Would you like to screen potential Suppliers before inviting them to an Event in Scout? Scout’s Supplier Review Forms module allows you to request information via Review Forms to Suppliers at the beginning of engagement. This will allow your team to choose Suppliers that fit your company’s preferences early on in the Sourcing process, which can ultimately save time and resources later down the line during your team's approval process. In this article, we will cover how to:

• Start a Supplier Form Project
• Add and Publish a Supplier Form
• Identify Project Details Linked to Your Supplier Form
• View and Manage Supplier Form Results

Start a Supplier Form

There are two ways to start a Supplier Review in Scout!

1) In Pipeline, you can start a new Project and select the Supplier Forms Project Type:

2) You may also start a Supplier Form from the Supplier's Profile in your Supplier Directory. First, click on Suppliers under the Navigate drop-down menu, then click on the desired Supplier:

Click on the Forms tab, then "Select Forms" to open your Form library.

Select the form you intend to send the supplier and click "ADD". 

This will create a new Supplier Form Project in Pipeline (including all of the Supplier contacts under that Supplier company):

Add and Publish a Supplier Form

Within the Project, you will be able to start a Supplier Form by navigating to the Forms tab and clicking on "Add Forms":

In the side-panel, you can choose from the available Form templates in the Supplier Review Forms template library:

Note: If there are no available templates, you will need to create one in the templates library in order to proceed. For more information on How to Create a Form Template, click here!

 Add Suppliers to a Form by selecting "Manage Suppliers" :

When you are ready to publish Forms to your Suppliers, click on Publish:

Every Supplier Review Form will be linked to a Project in Pipeline. Read further to learn more about Supplier Form Projects, and how to finalize your Form!

Identify Project Details Linked to Your Supplier Review Form

After you have selected what to include in your Form, you can now enter any relevant project details to the Project related to the Form. You'll find several sections and fields that were created for your team in particular. However, you'll most likely always find these key components:

• Project Details
• Financial Details
• Attachments
• Suppliers
• Milestones
• Related Projects
• Stakeholders
• Supplier Review Forms

Project Details

Identify the basic details of your Project: Title, Category, Project Type, Description and estimated Timeline:

Financial Details

Configure the Financial Details of your Project by entering categories such as Estimated Spend, Final Spend, and Estimated Savings:

Attachments

Keep all relevant documents in one place inside the Project. You and your Stakeholders can upload any number of files to this section (5GB per file limit):

Suppliers

Add any relevant Suppliers you'd like to include in the Supplier Review Form:

Milestones

Configure Milestones to help ensure your team is on track! 

Related Projects

You have the ability to link your Project with an existing Project. If you click on Create A New Project, the new Project will be automatically linked to the current Project.

Stakeholders

Invite your teammates and/or colleagues from other teams or departments to collaborate with you on the Project! Stakeholders can help you to build and manage your Project:

Supplier Review Forms

View all Forms included in the Project! You will also be able to see event statuses, set a response due date, view response completion, etc:

View and Manage Supplier Form Results

Once your Suppliers have submitted their responses the approver(s) receives an email that notifying them that a review is need.

The approver(s) will see a green "Review" button next to the Suppliers' Form in the Supplier Tab of the Project. Only the approver(s) will have this button.

Note: In your Supplier Review Form template, you have the ability to create and set an Approval Group. In the example above, we have assigned who the Approvers are, as well as the reviewing order. For more information on How to Create an Approval Group, click here!

In the Form, you also have the ability to publish the Stakeholder Scorecards:

When you are ready to close up the Supplier Review Form, open the Forms tab within the Project and click "Finalize". 

Note: Finalizing your Form will:

• Close the Supplier Review Form. Suppliers will no longer be able to submit their responses.
• Close the Stakeholder Scorecards. Stakeholders will no longer be able to submit their Scorecards.
• Carry the Scorecards to the Supplier Profiles.
• Allow you to Re-Run the form. For more information in Re-Running forms click here.

Congratulations on your completing your Supplier Review! If you have any other questions, you can reach our Support Team.

Click here for more Knowledge Base Articles regarding Supplier Review Forms.