Data Visualisation and Analysis
Terrace Services has been providing specialist strategic solutions, sourcing, procurement, delivery and advisory for government and public sector agencies for more than 25 years – but something we continue to see, is missed opportunities organisations have to use data at their fingertips to better understand and position themselves to ensure procurement processes and sourcing strategies meet their current and future needs.
When procurement data is brought together and distilled into a clear, visual format, the result is a powerful tool that supports informed, timely decision-making at the executive level. Tools like Power BI offer an opportunity to transform procurement data into compelling dashboards that allow organisations to shift from reactive to proactive decision-making.
A few key ideas for getting the most out of your procurement data include:
An investment in identifying, transforming, and ensuring your procurement spend data is consistent can help set your organisation or team up for the future. With the right tools, you can gain insights, notice trends, and make data-driven decisions with confidence. These insights can help inform future approaches to market, support contract compliance and management, and enable tracking and reporting of benefits.
Any approach to market or procurement process should include planning around how to collect specific response information – and whether this can be captured in a consistent and well-formatted way. For example, pricing data captured in Excel tables can be imported into a Power BI dashboard for analysis and evaluation. Even non-pricing information, such as responses to qualitative criteria, can be leveraged when structured appropriately.
Procurement data – and the amount of it – can often feel overwhelming. However, investing time and effort into consolidating and analysing this data pays dividends for organisations of all sizes and complexities. Most organisations need to procure goods and services on an ongoing basis. Rather than responding to issues as they arise, using data proactively supports better planning, clearer visibility, and stronger outcomes.
Potential applications for your organisation:
1) Contract Management - Using your organisation’s contract data, you can easily visualise total spend against contract value, track contract start and end dates by supplier, and assess burn rates to avoid surprises as contracts near completion.
2) Procurement Evaluation - Have your evaluation team complete standard templates for each criterion, then use Power BI to visualise and compare tenderer performance across evaluation areas. This produces an engaging, accessible summary for delegate consideration and approval.
3) Organisational Spend Analysis - Gain an overarching view of your organisation’s total spend by category, supplier, team, date, or any other relevant metric. Highlight key insights for decision-makers and improve financial control and value-for-money outcomes.