How do you manage multiple suppliers and projects simultaneously and efficiently?

Antes de iniciar colabora??es com vários fornecedores e projetos, é fundamental estabelecer metas claras alinhadas com a miss?o e os valores da sua organiza??o. Definir esses objetivos estratégicos ajudará a orientar suas decis?es e a distribui??o de recursos, garantindo que cada escolha esteja contribuindo para os resultados desejados. Para mensurar o sucesso e o impacto dessas colabora??es, é importante desenvolver indicadores de desempenho que reflitam tanto os avan?os quantitativos quanto qualitativos. Isso facilita a avalia??o da eficácia das parcerias e a adequa??o dos projetos aos seus objetivos de longo prazo.

1) Understand your suppliers - Research their background, reputation, capabilities and certifications. Find out their values, goals, and preferences. 2) Streamline your processes and systems to avoid confusion while having multiple suppliers, multiple contracts, invoices, orders, and deliveries. 3) Evaluate suppliers capacity, reliability, and compatibility with your business needs, to maintain a good relationship with them and keep them updated on your plans and requirements. 4) Create a culture of continuous improvement, collaboration and innovation among your suppliers. 5) Recognize and reward your suppliers contributions and achievements.

I use the following approaches to manage several suppliers and projects: 1. Prioritise projects and assign resources. 2. Segment suppliers by capabilities, performance, and criticality. 3. Communication Plan: Keep suppliers informed and communicate clearly. 4. Project Management Tools: Track progress, deadlines, and milestones with tools. 5. Risk Assessment: Regularly identify and manage project and supplier risks. 6. Monitor supplier performance and resolve issues immediately. These steps help me manage multiple suppliers and projects efficiently.

? Clear Documentation: Keep records for each supplier, including contracts, terms, KPIs and communication logs, so everything is easily accessible and traceable. ? KPIs & SLAs: Define and track key performance indicators and service-level agreements to measure each supplier's performance. ? Regularly reviewing these metrics helps you stay ahead of potential issues. ? Project Management Software: Use software like Microsoft Project to track all tasks, deadlines, and supplier responsibilities in one place. ? Weekly Check-Ins: Hold weekly or bi-weekly meetings with each supplier to discuss project progress and address any concerns. ? Risk Assessment: Regularly assess risks related to each supplier and develop contingency plans.

When planning your strategic goals and desired outcomes, consider what resources you have available (financial, human, time, technology, etc) and how effectively you can utilise them. You don't want to realise halfway through your strategic implementation that you’ve overcommitted your resources, leading to stress on your team and potential failure to meet your objectives. It’s always better to plan carefully and realistically from the outset.

Supplier projects should be based on segmentation. Strategic suppliers should all have value improvement plans associates which are agreed jointly and prioritized on ROI and outcomes. These projects should contribute to the joint relationship strength. Some times ROI cannot be quantitatively measured for instance investment in trust building measures which will show results over a longer period of time.

Effectively managing multiple suppliers and projects requires careful selection: ? Supplier Selection: Evaluate suppliers based on factors like quality, cost, reliability, and strategic alignment. ? Project Prioritization: Assess project feasibility, value potential, and alignment with organizational goals. ? Clear Communication: Establish clear expectations and responsibilities with both suppliers and project teams. ? Continuous Monitoring: Regularly track supplier performance and project progress to identify and address issues promptly. ? Adaptability and Flexibility: Be prepared to adapt supplier selection and project priorities as circumstances change.

IT and then the business need to help drive priority for suppliers and how you work with them. Suppliers may be critical to a certain phase but less critical later. Suppliers may be less critical now but highly critical once the service is live. So define criticality based on the state you are in but keep a review of that as you move through those phases

Supplier Management is not often well defined so building a RACI and informing people of how they are involved in Supplier management is key to ensure this endures. Just knowing this yourself means it dies with you

Very true so many projects or programmes fail if people are unsure of their role in the project… It has to be done with them to ensure full participation and engagement with stakeholders

Supplier Relationship Management Software should include features for supplier evaluation and classification, e.g. a survey feature for evaluating suppliers on criteria such as environmental performance or delivery reliability. It should integrate with other systems like ERP, CRM, and PMS for a comprehensive view of operations, and provide advanced analytics for insights into supplier performance, identify trends, and aid in forecasting.

Managing multiple suppliers and projects effectively requires the implementation of the right tools and methods. Project management software can help plan, track, and control project activities and deliverables, while supplier relationship management (SRM) software facilitates supplier relationship management, performance evaluation, and risk mitigation. Data analytics and reporting tools provide insights into supplier performance, project progress, and potential risks, while standardized processes and templates streamline workflows and ensure consistency. Continuous evaluation and refinement of tools and methods optimize efficiency and effectiveness.

Create a common dashboard with agreed metrics in relation to supplier performance and continually review how these suppliers are performing so that the dashboard is current. This can just be a good spreadsheet as tools can get in the way of good Management information

When a project ends, it’s important to identify the lessons learned. A great exercise to identify key takeaways is to consider the following question: “If someone were to ask me for advice on how to execute a project very similar to this one, what would I tell them?” When discussing key takeaways with stakeholders, you may ask them “In what ways are you satisfied with how this project went? How would you have liked this project to go differently?” From here, consider if any of your current projects could benefit from these lessons. Additionally, you may want to consider these lessons when beginning your next project.

The key to successfully managing multiple suppliers and projects is to stay organised, be proactive, and maintain open lines of communication. Circumstances can change rapidly, so be open to new ideas, willing to change your approach when necessary, and prepared to deal with unexpected challenges or delays.