets the requirements. A transparent history is maintained throughout. In addition, you can make mass changes to material groups and product categories, including deleting them or changing assignments, which will speed up processes even further.
Data from third-party providers can be integrated directly into the approval process via an open API framework. In this way, sustainability checks, external compliance audits, supply chain audits, carbon footprinting, data validation or fraud prevention can be taken into account, among other things.
For the integration of your external data sources, we recommend our in-house development apsolut Fluid. With Fluid and Squando, you can create your own customised supplier management ecosystem based on SAP!
We promise you this: You will not find a more flexible solution for your supplier management based on SAP BTP in the market today. This is the case because apsolut has been doing pioneering work in the area of SAP-based supplier management for years.
Also, Squando has been developed in collaboration with users from a leading automotive supplier.
Squando is the result of this wealth of experience and our fundamental user focus, complemented by our capability of linking technical and process-related aspects.
Companies have different needs when it comes to supplier qualification and are looking for flexible IT solutions that meet specific requirements. apsolut Squando is an innovative tool that has been specially developed for SAP-based procurement processes.
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