1. Performance evaluation sample
Evaluating a vendor can be an unpleasant and challenging task. If you are dealing with a
supplier that is always punctual with deliveries, never shorts shipments, paperwork is in
order and provides invoices that match your purchase order pricing then this type of
vendor performance review will be enjoyable.
If the vendor ships incorrect materials, seldom meets promised delivery dates and
requires constant expediting this will usually mean the performance review will garner a
poor rating and will require that a firm message be delivered to ensure corrective
measures are taken, result in less business or possibly dropping a supplier altogether. The
evaluation process will help facilitate this process. If you wish to salvage this vendor, you
need to employ efforts to assist them in introducing corrective measures.
Most formal vendor rating analysis track vendor performance on quality, price, delivery
and service. The following is an example supplier evaluation chart which can be used for
recording delivery performance:
Vendor Evaluation Chart
Top Rating_____A.______Meets delivery dates without expediting.
_____________ B.______Requested delivery dates are usually accepted.
Good_________C.______Usually meets shipping dates without substantial follow-up.
_____________D.______Often is able to accept requested delivery dates.
Fair__________E.______Shipments sometimes late, substantial amount of follow-up
required.
Poor_________F.______Shipments are late, delivery promises seldom met, constant
expediting required.
Price performance of a vendor is easily tracked as discrepancies between agreed to prices
and those invoiced by vendors should be quickly discovered and brought to purchasing
department attention during the year.
It is the service area which requires the most judgment as service levels are a matter of
opinion and does involve input from user departments. To evaluate key vendors you must
develop a form of measurement using weights and other factors. More on this later...
Here are some steps to help you with the process of evaluating a vendor:
Steps

2. 1. Do you homework before calling the vendor for the review.
2. Commence by identifying a key vendor. Select a vendor that is in your top 20%
for number of purchase orders issued. This high volume or big $ vendor is our
definition of key. Use the ABC Pareto distribution principle.
3. Determine your annual spend with the vendor. If statistics are available, check the
number of purchase orders issued, including line items per purchase order versus
number of shipments required to complete delivery of the purchase orders.
Investigate incorrect shipments, short shipments, poor or incomplete paperwork,
and so on. Some materials management software allows the buyer to drill down
and extract detailed reports which are beneficial to your review process. These
tools will make your job easier and provide the back up you can use as part of
your evaluation.
4. Circulate your evaluation form to departments --- ask for their feedback and
examples of both shortcomings and of good practices. For example, your shipping
/ receiving department will have feedback on deliveries, vendor returns and so on.
5. Complete the first draft of the evaluation, reviewing the weights you have placed
on specific areas of importance. With some vendors a higher weight may be
placed on service levels versus supply of tangible goods. For different product
classes, only your organization can ascertain the impact on your organization and
the factors, weights to apply.
6. Review and finalize it with your backup reporting, statements.
7. Arrange for a time when you are not under pressure and you can dedicate at least
1 hr of uninterrupted time.
8. Book Boardroom - Perform the review in a neutral environment like a boardroom
and avoid your office unless you need access to a computer system. Put the
vendor at ease.
9. Give the vendor the opportunity to respond to each issue and document their
response.
10. Ask the tough questions. Ask vendor how can you improve service levels?
11. Tell them what they are doing right. Good effort needs to be commended and
recorded in the evaluation.
12. Finish with a review of where you feel they need to pull up their socks, provide a
copy of the evaluation and ask them to identify how they can improve in the areas
of weakness noted. Your goal is to hopefully improve productivity at both
operations. Add complete by dates for action items and ensure you follow up.
All vendors that are important to the profitability of your organization should be
evaluated at least once annually.
To evaluate a vendor on all aspects of performance you will need to develop a template
which measures all levels of service.
http://performanceappraisalebooks.info/ : Over 200 ebooks, templates, forms for
performance appraisal.