For almost every release over the last 5 or so years I have written an internal email with that title to (1) force myself to read the release summaries as there can be well over 100 new features being released in any given quarter, and (2) as a former practitioner give my perspective on what is important and I wish I had when I had responsibility for global procurement operations in my former life. I have also tried to summarize the same sessions I do for the Customer Success Days.
This release has around 70 new features and here are a few of those to highlight:
- Supplier self-assessment questionnaire – Human Rights [SA-30188] - The original driver for this feature was the German Supply Chain Law (LkSG) with the vision that the regulation would expand with additional country level and EU regulations globally. However, the cool thing is that this capability for a supplier to answer a questionnaire once and then share it with multiple customers opens up the door to any number of industry standard questionnaires. If you have a strong need, please put in a customer influence ticket to accelerate the prioritization.
- Sustainability ratings on Trading Partner Profiles [SA-34702] – This capability allows for suppliers to establish their sustainability credentials either through a vetted source (with can come with a badge) or self-declaration. This will make it easier for buyers to connect to suppliers with a higher sustainability focus and provide transparency of their ESG practices (environmental, sustainability, governance).
- Diversity Information available in catalog [SA-16949] – previously, this had been available for non-catalog purchases with the idea that catalogs were decided at the corporate level and that the diversity data for non-catalog items was a higher priority as this is where the general buyer user needed more information in order to make a buying decision. Now this information will display for all purchasing types.
- SBN: Dun & Bradstreet Integration [NS-18198] – A common complaint is that the supplier may or may not be aware of their existing network profile so by integrating with D&B to normalize the data entered, any potential duplicate is identified much sooner with the added benefit of having more complete and accurate information as part of the standard supplier profile.
- Enhancements to Summary area in supplier 360° profile to show Sourcing and Contracts data [SM-32192] – The supplier summary screen is adding sourcing and contract cards to the main screen and is on a path to continue to add cards for additional modules and activity. This capability really helps to highlight the connection in the modules and also help users make better decisions around that supplier like “Are there active contracts?” etc.
Those were my top five. Curious what you think.
Also Rob Jones puts together a great list of
feature highlights here and I always check my list to see how many we match after I write mine (2/5!).
