Managing supplier non conformances is one of the most important parts of the Supplier Approval process that the agile:SA software helps your company with.
The built in Chaser initiates contact with suppliers, sends any reminders necessary and collates responses, so all you need to do is check those responses are suitable.
Consequently, it’s one of the main areas for us to concentrate on and we’ve made a number of improvements over the past couple of weeks, in collaboration with customers (special thanks to Taste Connection for their rigorous testing!)
Here’s a quick rundown:
Notifying suppliers
agile:SA’s Chaser automatically contacts suppliers and gathers responses from them regarding any non conformances you log. These messages have been improved to increase response rates, for example making it clear whether this is the first notification or a later ‘chase’.
For users the process has also been further streamlined by adding a tickbox ‘ready to send to supplier’. Simply ticking this once you’ve logged all details will generate a summary document to send to the supplier and start chasing. Progress will also be displayed on screen to show that the supplier will be chased shortly, or their response has been received.
If there isn’t yet enough information logged to start chasing (for example if you haven’t selected a supplier contact), then the system will display the reasons why so you can see what you need to do. These messages have also been improved to be more user friendly – we’re really polishing this system to make everything as smooth as possible.
Data integrity checks
To ensure the system is as reliable as possible, a number of checks and automated processes have been added:
- Each non conformance needs to be attached to a Supplier Approval record. These records are now automatically created if they don’t already exist, improving flow for the user
- A site address needs to be selected for each Supplier Approval (you may approve each manufacturing site separately). If the supplier has only one site, it’s automatically attached, speeding things up. If not, site is now a mandatory field.
Response form
Not all of the work is at your end – the supplier also needs to do their bit to respond promptly to non conformances (hence the Chaser, above). When they receive a chase email, they can click a link and go to a form to enter in any response or upload documents. This screen has also been improved in terms of the information asked for, cutting out spurious or less important fields, so they will have no excuse for ignoring anything!
As a user, you will receive a notification when a supplier responds. This email content has also been improved, to add more context so you can see at a glance what it’s about.
We’re sure these will make a big difference to many customers – if you have any queries or further suggestions for us, please do get in touch.