Fort Worth Goes Paperless with Supplier Diversity Software

B2Gnow

The City of Fort Worth, ranked the 12th largest and one of the fastest-growing cities in the U.S., is home to more than 800,000 residents and an ever-growing, diverse array of new businesses and industries. 

Within the city of Fort Worth, the Diversity and Inclusion Department promotes the values of diversity, equity, inclusion, and access.  One of the ways the department fulfills its important mission is through the Business Equity Division, whose work supports capacity building efforts for aspiring and existing Business Equity Firms (minority and women business enterprises), or disadvantaged business enterprises.

In a recent case study, we explored the transformation journey within The City of Fort Worth’s Business and Equity Division. Plagued with inefficient paper-based and manual processes, the City struggled to efficiently monitor, track and report on its local supplier diversity programs and data. Knowing there must be a better way to manage and grow their local programs, The City of Fort Worth committed to cleaning-up their processes and going paperless with B2Gnow Supplier Diversity Management Software.

Download a Copy of the Case Study

Here’s more of what you’ll find in The City of Fort Worth Case Study:
  • Insight into the internal clean-up, strategies and processes used, including the road to implementing B2Gnow Supplier Diversity Management Software  
  • Side-by-side comparison and results achieved from outdated processes vs. the new paperless way
  • Brief break-down of the B2Gnow modules utilized by The City of Fort Worth and how they help the City seamlessly monitor, track, and report on a variety of local programs and complex data

Let us take you on a tour of  B2Gnow Supplier Diversity Management Software – a robust, cost-effective solution that streamlines and automates data-gathering, tracking, reporting, vendor management, and administrative processes, resulting in a significant reduction in staff time and cost – allowing you to focus on meeting diversity goals, not on chasing paper. Learn more about B2Gnow and request a demo.

All Aboard: A Crash Course in Automating Your Transit Agency’s Reporting Process – Part 2

B2Gnow

The semi-annual report is a mandate from the DOT and FTA for any organization that receives federal funds to execute transportation projects. If you’re in the business of transportation, you’re quite familiar with the tedious semi-annual DBE report and the inevitable challenges imposed on compliance officers responsible for managing the process. Moreover, even with the advent of technology, many transportation agencies still unfortunately utilize a manual reporting practice which often leads to inaccurate data, wasted time, and a decline in human productivity. There are three additional obstacles that significantly diminish the efforts of the current reporting process which include:

Contract Payment Data

For each semi-annual report, the compliance officer is required to review every contract included within the reporting period of that report. From there, the DBE officer will need to separate the contracts to identify which received federal funds. Next, the compliance officer identifies each prime/subcontractor and determines their DBE certification status. The final step is to review each payment made to the DBE firms, which should equal the total number of awarded dollars for the report. Without a system to automate these components of the reporting process, it will not only be time consuming, but will likely lead to inaccurate data reflected in the final reports. This means there can be no true picture of community impact, which puts the organization at risk and doesn’t move the needle towards the initial intended purpose of DBE programs. 

Outreach

Managing communications among internal transportation teams so there’s clarity on and efficiency with external messaging, is both a time and energy consumer, but is also an essential component of the reporting process. Tracking outreach efforts is vital for several reasons:

  • Outreach is a means of communicating with certified businesses regarding upcoming opportunities,
  • Outreach is an opportunity to provide workshops, trainings, and other events to increase vendor participation, and
  • Outreach ensures engagement with the community where transportation projects are being developed

Community Impact

It is imperative for DBELOs and compliance officers to always keep the impact of their various transportation projects top of mind. 

If, for example, there is a new bus line project in development, a DBELO or compliance officer should understand the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats to the community where projects are set to launch. An example consideration is whether the new bus line will require small businesses in the area to shut down until the development is complete. It takes a village to ensure this type of mutually beneficial relationship is realized and also requires regular engagement with small businesses, community leaders, city resources, contractors, and this should all take place prior to breaking ground on the project.

Another reporting consideration that influences community impact for DBE officers is project location. Certain communities would benefit from tracking workforce utilization to intentionally place jobs in the hands of those within the community. This level of “zip code hiring” increases the economic impact to the community where projects are being developed. Transit organizations are usually located in metro areas, and the communities most adversely affected by these projects are typically highly populated by minority residents who are often burdened by pockets of poverty. 

“Rider experience” is a final example of why accounting for community impact is essential to the reporting process. For instance, if a new transportation project requires the relocation of a bus stop, planners and DBE officials must consider community members that may be unfavorably disturbed by the move. Perhaps the project takes place in a community where there are high rates of single parent households, these riders have really early or late shifts at work, and the bus stop that is being relocated was their only or most affordable mode of transportation. These types of scenarios should always be considered. 

Having an automated system to monitor, track and report small and diverse business contracting, workforce utilization, rider experience adjustments, community benefit agreements and all of nuances within a transportation project will undoubtedly improve the vitality of the communities where these projects are being developed.

 Learn more about B2Gnow and speak to an expert.

Unpacking the Three P’s of Higher Education Supplier Diversity

B2Gnow

In a recent thought-provoking webcast, B2Gnow, the leading supplier diversity, procurement, and grant management software provider, and speaker Kathey Porter, CEO of Porter Brown Associates, teamed up to reveal best practices and useful tips on the topic of The Three P’s of Higher Education Supplier Diversity – People, Policies and Processes. 

Access the Complimentary Webinar

The informational webcast discusses how higher education institutions can be complex organizations, and developing and managing a supplier diversity program that is impactful and small business centric can be challenging and even confusing. 

Therefore, there are key considerations and strategies to consider when building an effective supplier diversity program, for instance: 

  • • Determining if you have the right people in place, how to communicate objectives, how to gain allies, and how to develop an accountability process
  • • Discovering elements of a good policy, including how to review or write the policy
  • • Understanding the supplier diversity lifecycle, including the who-what-how and the critical elements of tracking and reporting

We invite you to watch the complimentary webinar to gain full access to the content and valuable guidance provided.

Higher education institutions like University of Houston, Eastern Washington University, University of Texas System, University of Chicago and hundreds of others, are turning to the powerful capabilities of supplier diversity management software, like B2Gnow, to support their diversity goals.  From diverse vendor search access to the largest certified supplier database in the world, to data enhancement tools that qualify and quantify current supplier data, to spend analysis capabilities that go deeper to understand diverse supplier data, to construction contract compliance that easily track and report supplier diversity on capital construction contracts, B2Gnow allows supplier diversity professionals to focus on meeting diversity goals, not chasing paper.

Learn more about B2Gnow and request a demo.

All Aboard: A Crash Course in Automating Your Transit Agency’s Reporting Process – Part 1

B2Gnow

Originally enacted in 1982, the United States Department of Transportation’s (USDOT) Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) program is designed to remedy ongoing discrimination and the continuing effects of past discrimination in federally-assisted highway, transit, airport, and highway safety financial assistance transportation contracting markets nationwide. The primary objective of the DBE program is to level the playing field by providing small businesses owned and controlled by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals a fair opportunity to compete for federally funded transportation contracts.

USDOT’s Operating Administrations (FHWA, FAA and FTA) distribute substantial funds each year to finance construction projects initiated by state and local governments, public transit and airport agencies. USDOT is responsible for ensuring that firms competing for USDOT-assisted projects are not disadvantaged by unlawful discrimination. The USDOT’s most important tool for meeting this requirement has been its DBE program.

Importantly, under the current DBE program language (the “FAST-ACT”), recipients (such as states, counties, cities, transits, etc.) must set overall project participation goals to represent a “level playing field” – the amount of DBE participation they could realistically expect in the absence of discrimination. This goal must be based on demonstrable evidence of the availability of ready, willing and able DBEs to participate on DOT-assisted contracts. The rule gives recipients substantial flexibility in the methods they choose to set overall DBE participation goals.  There remains a nationwide aspirational goal of 10 percent of project funding.

Section C of the Uniform Report is designed to capture information on current actual payments made to DBEs for work performed on ongoing federally-assisted contracts. This payment data provides a “snapshot” of dollars actually paid to DBEs as compared to dollars committed or awarded to DBEs but not yet paid during the reporting period.

As DBE professionals know too well, the required semi-annual DBE report often consumes the personal and professional lives of those overseeing these transportation initiatives. More specifically the critical elements transit agencies need to consider for timely and accurate reporting of the required semi-annual DBE report, include:

  1. A thorough review of every federally funded contract, 
  2. Identification of all firms that are certified as DBE,
  3. An update on all awards and commitments to the DBE firms, and 
  4. The ability to track each payment made to both the prime contractor and all subcontractors.

As one might imagine, this process for a small DBE team within a multi-department organization might mean miscommunication and conflicting perspectives on how all requirements are met and tracked, the oversight of dozens of contracts worth potentially billions of dollars – making effective and accurate [manual] monitoring of every detail a nearly impossible feat.

Community impact is at the heart of all DBE programs and as a result, DBE compliance officials should be equipped with a team and tools to seamlessly manage their efforts to facilitate equity and inclusion in transportation projects.

Effectively complying and supporting federal – and potentially local programs where local funds are used – is a challenging task for any transit authority, large or small. The comprehensive technology offered by B2Gnow and seasoned team make it possible by allowing transit authorities to not only go paperless and grow their programs, but also rapidly generate the required semi-annual DBE report. Moreover, B2Gnow’s powerful software provides transit authorities with the capability to effectively monitor, track, and access key data and reports such as the Compliance Audit Summary, which provides real-time automated DBE certification and compliance tracking including project spend tracking and certified contractor utilization through the entire prime-subcontractor chain.

Learn more about B2Gnow and speak to an expert

4 Signs it’s Time to Invest in a Highway-Rail Crossing Data Management System

B2Gnow

You know the signs. You know them all too well. Many of you are still using spreadsheets to capture all of your crossing data. Pavement, grade, signage, safety equipment, track conditions, road conditions, lighting, line of sight, number of trains, vehicles, passengers, incidents, pictures, contracts, oh my! How do I store it all? How is it all managed? How do I compile, process, and analyze this information effectively? That’s when you know …

It’s TIME for a highway-rail crossing data management system.

When Manual Crossing Data Systems Start Costing You Time and Accuracy
  1. You’re Tired of The Multi-System or No-System Chaos

You may be able to juggle multiple applications or multiple spreadsheets. But the issue is, inputting data manually, generating a simple report, cross-referencing data, receiving and inputting data from crossing inspectors, exporting and sending data to FRA, or even combining data extracts from this system and that one is incredibly time-consuming and burdensome. You just don’t have the time. Haven’t you wondered what it would be like if you had a single online system that stores all your data? One that allows you to catalog your data? Let’s you search, sort or filter down to the information you need? Yes, it’s time to consider investing in a new system.
  1. You Want a Better Way to Track Crossing Inventory

The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) requires a vast amount of crossing information and characteristics to be collected, cataloged and maintained. You need a system with easy-to-use data formats that allows users to input or quickly access crossing inventory data. Additionally, data transfers to and from FRA should be managed electronically to ensure that all stakeholders can simultaneously view the most current crossing information. And you should be able to store all your crossing photos in an easy-to-access library which can also archive older photos.
  1. You Want a Better Way to Track Related Projects

So, you have funding for a variety of improvement projects. And you know you have urgent improvements and aging equipment that needs to be replaced. But the data and documentation are stored in different locations. And the data may be maintained in a number of disparate systems or even spreadsheets. Your ability to apply and track project funding can be very challenging and time consuming. This is when you wish you had a simple data management system that could easily bring these elements together. A system that tracks obligated funding amounts, project descriptions, and drawdown data all in one place. A place where all railroad crossing agreements can be stored and quickly accessed with all associated project data. And a system that can be configured to communicate with the state’s electronic document management system.
  1. Producing Critical Reports Has Become a Chore

Producing reports from a spreadsheet just does not work. And pulling data for critical analysis opportunities from a variety of locations or systems can take time and create frustration. All good reporting tools rely on accurate, uniform, and granular data collection and storage. The right system will contain a multitude of pre-formatted ready reports for crossings, projects, funding, inventories, crash and incident data. And when a report is not yet available, additional reports can be identified created so you can spend time analyze funding and crash data, not gathering it.

It’s time to invest!

Say goodbye to tedious, manual processes, and go deeper into your data. Invest in an online managed database of railroad crossing data that also tracks rail safety, maintenance, agreements, and construction projects. Benefit from a system that meets Federal Rail Administration and U.S. DOT Crossing Inventory Form submission requirements and has the capability of transferring data electronically to the FRA system. The BlackCat Rail Data Management System® facilitates accurate information sharing by providing the FRA, state departments of transportation, and railroads a common place to collect and share data, ensuring each stakeholder can simultaneously view the most current crossing information. The application is intuitive, easy-to-use, and loaded with search, sorting, filtering and reporting capabilities.

Make the investment.

Learn more about the BlackCat Rail Data Management System® and request a demo today!

4 Reasons Data Drives Effective Rail Safety Programs

B2Gnow

Data is more than just numbers or a simple collection of information. Data tells a story. When it comes to rail safety, it can tell us what happened in the past, what is happening now, and what might happen in the future. Data can tell us where to spend funds to improve safety and it can tell us if the improvements we funded are helping. In fact, accurate data analysis can save lives!

How Data Improves Decision-Making, Compliance, and Safety Outcomes
  1. Saving lives!

That’s right, the most important factor for a Rail Safety Program is leveraging the data collected about crossing conditions, safety features, and past incidents to determine ways to improve the crossing to reduce incidents and potential injuries or deaths. Implementing a robust crossing data management system will give you the proper tools and capacity to capture and manage this critical data.

A desired system is designed to standardize and streamline the railway-highway crossing data management and analysis workflow processes. It must be able to collect and maintain a wide variety of data, information, documentation and even photos.  Additional workflows should be able to facilitate the collection and storage of all required Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) inventory characteristics, and then be able to transmit this data directly FRA.  Furthermore, it’s important that the system has data import and export capabilities to help facilitate the collection and release of rail inspection data to the parties that need it.  In an ideal system, when the tools and methods you have in place are properly utilized, project funding can be properly assigned, key or critical deficiencies get repaired, and negative incidents can be reduced, which may reduce injuries and even save lives.
  1. Capitalizing on limited funding for the safety of railroad and roadway users

Grade crossing incidents are one of the leading causes of rail-related deaths in the United States and having quality data and accurate grade crossing information accessible to all stakeholders is key to a successful rail safety program.  Funding for rail and highway safety can be dispersed in so many ways. Often times money for safety projects can be limited. Precise data analysis is needed to determine which deficiencies and improvements are the most deserving of the funds that may be available. An effective data management system is needed to accurately collect, catalog, store, filter, and analyze a multitude of key data elements… any one of which can be the deciding factor to determining that fate of a project or improvement.  It’s imperative to have a system that can provide the data analysis you require, and any stakeholder should be able to filter and examine the data needed to either propose a critical project, or in some cases, fund it. Find a system that ensures that highest priority projects, or the most urgent deficiencies, can be more efficiently selected to receive critical funding.
  1. Track improvement projects throughout the program Lifecycle

Once important projects or improvements have been funded and are underway, a variety of stakeholders can track projects from planning stages through the encumbrance of funds, contract creation and execution, processing any number of construction milestones, the receipt of invoices, balancing drawdowns and expenditures, and eventually close out. A robust data management system will provide workflows to manage these important processes efficiently. Project development, progress and overall spending should be monitored to ensure that each individual crossing, work within a specific regional, or project success across an entire state can be effectively managed to ensure projects end timely, dollars are spent wisely, and the impacts of each project can be monitored for overall success and the reduction of incidents.
  1. Analyzing how improvements reduce incidents

Consistent data management, monitoring and trend analysis will eventually lead to better overall rail crossing improvements and the reduction of incidents that cause damage, injury and death. The most important factor to data management is the ability to properly access, export and analyze your data. Ensure that your data management methods or system include a robust data selection and reporting component.  This means that it should be able to query and extract data in a granular and specific manner.  While it is important to collect and input accurate data, the ability to export the data, in order to  examine the costs, improvements and trends enacted to reduce incidents, is what leads to success.

Are you ready to get a control of Railway-Highway Crossing Data?

It’s time to say goodbye to tedious, manual processes, and get more out of the data you need to collect and manage. Benefit from a robust, hosted and secure data management system designed to specifically standardize and streamline the highway-rail crossing data, document, storage and analysis workflow processes.  Take advantage of a system developed to track and manage safety, maintenance and construction projects, and a system designed to meet federal crossing data collection standards and provide the option of electronic submission of US DOT Crossing Inventory data to the FRA. . Learn more about BlackCat Rail and request a demo.

Section 3 Reporting Software for New HUD Compliance Rules

B2Gnow

New HUD Section 3 Rule

Not long ago, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced the release of the final rule implementing the “Section 3” statute. This is a big deal. Why? The Section 3 regulations have not been updated since 1994! 

However, there are a few concerns we often hear from agencies regarding Section 3 regulations, even before the release of this new rule.  First, the guidance and regulations themselves can be confusing and unclear, and second the tracking and reporting on these requirements is oftentimes time consuming and complex. 

In order to address these concerns we’re breaking down the Section 3 prior requirements versus the new final rule and providing a few real-world examples of how the rule applies to agencies.  

Ready? Let’s dive in…

First thing’s first, let’s take a look at an overview of Section 3:

  • The Section 3 regulations apply to agencies who receive funding from Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
  • Section 3 regulations create incentives for employers to retain and invest in their low and very low-income workers through hiring, contracting, and other economic opportunities  
  • Overall, the changes are supposed to make it easier for ORGs to track the progress and impact of the program, while hopefully impacting the residents and moving them to a stronger financial future through work and training
  • Residents want more job opportunities, and this new rule helps support their needs and proves that HUD listened to years and years of community feedback

Section 3 Regulations – Hiring

Before the new rule, all Section 3 job opportunities arising from a covered contract must meet a minimum hiring rate of 30% of all new hires. 

Now, HUD is now requiring agencies to track by labor hours, not new hires. HUD has outlined requirements for Labor Hour Tracking such that 1) Section 3 Worker = 25% of all labor hours and 2) Targeted Section 3 Worker = 5% of all labor hours

Section 3 Regulations – Section 3 Business Concerns

Before the new rule, the definition of a Section 3 Business concern is a business concern under HUD Regulations: 1) 51 percent or more owned by section 3 residents; or 2) Whose permanent, full-time employees include persons, at least 30 percent of whom are currently section 3 residents, or within three years of the date of first employment with the business concern were section 3 residents; or 3) That provides evidence of a commitment to subcontract in excess of 25 percent of the dollar award of all subcontracts to be awarded to business concerns that meet the qualifications set forth in paragraphs (1) or (2) in this definition of “section 3 business concern.” 

Now, after the new rule, this means: a business concern meeting at least one of the following criteria, documented within the last six-month period: 1) It is at least 51 percent owned and controlled by low- or very low-income persons; 2) Over 75 percent of the labor hours performed for the business over the prior three-month period are performed by Section 3 workers; or 3) It is a business at least 51 percent owned and controlled by current public housing residents or residents who currently live in Section 8-assisted housing.

Section 3 Regulations – Other Economic Opportunities

Before the new rule, agencies always had the opportunity to apply Other Economic Opportunities, as needed.  They could be used in lieu of Hiring and/or Contracting shortfalls or used in addition to those requirements.  In addition, other economic opportunities to train and employ section 3 residents, include, but need not be limited to, use of “upward mobility”, “bridge” and trainee positions to fill vacancies. Before the new rule this also equated to Hiring section 3 residents in part-time positions, and Special Programs that contractors propose for other opportunities.

Now, this is now called Qualitative Efforts, but it is essentially the same concept.  Overall, not much has changed with this one, except that  small PHA’s are given the opportunity to track qualitative efforts. HUD plans to create some type of tracking form, but it hasn’t been solidified yet.

Download Your Complimentary B2Gnow HUD Section 3 Rule Change Guide

Ready for more? We invite you to download your complimentary B2Gnow HUD Section 3 Rule Change Guide.  Download the guide to receive an easy-to-digest resource on navigating the HUD Section 3 Rule Change, plus get access to an overview of B2Gnow’s Section 3 Module Suite – a complete solution leveraged by Housing Authorities across the US to help track and report for the entirety of Section 3 regulations.  

Section 3 Program Management Simplified

Monitoring and ensuring agency compliance with 24 CRF 135 is a challenging task for any organization, large or small. B2Gnow automates and digitizes Section 3 program compliance and the generation of mandated HUD reports. Learn more about B2Gnow and Request a Demo.

Supplier Diversity Best Practices

B2Gnow

Supplier Diversity Strategy for Higher Education Programs

Diversity in higher education is more than just students and staff.  There is a third piece to the diversity and inclusion puzzle that is equally important for colleges and universities: supplier diversity. 

Supplier diversity is a program which encourages the use of traditionally underrepresented or underserved groups as suppliers, such as small-business enterprises (SBEs), minority-owned business enterprises (MBEs), woman-owned business enterprises (WBEs) and more, and as many universities and colleges across the US have learned, there are numerous benefits to implementing and prioritizing a supplier diversity strategy.  

However, the tricky part these days lies in prioritizing supplier diversity while still grappling with the effects of the global pandemic. For example, many higher education institutions have turned their focus to financial issues, enrollment rates, budget cuts, reopening campuses, and more. Among all of the competing priorities, how can supplier diversity program managers at colleges and universities help to keep supplier diversity initiatives top of mind for the institution and its leadership?

 4 Tips for Prioritizing Supplier Diversity in Higher Education

We’ve compiled 4 tips that supplier diversity professionals can execute now to better support prioritizing supplier diversity in higher education:

1. Focus on the economic impact:

Colleges and universities across the US have incredible buying power and spend millions of dollars each year. By implementing a supplier diversity strategy it dramatically increases the number of potential suppliers and promotes competition, which can improve product quality and drive down costs. After all, more sourcing options equate to a more resilient and agile supply chain. Prioritizing a supplier diversity strategy supports growth and jobs, and the ripple effect of that on the local communities that universities and colleges operate in can be profound. 

2. Get buy-in from senior leaders:

In order for any supplier diversity program to be successful it’s not enough to have the buy-in from only a select few in the university.  It’s critical to have backing from senior leaders across the institution, such as: presidents, chancellors, and system governing boards. Oftentimes what is helpful in this approach is breaking-down the big picture and focusing on what each department or role may view as highly important, such as: emphasizing the economic benefits, impacts to the university’s bottom line, reduction in supply chain risk, supporting compliance, and improving reputation.  

3. Equip staff and spread the word:

Outside of your department, employees may not be up-to-speed on the university’s supplier diversity program.  Don’t be shy when it comes to sharing your goals and purpose in internal marketing programs to help spread the word – for instance communicating information about the program within your organization’s intranet, newsletter or other internal channels. Outside of your organization, participate in local supplier diversity councils, conferences, networking events and other outreach opportunities. Clearly promote opportunities on how to execute business with your college or university.  Reach out to other supplier diversity professionals to network and share insights and best practices. Celebrate your wins and promote what you are doing by applying for awards related to working with diverse suppliers, put out press releases and share your wins on social media. 

4. Get the right tools in place:

Without a way to effectively streamline and automate data gathering, tracking, reporting, vendor management and administrative processes, your supplier diversity program can only go so far.  If you’re ready to prioritize supplier diversity and take your program to the next level, it’s time to say goodbye to manually tracking diverse suppliers and certifications, dealing with questionable data accuracy and multi-system chaos, having limited or no visibility into multi-tier diverse spend, or working until the eleventh hour to create and submit critical reports. Higher education institutions like University of Houston, Eastern Washington University, University of Texas System, University of Chicago and hundreds of others, are turning to the powerful capabilities of supplier diversity management software, like B2Gnow, to support their diversity goals.  From diverse vendor search access to the largest certified supplier database in the world, to data enhancement tools that qualify and quantify current supplier data, to spend analysis capabilities that go deeper to understand diverse supplier data, to construction contract compliance that easily track and report supplier diversity on capital construction contracts, B2Gnow allows supplier diversity professionals to focus on meeting diversity goals, not chasing paper. Learn more about B2Gnow and request a demo. 

The Importance of Data in Growing Your Supplier Diversity Program

B2Gnow

If you’re exploring the benefits of  increasing your annual spend with diverse suppliers, where do you start? 

One word: Data. 

Data, and how good that data is, is arguably one of the key pillars of a successful supplier diversity program. If your data is inaccurate or messy everything will suffer. 

You likely miss your diversity goals, account for diverse spend that shouldn’t be, miss a chance to showcase additional diverse spend your organization has influenced. You’ll also waste your time and resources, miss an opportunity to demonstrate value and economic impact to your community, as well as deal with potential repercussions for federal funding repayment, and the list goes on…and on. 

The good news is that there are tools and approaches that organizations can adopt to improve the integrity of their data, how they view and report on that data, and ultimately positively influence the success of their supplier diversity program and the communities they serve:

Move to Digital 

If you’re sacrificing hours upon hours of manually sifting through the data, living in spreadsheets or toggling between several different tools or directories, chances are there are more than a few data errors that you’d feel comfortable to admit. If this sounds familiar, it may be a sign it’s time to go digital and leverage the power of a supplier diversity software system that automates many of these tedious, manual processes. A robust supplier diversity software system, like B2Gnow, automates and streamlines time-consuming data processes with a click-of-a-button.  In turn drastically increasing data accuracy as well as reducing time and effort necessary to successfully manage a diversity program. Oftentimes the result is that organizations are saving 60%-80% of time spent on administrative and clerical activities, while at the same time enhancing impact and reach.

Invest in Data Match and Enrichment

How confident are you that you have the latest, most accurate information on your suppliers? Could it be out of date?  Who is even verifying the information is correct? Bottom line is, if your supplier data is not accurate, your small and diverse business spend is probably flat-out wrong. Many leading organizations have seen the writing on the wall when it comes to the importance of the latest, most accurate supplier data and have turned to supplier diversity software systems for their comprehensive and trusted data scrub and data enrichment services.  B2Gnow supplier diversity management software hosts the largest certified diverse business database in the world – from directories to local and state certifying agencies – to match all listed vendors to the certifications available for such vendors. In addition, the company enriches the data by providing additional information for each matched vendor. The result is the rapid ability to qualify and quantify your current supplier data to maximize current goals. No more redundant or inaccurate data. 

Go Deeper with Spend Analysis

Various organizations, such as government agencies, corporations, healthcare, and higher education, have unique needs when it comes to data and how they are tracking spend. For instance, many spend a significant amount of money on purchase orders or credit cards across a large number of vendors.  The issue is that this data on potential small and diverse business spend is lost when these dollars aren’t tracked and attributed. Software like B2Gnow’s Spend Analysis module allows organizations to quickly and easily capture and report on this important diverse spend data across their credit card and purchase order expenditures. The payment data is merged with B2Gnow’s extensive recognized certification and registry data, resulting in a complete spend analysis that allows the spend data to be visualized and utilized to granularly evaluate diverse supplier programs.  

Multi Tier Tracking and Reporting

Your program might track and report on Tier 1 and Tier 2 suppliers; however, your subs may also subcontract with certified businesses. This shallow visibility results in inaccurate reporting on your entire small/diverse vendor utilization, significantly understating your organization’s efforts. Effectively tracking and reporting on those deeper tiers may seem impossible; however, comprehensive supplier diversity management platforms can track goals and record diverse spend up to tier 10, all while ensuring compliance.

Ready to get a handle on your data and grow your supplier diversity program?

Say goodbye to tedious, manual processes, and go deeper into your data. Benefit from a robust supplier diversity software solution that streamlines and automates data-gathering, tracking, reporting, vendor management, and administrative processes, resulting in a significant reduction in staff time and cost – allowing you to focus on meeting diversity goals, not on chasing paper. Learn more about B2Gnow and request a demo. 

7 Signs it’s Time to Invest in Supplier Diversity Management Software

B2Gnow

You’ve periodically thought about how supplier diversity software could not only positively impact your supplier diversity program, but… it would also make your life a heck of a lot easier.  Afterall, you have important community and diversity goals to meet, and you’re simply tired of chasing paper.

Moreover, you’re becoming keenly aware of the projects you could accomplish if you didn’t have to spend your time manually tracking payments, working until the eleventh hour to create and submit critical reports, running in circles with multi-system chaos, and spending way too many hours sifting through various sources of certified directories.

Scalable and Successful Supplier Diversity Program

Not sure if you’re ready to take the plunge? Here are the 7 signs it’s time to invest in Supplier Diversity Software:

You spend countless hours searching and sifting through various sources of certified directories to find certified diverse suppliers.

After all that effort and time searching, you typically end up short of potential suppliers to fit your needs.  Plus, you’re not exactly confident in whether or not the data you found is up-to-date and accurate. You often think to yourself how nice it would be to have a one-stop-shop database filled with millions of certified diverse suppliers that you could filter and sort to match your needs – all with the click of a button.

You’re struggling with multitier tracking and reporting.

If you’re only successfully tracking and reporting on Tier 1 or prime suppliers that are diverse-owned, you know you’re missing out on the opportunity to improve your supplier diversity program and boost diverse spend because your primes may already be working with several diverse-owned businesses. The problem is effectively tracking and reporting on this, whether manually or through a multitude of different systems, seems like an impossible task.

You have critical, timely reports you need to produce.

Depending upon your industry and supplier diversity program goals, there are likely specific compliance goals, internal requirements, or mandated reports that you need to produce.  In order to generate these reports, you realize you need a consistent and efficient way to collect and accurately report on this data.  How you’re doing it currently isn’t going to cut it in the long-term.

You want your weekends back.

If you’re sacrificing your weekends to manually sift through the data, sending late-night emails, living in Excel sheets, and bouncing through a myriad of different tools to keep your supplier diversity program flourishing, chances are you might benefit from a supplier diversity software system that automates and streamlines many of these processes.

You’re not confident in your data.

If you’re leveraging manual processes toggling between a number of different systems or spreadsheets, or relying on a directory that isn’t exactly reliable, there is a high probability that there are more than a few data errors that you’d feel comfortable to admit. The problem is, you know you’re going to have a hard time meeting your supplier diversity goals if you’re questioning data integrity. Furthermore, you fundamentally understand that accurate data on diverse suppliers and spend can be the cornerstone of your organization’s success, contributing to both improving the economy, supporting the community, and encouraging innovation.

You’re tired of the multi-system chaos.

You have the process of toggling between software systems and spending time fixing the data field nuances down pat.  The issue is, generating a simple report, cross-referencing data, or importing or formatting specific figures from one system to the next is extremely time-consuming. You’ve often thought about how nice it would be, and how much time and effort it would save you, to have all of the features, functionality and data that you need in one system.

You want a better way to track payments.

The ability to track payments and report on diverse spend is crucial for meeting supplier diversity program objectives. Manually tracking as well as pain-stakingly managing the reporting framework and guidelines not only breeds error and inconsistencies, but it is not scalable. Leading agencies, organizations, and businesses understand that the ability to efficiently track payments in a streamlined and automated manner is pivotal to achieving diversity goals and growing their supplier diversity programs.

Do these 7 signs sound familiar? If so, you’re not alone.

In fact, you’re in good company with the thousands of leading government and public sector organizations, corporations, contractors and institutions who were tired of inefficiencies. They needed a better way to meet their important diversity goals – whether that be mandated compliance requirements by federal, state, municipalities, school districts and more, or supplier diversity program initiatives with goals focused on supporting the community, committing to high ethical standard, or encouraging innovation –  they turned to the powerful capabilities of B2Gnow, the leading provider of supplier diversity and compliance software solutions.

Benefit from a robust solution that streamlines and automates data-gathering, tracking, reporting, vendor management, and administrative processes, resulting in a significant reduction in staff time and cost – allowing you to focus on meeting diversity goals, not on chasing paper.

Learn more about B2Gnow and request a demo.