Oracle Supplier Lifecycle Management: Real-Life Use Cases You Should Know

1. Supplier Registration and Onboarding

Use: Automates the supplier registration process through a self-service portal. Buying organization can invite the supplier for registration or Supplier can proactively self-register through the iSupplier portal/ SLM.

Features:

●        - Necessary information collection: Suppliers need to be provided necessary information during online registration, like company details

●        - Attachment of Necessary Documents: Suppliers can upload mandatory documents such as GST certificates, PAN, ISO certifications, and company profiles.

●        - Terms and Conditions Acceptance (Optional): Organizations can configure the system to optionally prompt suppliers to accept terms and conditions during registration.

●        - Multiple Levels of Approval (Optional): Approvals for new supplier registration can be routed through multiple stakeholders like Procurement, Finance, and Legal, based on the company’s policy.

Example: A supplier registers through the portal, provide necessary informations, uploads tax documents, and the registration is routed to Procurement → Finance → Compliance teams before activation.

2. Supplier Qualification and Approval

Use: Assesses supplier capabilities using qualification questionnaires.

Example: Before approving a supplier for raw materials, buying company can sends out a qualification questionnaire. Based on the responses and scoring, the supplier is either approved, rejected, or assigned corrective actions.

3. Supplier Profile Audit

Use: Facilitates internal audits to ensure supplier compliance and verify data accuracy.

Example: The Internal Compliance Team initiates an annual/periodic audit requesting updated profile information, ISO certification and insurance documents from key suppliers.

4. Supplier Performance Assessment

Use: Collects performance ratings of the suppliers from internal stakeholders of the buying organization based on KPIs like delivery time, quality, and responsiveness.

Example: A retail chain rates suppliers monthly on delivery timeliness and product quality. Underperforming vendors are reviewed and may be given improvement plans.

5. Notify Supplier

Use: Buyers can send system-generated notifications or manual messages to suppliers.

Example: A supplier receives an automated notification when their registration status changes or a manual message if, for instance, some documents are missing.

6. Online Chat and Collaboration Team Features

Use: Enables cross-functional team collaboration and real-time chat internally.

Example: Procurement, Finance, and QA collaborate using the 'Collaboration Team' feature to evaluate a high-risk supplier before onboarding.

7. Advanced Search Using User-Defined Attributes (UDA)

Use: Allows complex searches using standard and custom-defined attributes.

Example: A category manager filters suppliers with ISO 9001 certification and MSME status using UDAs.

8. Invitation List

Use: Manages the supplier invitation process during sourcing or registration.

Features:

●        - Dynamic Invitation List: Based on rules like region, category, or UDA values, the system auto-generates eligible suppliers for events or registrations.

●        It's also possible to create invitation list and add suppliers manually without using any rules.

Example: A buyer invites all suppliers for sourcing, or profile audit, tagged under 'Chemical Raw Materials' using invitation list.

9. Supplier Profile Information Change Request

Use: Allows suppliers to request changes to profile data, which is subject to buyer review.

Example: A supplier submits a request to update their bank account, address and contact number. Procurement reviews and approves the request before it is finalized in the system.

10. View and Edit Privileges for UDA

Buyers can create custom fields (UDA: User Defined Attribute) to capture supplier-specific information that isn’t available in standard supplier master attributes (e.g., Environment Certifications, CSR Ratings, MSME Code).

Use: Controls who can see or modify specific UDAs.

Example: Only the Finance team can edit 'Payment Terms' UDA, while others can view it only.

11. Single-Row and Multi-Row UDAs

Use:

●        - Single-Row UDA: Captures individual fields such as PAN or GST number.

●        - Multi-Row UDA: Captures tabular data like list of past audits or product certifications with expiry dates.

Example: A supplier uploads multiple ISO certificates in a multi-row UDA, each with issue and expiry dates, while contact info is stored in a single-row UDA.