Reports Archives - RFQPro: RFP and RFQ Templates for Buyers and Suppliers

Vendor Evaluation Tools

Mark Bell — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 07:37:02 +0000

Proficient buyers understand the value, benefits, and strategic importance of evaluating their vendors. They also know that doing it well takes time. That’s why one of RFQPro’s core objectives is to provide practical, time-saving tools that make supplier evaluation easier, faster, and more consistent.

Some of the benefits your company will gain from completing regular vendor performance reviews are:

Better communication
Improvements to product deliveries
Better service
Process improvements
Inventory reduction
Cost savings
Quality improvements … just to name a few

Getting into each one of the above topics on the benefits deserves its own post, but one point is universal: identifying vendor short comings and helping suppliers get back on track is simply good business. In many cases, Vendors may not be aware they are dropping the ball. Bringing certain short comings to their attention and documenting them is simply good vendor management.

This proactive approach will reduce the amount of time wasted or inefficiencies within your organization. How? When Suppliers ship the correct products, follow your specifications and provide accurate paperwork, your team spends far less time returning incorrect shipments or fixing pricing errors. These are two frustrating and everyday examples many organizations face.

Creating a clear paper trail demonstrates due diligence and is an important impression to make with your vendor whether you continue to have a future relationship with them or not.

RFQPro has a comprehensive Vendor Evaluation Template Form you can edit and use to make this task a little easier to ensure you are able to properly evaluate your Suppliers or Vendors. It is a 14 page document which provides questions and weighted measures for everything from item delivery to product quality. This template and our Sub-Contractor Performance template are included in our Premium and Mega Packs.

Our Vendor Evaluation Tools include:

RFQ22 – Facility Audit Form
RFQ30 – Supplier Evaluation Form
RFQ31 – Sub-Contractor Evaluation Form

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Vendor Evaluation Questions

Mark Bell — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 18:51:38 +0000

Using Structured Questions to Drive Vendor Improvement and Collaboration

The process of evaluating vendors is an ongoing task which every purchasing department should be performing at regular intervals. In this process, you are inviting dialogue or communication with your vendors, which is always good.

What types of questions should you ask your vendors? Ask questions directly related to areas which require improvement and do not neglect to mention areas which the vendor is excelling or performing well at.

Remember, the goal is to help your vendor improve their service levels and how they do business with your company. In return, the vendor might even offer something which will make both your organizations more efficient!

In Part A, we have provided a verbal question you might ask during your interview. In Part B, we have some examples of questions which are asked internally and completed prior to the actual vendor interview. See Delivery issue in Part B.

Part A

Do you have a recognized Quality Assurance program implemented?

Is system in effect?_________ Is procedure written? __________

Other questions can be related to the internal review. Example:

Out of XXX shipments this year we have identified a poor performance rating in the Delivery category because you have used an incorrect carrier. Have the vendor explain why.

Maybe, the carrier you are requesting on your purchase order does not service that region or possibly the message is not getting to the vendor’s shipping department. In the latter, our experience is if you refuse to pay freight charges because the vendor did not ship as instructed, they quickly get the message and future shipments will be as instructed.

Part B

1.	DELIVERY	Points	Weight	Total
	On time arrival or service	90	.18	16.2
	Conformance to packaging specifications	89	.10	8.9
	Correct carrier used	59	.02	1.12
	SUB TOTAL		.30	26.3

2.	QUALITY
	Conformance to specifications	90	.15	13.5
	Commitment to improve quality	90	.12	10.8
	Quality of information (documentation)	90	.03	2.7
	Claims and credit returns	87	.02	1.74
	Environmental	92	.08	7.36
	SUB TOTAL		.40	36.1

Rating Points

0 – 19	Not Applicable
20 – 39	Not Acceptable / No Compliance
40 – 59	Poor Performance
60 – 79	Good / Minimum Expectation
80 – 89	Very Good
90 – 100	Excellent Performance

Weighting Vendor Performance to Reflect Operational Priorities

Any effective vendor performance evaluation relies on a clear weighting system and rating scheme that measures Price, Delivery, Quality, Quantity, and Service. These categories form the backbone of most procurement scorecards, but the relative importance of each one cannot be standardized across organizations. Only the owner or procurement lead can determine the appropriate weighting, because they best understand which product classes and service elements are most critical to operational viability.

The emphasis placed on quality versus delivery, or service versus price, will vary not only from company to company but also from vendor to vendor. A supplier providing mission‑critical components may require a heavier weight on quality and delivery reliability, while a commodity supplier might be evaluated more heavily on price and service responsiveness. The weighting system should reflect these nuances so that the final score accurately represents the vendor’s true impact on your operations.

Open and honest dialogue should be completed annually with your primary or key vendors and should be documented to allow for review and accountability. If you are interested in a comprehensive Vendor Performance Template you may wish to review RFQ30 which is in our Premium, Vendor and Mega packs.

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Subcontractor Performance Report Template

Mark Bell — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 16:38:41 +0000

In the simplest form, a subcontract is a purchase order written with more explicit terms and conditions. Its complexity and management varies in direct proportion to the value and size of the job. The management of a subcontract may require unique skills and abilities because of the amount and type of correspondence, charts, performance reviews and management reporting which are necessary.

RFQ31 – Subcontractor performance template will help you audit and record performance for this task area. Our subcontractor evaluation form will help ask the right questions to ensure you get the most out of your contractors. This report is sold in our Premium and Policy Template Packs.

Click image to enlarge a preview of the 4 page template.

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Supplier Evaluation Form

Mark Bell — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 19:20:55 +0000

Types of Supplier Evaluation Forms & Templates:

The evaluation of suppliers is a continuing purchasing task. Supplier performance shifts over time. Markets change, costs fluctuate, quality drifts, and relationships evolve. A one‑time evaluation can’t capture any of that. Continuous evaluation helps organizations:

Maintain quality — catching defects, delays, or service issues before they escalate.
Control cost — monitoring price changes, hidden fees, and total cost of ownership.
Manage risk — identifying financial instability, compliance issues, or supply chain disruptions.
Support strategic sourcing — ensuring suppliers stay aligned with long‑term goals.
Drive improvement — using data to push suppliers toward better performance.

Current suppliers should be monitored to see if they are meeting expectations. New sources need to be screened to see if their potential warrants serious consideration for future business. This post will focus on evaluating current major suppliers which are important to the success of your own operation.

Types of Evaluations

Informal
Executive Round Table
Formal Vendor Performance Evaluation and Rating

Informal evaluations have there place in smaller organizations and for the most part are all that is required. It involves verbal discussions with other user groups in your organization to determine how the vendor is doing and when relevant, relaying feedback to suppliers.

Executive Round Table evaluations are just what is implied. It is an annual face to face discussion between top level management personnel in the purchaser’s organization and those of the vendor. These meetings are limited to key or major vendors and the presence of top executives lends weight to the occasion and permits discussion of past performance, future expectations, and commercial or economic aspects in a high-level context. For the most part, they take place on the purchaser’s premises.

Obviously, the number of these types of meetings must be limited, as there is a cost attached to gathering personnel.

Formal Vendor Evaluations

Purchasing departments need to subject their key vendors to an annual performance evaluation. Many suppliers appreciate the opportunity to address shortcomings and to improve service levels. Smart vendors approach major buyers as partners, want to please clients and forge long term relationships which are beneficial to both parties.

Evaluating a key vendor involves a review of quality, price, delivery and service elements. We suggest you discuss service levels with user groups, warehouse / receiving departments, accounting and purchasing. Other departments can provide valuable feedback on invoicing issues, short shipments, damaged goods and if they are receiving quality technical support.

RFQ30 is a sample vendor performance report which has a detailed rating scheme, including weights for form of measurement. It is one of the most comprehensive evaluation forms in the marketplace and it is available in our Premium and Mega Pack bundles.

Click the image to enlarge or preview a portion of this 14 page template.Sample Supplier Evaluation Form Detailed Preview

Note: Different product classes require different factors, weights and measures to reflect their varying impact on the organization.

The value in this single template more than covers the purchase price of the complete template pack and remember we have a 100% Satisfaction Guarantee, so buy with confidence. Available in our Premium and Mega Packs.

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Site Audit Form Example

Mark Bell — Wed, 20 May 2009 07:14:49 +0000

As a purchasing professional, it is your responsibility to ensure vendors supplying key commodities or performing works on behalf of your organization are reputable and will not cause your firm to be invited to the party in the event someone is charged for violating an environmental law or standard. To reduce the chances of this happening, we suggest you consider performing site audits on vendors vital to the success of your operation. Why, because it is important you understand the conditions your vendors operate under. Also, by reviewing a site you can quickly ascertain whether the facility will be able to provide a continual supply of product which might be important to your own process.

First, identify these key vendors by analyzing your spend. Typically, 20% of your vendors will eat up 80% of your expenditures and if a delay in product delivery will cause your operation to cease production and chew up profits they would be considered a key vendor.

Prudent organizations which place focus on the importance of their supply chain permit their purchasing or environmental representatives to audit such facilities. It demonstrates what legal professionals call due diligence and a scheduled audit will provide valuable insight and hopefully some peace of mind. When generating a RFQ, you might wish to consider adding some verbiage indicating your right to inspect the vendors facility by way of a site audit and that the results of the audit will be part of your selection criteria.

Performing site audits on your suppliers or on carriers that regularly transport a critical commodity are now becoming standard protocol. They can help head off problems before they become serious supply issues and can also mitigate liability for your company. Again, due diligence.

RFQPro.com has a comprehensive site audit form, a sub-contractor evaluation and a vendor performance evaluation form to give you the knowledge you require to confidently address these areas. Countless hours have gone into developing these templates and we now offer them for purchase in both the Mega and Premium Packs.

Click image to view sample of RFQ22 – Facility Audit Form (page 2 of 5)

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Purchasing Month End report example

Mark Bell — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 18:10:01 +0000

Are you a Materials Manager or someone responsible for managing the purchasing and warehouse department for your company? Have you been asked to put together a month end report and / or want to improve your existing reporting? RFQ48 – Purchasing / Warehouse month end report template might be just what you are looking for.

This example template focuses on reporting activity for both the procurement and warehouse departments. Management will be impressed with the tracking you have identified and this report will assist you in presenting your departments goals to all staff. Your Superiors will truly appreciate that within minutes they can review all vital areas and ascertain trends for both departments. Managers love reporting which is quick to digest and RFQ48 gives them a snapshot of all the departments highlights.

RFQ48 has Six (6) built in edit friendly Microsoft word graphs which will permit you to reflect statistics relating to your own department. The graphs present snapshots tracking the integral areas of the purchasing and warehouse department.

Click image to see a sample of this two page report. PAGE 1 preview:

This two page report is available in both the mega and premium pack bundles.

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