Effective information sharing and collaboration is rapidly becoming a strategic advantage. But that advantage can be compromised if collaboration technologies are deployed in a piecemeal fashion.

Our Solution
Our guiding vision is to deliver a comprehensive set of technologies that are designed to work together. We do so with Sourcing Community™, the first sourcing solution to address the evolving needs of enterprise sourcing. By leveraging best-in-class, integrated sourcing technologies and content, A.T. Kearney Procurement Solutions breaks down departmental barriers and provides a collaborative platform for all individuals involved in the sourcing process, including external partners. This unique platform provides strategic sourcing teams with sourcing project workspaces to help teams collaborate more effectively. Sourcing teams can access technologies used in the sourcing process, coordinate project content and user workflow more easily, and capture and reuse all the knowledge and information gained during a sourcing effort. The module makes it easy to create a knowledge library of methodologies, templates, and results in a centralized location that is easily accessible to all authorized users through the Internet. Sourcing Community also provides the backbone to intelligent sourcing by capturing, codifying, and disseminating real-time sourcing information. The result: strategic sourcing teams have the flexibility to adapt in real time to updated best practices, allowing immediate sharing of process improvements across the enterprise.

Key Features

Benefits


Key Features

Flexible and Customizable
	•	Personalized site content and screen configuration
	•	Highly compatible with Microsoft Office programs
	•	Customized alerts to notify users when changes are made to existing documents and information, and when new information or documents are added
	•	Flexible architecture enables the ability to customize and grow as needed
Collaborative Workspaces
	•	Ease in communication with key contacts through instant conferencing and messaging
	•	Workspaces to execute sourcing projects and capture as well as codify ideas, information, communications and documents
	•	Document collaboration provides robust functionality and version control
	•	Project content is accessible from both a Web browser and through Microsoft Office
Ease in Administration and Deployment
	•	Rich out-of-the-box functionality ensures a quick, cost-effective deployment
	•	Incremental deployment options allow collaboration capabilities to be implemented within the organization's timeframe and budget
	•	Server managers can allow end users to create their own workspaces or sites
	•	Sites and servers can be managed from a Web browser, command-line tools, or a Web service-accessible object model
	•	Supports load-balanced and clustered database deployments
	•	Site usage can be monitored to detect and retire inactive workspaces
	•	Detailed security options are available and easily managed

Procurement Organization Benefits

	•	Maximizes investment in existing business systems
	•	Enables sourcing team participation in discussions, shared document collaboration, product visualization and surveys
	•	Ensures internal and external sourcing compliance
	•	Increases supplier collaboration in early stages of product development to design costs out of products
	•	Reduces time-to-market for new products
	•	Minimizes off-contract purchasing
	•	Measures overall health of your sourcing program
	•	Efficient re-use of in-house procurement knowledge
	•	Standardization of sourcing best practices
	•	Improved negotiations through better access to historical information