Services Overview

Services

Supplier Adoption is the process of communicating with, training, supporting and managing your suppliers to become an active participant in your organization's purchasing portal. Adopted suppliers have and maintain catalog content in the BirchStreet system and typically receive orders electronically from the system. The BirchStreet application provides numerous ways to interact and/or interface with suppliers from a system generated Fax to a XML or EDI interface so the system can connect with large sophisticated suppliers and small "mom and pop" suppliers.

Before we describe the supplier adoption process, it is important to point out that supplier adoption is an optional service. The BirchStreet system includes a feature called Supplier-on-the-Fly that allows each property to setup suppliers and transact with those suppliers through the system. The Supplier-on-the-Fly setup process is very short and only requires basic supplier information. In these cases there are no catalogs for these suppliers in the system. Items that your properties frequently purchase can be input and permanently stored in their personal order guides to make the re-ordering process quick and easy. Typically only national or regional suppliers with which the customer has negotiated contracts are adopted. And typically it is not required to adopt all contracted suppliers initially. A good approach is to initially adopt a few high volume suppliers and work with the rest using the Supplier-on-the-Fly feature. Over time more suppliers will be adopted. As they are, they will move from "Supplier-on-the-Fly" status to "Adopted Supplier" status.

The supplier adoption process is initiated with a discussion between BirchStreet and the customer. Typically the customer selects a list of suppliers to be adopted. The process begins with an introduction; typically and e-mail or a three-way conference call. The BirchStreet implementation team can provide a draft letter or email that can be modified per your needs to be sent to the suppliers introducing them to BirchStreet, our supplier adoption process and the general concepts behind a private online purchasing portal.

From there, BirchStreet takes over the process and ultimately provides the supplier with templates to be completed with their catalog data. These are reviewed, first by BirchStreet and later by the customer for accuracy. Once approved, the catalog data is uploaded into the system. Ongoing supplier training and support is provided to assure your suppliers keep their catalog data up to date using the BirchStreet catalog maintenance tools or by way of an interface with the supplier's back office system.

If required, the system includes numerous control features that allow the customer to be notified when suppliers update their catalog data. Suppliers can also be setup so that their changes require customer approval (via electronic workflow) before they are activated in the system.

At first glance the supplier adoption process may sound difficult or even unrealistic. However, the BirchStreet application and our service offering have been designed from the ground up to make it as easy as possible for suppliers to actively participate. Most suppliers are eager to make it easier for you to buy their products. To date over 2,000 hospitality industry suppliers have gone through the BirchStreet supplier adoption process and are providing regular catalog updates in the BirchStreet system. Your organization likely uses many of these same suppliers.

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