There are always some best practices that you can fall back on to minimize the risks, no matter what you plan to implement. Similarly is the case with spend analysis implementation. Let’s have a look at few best practices.  (Click here to read part 1  part 2 part 3  and part 4  of the series)

At Project Level

• Dedicated executive team with a strong mandate from management
• Participation of the commodity managers is key, especially while defining classification rules and taxonomy
• Well-defined objectives and key result areas to be defined at the beginning of the project
• Timely Management Review Meetings and Steering Group Meetings

At Data Level

• Dedicated business intelligence team / team which understands data structure within a business warehouse / ERP system
• Selection of correct taxonomy based on sourcing hierarchy, current taxonomy, if available, and commodities which are procured
• Process of data extraction to be defined and well documented to reduce rework
• Selection of correct parameters, based on the reporting needs of the company

Basic Overall Strategy

• Participation of key stakeholders from all the major business units, especially during perception check meetings
• Selection of correct user groups, based on the profile and reporting needs, to facilitate adoption
• Ensuring that a pre-training questionnaire is filled in by all the participants. This will ensure that focused group training sessions are held – one of the key factors of successful adoption.

Stay with us as in the next blog, last in the series we will look at some key benefits of spend data analysis.