SAP Fieldglass is a cloud-based solution for procuring and managing an external workforce. It’s a type of software known as a Vendor Management System. A Vendor Management System, or VMS, is a software solution that helps organizations manage their relationships and operations with vendors and suppliers. As an external workforce solution, it provides a centralized platform for procuring and managing external workers, tracking and monitoring supplier engagement, controlling rates for the workers and their suppliers, and keeping track of various other aspects of worker management.
One easy way to understand the value of a VMS is to consider what it’s like to operate without one. Without a VMS an organization really doesn’t have a basis for knowing whether a supplier is charging reasonable and competitive rates for the workers that it’s supplying, or even if it’s supplying quality workers. Nor would it have an efficient method of tracking and managing the workers, so there is no insight into productivity or the value of the work being done.
So a VMS gives organizations who use external workers:
- an efficient and automated process for hiring and managing non-permanent workers.
- a single point of reference for critical workforce decisions.
- the ability to monitor the suppliers and control the cost of their external workforce.
- a single source for tracking regulatory standards around the world.
Ultimately, a VMS does what an organization wants out of any tool: it increases efficiency and productivity, reduces costs, helps gain a competitive advantage, and drives business growth. Having one system to house all worker and supplier information is not only cost effective but provides a single portal for complete visibility into the workers, the suppliers, and the project.
Overall, a VMS provides total visibility into the workforce, and companies can automatically enforce contract compliance to reduce costs, mitigate risk, improve quality, increase operational efficiency, and make smarter buying decisions.
How a Company Uses a VMS
Let’s take a look at how WorkingNet, a leading manufacturer of data networking equipment, uses a VMS to procure a temporary worker for an opening on their network engineering team.
How Buyers Use a VMS
WorkingNet, which has the temporary position to fill, would start by indicating that a position is available.
| 1 | A Hiring Manager at WorkingNet would use the VMS, SAP Fieldglass, to Create a Job Posting, which contains all the necessary information about the position, such as work dates, locations, and rates. |
| 2 | Since a VMS maintains a database of suppliers, that Job Posting would be routed through the VMS and Distributed to the suppliers that WorkingNet has partnered with to procure temporary IT workers. |
How Suppliers Use a VMS
| 3 | Because WorkingNet’s suppliers also have access to the VMS, they would use it to review the Job Posting, evaluate the job criteria, match appropriate candidates, and forward information on those candidates by Submitting Job Seekers to the Hiring Manager back at WorkingNet. |
| 4 | WorkingNet, then, would review the submitted candidates in the VMS, conduct any interviews, then select a Job Seeker to hire by creating a Work Order for them. Then, the supplier would use the VMS to review and Confirm the new Work Order for their selected Job Seeker, should they accept the final terms of the assignment. . |
How Workers Use a VMS
| 5 | Once hired, the worker would complete any necessary onboarding activities for WorkingNet and then complete registration in the VMS for their new account. The new worker will begin using the VMS to create and Submit Time and Expense Sheets throughout the duration of their assignment. That data would be maintained in the VMS to make it more efficient to manage, track, and determine their eligibility for future positions once their contracts are up. |
| 6 | It also makes it easier for both WorkingNet and the suppliers to track the workers’ Approved Time and Expenses, |
| 7 | and ensures that Invoices are generated from approved transactions so that suppliers are paid accurately and in a timely manner. |
| 8 | And finally, when the assignment comes to an end, any required worker Offboarding activities can be tracked and Completed in the VMS, too. |