Case Analysis

1) The steps that I would use to conduct a goods send analysis for my organization are as follows:

IDENTIFY- first step would be to identify all the sources available for my spend data, from all of my departments, plants and business units. This would include accounts payable and accounts receivable

GATHER - the second step would involve gathering and consolidating all my spend data into one central database. This can be difficult if data is in different formats or different languages, however there are programs available specifically designed to accomplish this

CLEANSE - thirdly I would cleanse our data, this includes finding and correcting errors in descriptions and transactions, as well as standardizing the data for easy viewing

GROUP - fourth I would group or link our suppliers. For example purchases made from Macnica and Macnina Corp should all be grouped together since they are the same supplier

CATEGORIZE - Fifth would be to categorize our spend; using our own company specific categories, we need to be able to determine where our money is being spent. Office supplies, marketing, travel; legal, direct and indirect spend should all be categorized appropriately.

ANALYZE - sixth step would be to analyze our spend. Ensure that we have negotiated the best contract deals per supplier now that all of our spend is identified per supplier. Ensure that all our buyers are purchasing from preferred suppliers. Reduce the number of suppliers per category.

REPEAT - the seventh and final step would be to repeat. Performing a spend analysis once is a great start to identifying savings, however we need to continually update our data to ensure that contract terms are being adhered to, that buyers are purchasing from preferred suppliers and that saving opportunities are being identified.