Maximum performance: Supplier relationship governance and oversight

Supplier relationship management is key to UKAR’s success. Efficio supported the development and implementation of a new process that reduced time and effort, enhanced the governance and oversight, and embedded best practice.

UKAR was established in 2010 to facilitate the orderly management of the closed mortgage books of Bradford & Bingley and NRAM. To achieve its mission of maximising value for taxpayers, UKAR needs to ensure it receives the best possible value from key suppliers that are essential to the effective operation of its business.  

Efficio worked with UKAR to enhance a process to assess supplier relationship and help demonstrate adherence to regulatory guidelines. Based on Efficio’s eFlow technology platform and configured to suit UKAR’s requirements, the enhanced process provides UKAR access to better, timelier and more consistent information, enabling more proactive governance and oversight of key supplier relationships.

Background

UKAR has a number of key supplier relationships which are subject to FCA outsourcing guidelines.

Today, it is made up of approximately 160 employees and is responsible for around 139,000 customers holding £18.2bn of mortgages and loans.

UKAR had in place a process to manage key suppliers, collecting metrics in order to track and manage their performance via a quarterly reporting cycle. However, there was no single repository of information – the data was held in multiple spreadsheets, owned by multiple people and collated and reconciled by a central resource.

The process gave UKAR limited visibility of trends across KPIs or suppliers, which made it more difficult to proactively manage risk and supplier performance. Efficio was engaged to help UKAR develop a more efficient, robust and effective reporting process within a very challenging timeframe.

Approach

Efficio began by conducting a discovery workshop with UKAR to gain a detailed understanding of the current situation and issues. End users were profiled and consulted about their requirements in a series of subsequent workshops. Following this, Efficio worked with UKAR to identify and agree the key objectives and priorities. These objectives, combined with a user-centred design process, drove the solution and provided the clear focus needed to meet the strict time constraints. 

Efficio developed an initial prototype based on its eFlow technology platform. Feedback from users of the prototype helped refine the solution. Following this feedback, Efficio developed the application and worked closely with UKAR staff during the rollout phase to ensure they were fully trained in the new system. This approach ensured the tool delivered value to end users while meeting the wider objectives of UKAR. 

Results

The new process has streamlined UKAR’s supplier relationship management reporting process:

• There is now a single, easily accessible repository of information, compared to fragmented data in multiple locations previously
• Collection and submission of reporting data has reduced
• Reports can be produced automatically instead of via a time-consuming manual process
• Business owners can be assigned directly to specific questions and can enter their responses straight into the system, giving them more control and responsibility
• The increased efficiency and timeliness of the process has also allowed UKAR to increase the frequency of reporting for its most critical supplier, from quarterly to monthly reporting – giving UKAR confidence in the value being delivered
• The process is ‘future-proofed’ – the tool can be easily configured to add new questions and suppliers as needed in the future.

The new process has also significantly enhanced the quality of data – for example:

• Guidance on scoring is displayed directly alongside key performance metrics, ensuring more consistent, easily comparable data
• Best practice has been built in to the process – for example, the status of each performance metric can now be easily backed up with supporting evidence, providing transparency to all parties
• Multiple dashboards can be produced from the data, enabling greater breadth of analysis

UKAR now has access to more information and insights on developing trends and risks, which means they can be addressed more proactively. The new process has given UKAR an enhanced ability to demonstrate robust governance and oversight to regulators and other stakeholders.