Canopy is a feature-rich platform which offers a wide range of methods and approaches for managing suppliers. The platform is highly flexible, which means it can be tailored to fit the operating processes of your business.
The benefits to your business increase exponentially as more of your suppliers are onboarded to Canopy, and all of your business users are able to access their information.
In this article you will learn:
The data we collect is your data
Internal vs Supplier managed profiles
The data we collect is your data
Canopy is not a directory supplier profiles built from public data, for you to draw information from.
Canopy is your directory of supplier, with information sourced according to your specific requirements.
Canopy offer three primary methods of data collection:
- From the supplier, who is a motivated and trusted source of sensitive information, such as providing bank details or responding to risk assessment due diligence;
- From third parties, such as credit agencies, TPRMs or company registers.
- From your existing systems and data sources, such as ERP, CLM, Excel, and any other sources of information you may have available.
All of these data sources combine to build Supplier Profiles that are owned by you. They are not shared with anyone outside of your organisation.
Types of supplier record
There are two types of supplier record on Canopy, as follows:
- Fully onboarded suppliers, which have passed through the appropriate approval workflow to be published to your supplier directory.
- Record Created suppliers, which act as repositories of information without the need for approval.
Canopy enables you to use a combination of these approaches to collect the necessary information you need about your suppliers.
Internal vs Supplier managed profiles
Supplier records may be managed either by the supplier themselves, or by a designated person who is internal to your business.
There are many benefits to the supplier managing their own record, such as:
- Greater accuracy of information
- Offloading the job of data collection to an interested and motivated party
- Closer relationship with you as their customer
However, there will be instances where it is easier for the supplier's record to be managed internally. For example:
- Suppliers you pay by Direct Debit
- Suppliers you need to onboard quickly
- Suppliers who have limited technical capability
Canopy enables you to use a combination of these approaches as you build your supplier directory.
Click here to find out more about how Supplier Profiles are managed.
Adaptive data framework
No two Supplier Profiles are the same. This is because the fields of data that are collected are tailored to the specific characteristics of each supplier. For example, a software provider in the UK will need to provide different information to an electrician in India.
To get you started, Canopy comes pre-loaded with a wide range of fields and questions that adapt based on who the supplier is, where they work, and what they do for you. However, Canopy also enables you to build your own data models to fit the needs of your business.
Click here to find out more about the Supplier Profile.
Risk
At the core of the Canopy platform is the Risk Model, which governs the . Every supplier is risk assessed, so you have a clear understanding of where risk lies in your supply chain. Based on the risk outcome, Canopy will adapt the information that needs to be collected from each supplier in order to mitigate the identified risks.
Click here to find out more about how Canopy manages risk.
Standards
It is not necessary to subject all of your suppliers to the same level of scrutiny. Whether governed by risk, level of spend, geography, or any other combination of attributes, Canopy allows you to define different Standards that each supplier needs to adhere to.
Click here to find out more about Standards.
Approval workflow
Canopy has an inbuilt workflow to ensure each supplier passes through the appropriate approval gates before trade may commence. The workflow can be adapted to fit the needs of your business. Approvers are automatically notified when they have actions to take on the platform, so no approval will be missed. And you can have confidence that every supplier that has been successfully published has undergone a consistent assessment.
Click here to find out more about Canopy's approval workflow.
API
Canopy's API can be used to populate supplier records with data from third parties, such as credit agencies. It can also be used to send information to downstream systems, such as ERP.
By integrating Canopy with your other business systems, you can ensure that everyone is your business is working off consistent, trusted information. And the business rules build into Canopy can trigger action in your downstream applications.