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Customer Support

Supplier Billing  

Suppliers are under increasing pressure from retailers to reduce prices.  Reluctant to do so, they try offer retailers complex discounts and promotions linked to the volume of products purchased by retailer.  These discounts, or deal structures, can be very creative (or in other words complex) and tend to be offered on a retrospective basis.

They are often designed to be complex, because they realise that retailers often do not remember or possess the systems to go back and audit, whether those deal or discount or rebate thresholds ever materialised.

This often leads to retailers having to call in third parties to conduct audits to track and chase down such deals and discounts retrospectively.  This is a costly and time consuming process.

Itim’s supplier billing system makes sure you do not lose sight of your supplier deals and discounts.
 

Features  

Deal maintenance

Using Supplier Billing the buyer can negotiate deals of two types:

  • Bill Back deals based on discount rates defined per threshold of purchase quantities
  • Merchandising Revenue deals based on contracts where the supplier agrees to pay pre-defined amounts on certain dates, in exchange for profiting from retailers merchandising activities, such as, rental of promotional space (e.g. check outs)
supplier billing

All deals go through a workflow process, from the time the buyer starts the negotiation with the supplier, until the deal is approved by the suppliers’ manager and the deal begins being processed in the revenue calculation process.

Forecasting

The forecast model allows the user to create a purchases forecast data repository.
 

supplier billing screen

The key features:

  • Provide an earlier view of “Deferred Income”;
  • Accurately calculate the Projected Rate for use in the Accrual Process calculation
  • Allow the user to audit the behaviour of the Deal (Deviation Analysis)
     

Finance Tracking workbench
'Supplier Billing Workbench' enables the finance department to control the “Deferred Income” process, permitting both a consolidated view and a preview of “Deferred Income” amounts.  It also controls the invoice generation process and reduces supplier disputes.

Analysis

The 'Analysis' component provides a powerful reporting tool that includes:

Operational Reports

  • Integrated purchases
  • Active 'Deals'
  • Consolidated Purchases
  • Discounts

Management Reports  

  • Suppliers with purchases X% under the target threshold.
  • Projected discounts
  • Discounts comparative analysis
  • Fixed Deals Summary analysis
     

Benefits  

1) Accurate tracking and achievement of negotiated margins

2) A mechanism to deal with the most common complex negotiations in the area of retailing

  • Flexibility in the management of 'Deals' with diverse contractual periods
  • Capacity to define the discounting conditions at three levels: Supplier / Merchandise Hierarchy / Organisational Hierarchy

3) Consolidation of the purchases from a group of suppliers sharing the same commercial arrangements (agents). Only one debit for each group of suppliers

4) Purchase Forecast projection to monitor an earlier view of “Deferred Income”

5) Generates debits with detailed justification

6) Automates the creation of accruals on a monthly basis

7) Provides useful Management Information data that can support future negotiation processes.

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