Vendor onboarding can be a drawn out, disorganized process. For everyone involved on the “buying” side, it's super frustrating when you want to place your order, but your vendor hasn’t supplied the documents your team needs to get them set up.
Today, most onboarding, especially in medium to small sized organizations, is done in email. Teams request multiple documents across from the vendor, and then forward those documents and files to internal contacts who will perform vendor setup and possibly issue a purchase order (although in some organizations that’s an entirely different set of people!). Because of all the email flying around it’s possible that your vendor might not realize that there is missing documentation.
TakeTurns is an secure, turn-based collaboration platform that helps businesses maintain continuity when collaborating with parties outside their organization, especially when working in arm's length scenarios such as those found in vendor onboarding. Each TakeTurns Collaboration contains all the communication and documentation related to a new vendor and is easily accessible by both organizations. With TakeTurns, organizations streamline communication and keep everyone on the same page.
We spoke to a purchasing manager who uses TakeTurns to streamline the vendor onboarding and here's what they told us.
Here’s how it works:
Step 1
The purchasing manager creates a new collaboration and invites the new vendor. In the collaboration he requests all the set up information his team needs.
Step 2
The vendor fulfills requests. Both parties can see what documentation is still outstanding. If required, the vendor requests a Purchase Order Number.
Step 3
In the purchasing manager’s turn he sets up the vendor in their internal systems and provides the vendor ID #. If the vendor has requested a Purchase Order, he adds members from the accounts payable (or finance) team to the collaboration. They use the information attached to the collaboration to set up a purchase order (PO).
Step 4
When the onboarding process is complete, everyone can download an archive for their records.
Using TakeTurns smooths and expedites the vendor onboarding process. Because the TakeTurns Collaboration enables all parties to see exactly what information is still required to complete the vendor setup. That transparency helps reduce confusion, stress, and builds trust between the purchasing department and the vendors. And, after the collaboration, all parties can download the collaboration archive for their records so that they’ll have what they need when it comes time to issue payments and 1099s.
Get started today
TakeTurns brings structure, security, and transparency to your collaborations, making it perfect for tasks like vendor onboarding. With TakeTurns, you and your parties will know whose turn it is to work, track the full history, and maintain confidentiality. Learn more in our Help Center or follow us on LinkedIn and YouTube. And when you’re ready for chaos-free collaboration: Try Take Turns for free.
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