Assessments Best Practices Summary

Below are some proven practices that customers can implement before or during any assessment to ensure the best results:

1. Prepare for assessment launch:
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   1. Define the objectives from the assessments to measure success: collecting sub-tier data, enhancing part-site mapping, reviewing critical processes followed by the suppliers etc.
   2. Ensure supplier contacts are accurate and current – this can be done by confirming the supplier contacts with Category or Commodity Managers.
   3. Define the supplier selection criteria to be assessed
   4. Study the ‘Supplier Match report’ provided by the implementation or customer success team to pick suppliers that may have already answered surveys for other customers. This can help increase the response rate on the assessment.
      
      

2. Internal Communication:

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   1. Get category managers involved in the process & leverage the existing supplier relationship to achieve a faster response rate from their assigned suppliers.
   2. Inform category managers about their role in the process, important timelines, the importance of the initiative for your organization and as well information about the assessment to answer basic supplier questions.
      
      

3. External Communication (Supplier pre-communication)

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   1. Send a standard email communication to suppliers at least 2-3 weeks prior to the assessment launch, making them aware about the importance of the assessment to your organization as well as important dates and contacts.
   2. Record a video message from the Chief Procurement Officer or a Supply Chain Executive to share the company’s objectives and its interest in building stronger SCRM practices. Share this video message with all suppliers and encourage them to participate in the assessment. (A sample script can be shared by Resilinc)
      
      

4. Recommended action items

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   1. Prepare a Letter of Authorization (LOA), signed by a relevant company authority such as a CPO. The LOA is attached to the supplier communication and registration email sent to the supplier on launch. The LOA gives the required authenticity to the communication sent by Resilinc. Resilinc offers a standard template which can be used as is or modified by customers. Below is the sample LOA:
      
   2. Plan the assessment launch in advance to allow the Resilinc team and internal company stakeholders sufficient time to manage the required activities. Complete the preparation activities in order to allow Resilinc 3-5 working days of time for assessment configurations. Recommended days for the kickoff are Monday through Thursday.
      
      

5. Other recommended best practices
   1. Introduce Supply Chain Visibility assessments to suppliers during the supplier qualification stage to assess the location-based risk and sub-tier dependency.
   2. Add supplier responses to assessments and events as a performance KPI and to create incentive for suppliers. Create a supplier leaderboard based on the overall supplier responses or risk performance and award  preferred suppliers.
   3. Resilinc recommends that SCV/BCP assessments may be taken once a year by a customer, as it provides real-time information on their suppliers’ business continuity framework.
   4. Introduce SCV as a key condition for selecting the supplier for a new product or remaining as the sole/single-source supplier for an existing product.
   5. Work with Resilinc’s Supplier Success to seamlessly keep track of emails, trainings, non-responsive suppliers, and assessment deadlines for each supplier (if the customer has this in scope).
   6. Weekly/bi-weekly meetings with Resilinc team (IC/CSM/PRT) scheduled for discussing the progress of launched assessments.
   7. Test the assessments yourself by launching them to your company contacts. This can allow customer users to test the assessment and also gives the opportunity to understand supplier experiences during the process.
   8. Constructing an escalation matrix for dealing with non-response from suppliers can save time and provides an organized approach to supplier follow-ups. Below is a sample escalation process:
      
   9. For each custom assessment, Resilinc provisions access to a dedicated report or dashboard to assess the progress and results from supplier responses. A standard custom assessment dashboard can be accessed by customers from “Launch Assessment” screen. Some of the important stock reports & dashboards available in Resilinc platform are:
      1. Mapping Summary
      2. Sub-Tier Visibility
      3. Sub-tier failure point
      4. Analyze BCP
      5. Part-Site mapping report
      6. Sub-tier part site mapping report