Sourcing & Vendor Management Function

The Digital Value Network consists of an increasing number of vendors participating in the development and operation of Digital Products. It is becoming an essential function for an organization to be able to leverage ecosystems to create business value. This includes creating and maintaining a dynamic partner network of vendors involved in the end-to-end digital delivery model; for example, to enable the effective and efficient onboarding and off-boarding of vendors, as well as to manage the relationships with vendors. Vendors in the digital ecosystem are not just providers of services, software, or hardware, but are key partners in co-creating Digital Products and delivering value and outcome.

The Sourcing & Vendor Management function is typically part of an enterprise-wide shared function; however, it requires specific experience, skills, and integrations in the context of Digital Product delivery.

Examples of sub-functions within the Sourcing & Vendor Management function:

  • Contract Management (for Digital Products and services)

  • Procurement

  • Vendor Management

This function enables researching and market intelligence, sourcing vendors, obtaining quotes with pricing, negotiating contracts, managing relationships (and key stakeholders), managing the contracts, purchase orders, monitoring and evaluating performance, managing issues and disputes, benchmarking, and ensuring payments are made according to the contracts and usage of their services.

Examples of information managed within the Sourcing & Vendor Management function are, for example:

  • Vendor: managing the system of record of all vendors involved in the digital ecosystem

  • Contract: managing the lifecycle of contracts associated with the Digital Products and other data objects within the Digital Product Backbone (such as license records in the asset administration)

  • Purchase Order: related to the Digital Product Backbone and other activities such as Scope Agreements or Portfolio epics