Vendor portfolio management in support of vendor relationship management analysis, planning and evaluation

Abstract

Various examples include a system and methods in support of vendor relationship management, analysis, planning and evaluation including dealing with collections of vendors called vendor portfolios. In various examples the system includes a database, vendor portfolio definer, a vendor portfolio populator, and a vendor portfolio analyzer. The database houses vendor data. In various examples the vendor portfolio definer allows vendor portfolios to be created, meta data, including complex documents, to be associated with vendor portfolios, and user access permissions to be assigned to vendor portfolios. In various examples the vendor portfolio populator facilitates user selection of the vendors that will make up the collection of vendors in the vendor portfolio. The vendor portfolio analyzer analyzes a business metric using vendor portfolios. In various examples the vendor portfolio analyzer allows user to perform what-if analysis on vendor portfolios. In various examples the vendor portfolio definer includes a risk management definer, the vendor portfolio populator includes a risk management screener, and the vendor portfolio analyzer includes a risk manager to facilitate managing vendors base on the organizational risk they pose. In various examples the database contains information about obligations owed to and from a vendor and the vendor portfolio analyzer includes an obligation analyzer to analyze the organizational impact of vendor obligations.