Sourcing

Welcome to the Proactis Sourcing Content Hub, your one-stop resource centre to automate the Sourcing processes
 

What is Sourcing?

All businesses need supplies - from stationery, to machinery and to services. Sourcing (also known as eSourcing, and a core part of the Source-to-Contract process) refers to the digital tools and processes used to streamline, simplify and improve strategic sourcing activities and procurement processes to obtain these supplies.1

Whatever your business needs, the sourcing process and managing your supply chains can be time-consuming.2 An efficient sourcing solutio and strategy is the ultimate goal when running an effective procurement operation.

Top-performing organisations exploit the latest technologies3 to conduct more sourcing events and direct a higher proportion of purchases through formal contracts without the need for doubling overhead, jeopardizing quality or increasing exposure to risk. These organisations combine best-in-class processes with automation to complete the sourcing cycle, inclusive of RFx automation, supplier identification, bidding/negotiation and optimisation tools.
 
 

Sourcing can have many challenges:

  • It is difficult to collect requirements from end users and organise them.
  • Effectively dealing with numerous categories, complex services, supplier requirements or relying on inflexible technology can take up a lot of your Procurement teams' time.
  • Preparing for and running fair, effective events is critical.
  • Rules that govern the sourcing process are constantly changing and complex.
  • It is difficult to define and track sourcing processes across your supply chain.

An effective Sourcing solution can deliver key benefits:

Obtain best value by improving the effectiveness and transparency of both strategic and tactical sourcing processes
Obtain best value by improving the effectiveness and transparency of both strategic and tactical sourcing processes.


Gain a clear picture of what is being bought and from whom.
Gain a clear picture of what is being bought and from whom.


Standardise the competitive sourcing process.
Standardise the competitive sourcing process.


Reduce the amount of labor-intensive manual tasks, and costs
Reduce the amount of labour-intensive manual tasks, and costs.

Five proven ways to transform sourcing

Here are five proven ways you can transform sourcing today if you have the right tools and expertise available:

  • Improvement 1: Manage your sourcing events more efficiently.
  • Improvement 2: Better management of your documents.
  • Improvement 3: Create a level playing field for competitive bidding.
  • Improvement 4: Get multiple quotes.
  • Improvement 5: Remove manual tasks.
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Five proven ways to transform sourcing
 

With a new sourcing strategy in place, achieving 'best value' from every purchase becomes an everyday reality

There are five proven ways to transform sourcing today if you have the right tools and expertise available:
  • Sourcing events - when defining and managing each sourcing event is easy, with a sequence of one-time and iterative events and well-defined responsibilities.
  • RFx document manager - when the process of capturing what your colleagues need from suppliers is streamlined and straightforward.
  • Auction manager - when an openly competitive opportunity is the best way to source goods or services.
  • Quick quote manager - when you need a fast and simple way to obtain multiple competitive bids for one-time purchases of well-defined goods and services.
  • Extra resources - finding a partner who can provide managed sourcing services can make the difference when it comes to reducing procurement costs, maximising value and maintaining solid supplier relationships.

Hoyer Group achieves procurement savings through its Source-to-Contract processes with Proactis

“We now have one point of reference for all sourcing project-related information, such as contacts, tender documents, standard library documents, specifications, rating schemes, offer documents etc.”

Read the full story

Hoyer Group achieves procurement savings through its Source-to-Contract processes with Proactis
With Proactis you can obtain best value for the organisation by improving the effectiveness and transparency of both strategic and tactical sourcing processes, while dramatically reducing administrative time and effort.
 
Sourcing provides a series of flexible, collaborative, and efficient methods for performing effective sourcing processes. It enables a structured, transparent, and easily tracked process from expression of need through to final contract award.

Learn more about Proactis Sourcing

A practical first step to assessing your Source-to-Contract process:

Have you been thinking your sourcing, supplier management and contract management processes could be improved? Or maybe they desperately need to be improved?

Do you sense that those processes may be wasting precious resources (time, money, talent etc.) because they are not as effective or efficient as they should be?

If it is time to rethink your Source-to-Contract (S2C) process, our Assessment Tool can help you do that in a structured manner.

Find out now
A practical first step to assessing your Source-to-Contract process
Sourcing FAQs
What is eSourcing?
All businesses need supplies - from stationery, to machinery, to services, and eSourcing is the digital tools and processes used to streamline, simplify and improve strategic sourcing activities and procurement processes to obtain these supplies.
What are the challenges that eSourcing can solve?
Sourcing and procurement professionals face enormous pressure to deliver, but face a number of challenges to effectively source for projects:
  • It is difficult to collect requirements from end users and organise them.
  • Effectively dealing with numerous categories, complex services, supplier requirements or relying on inflexible technology can take up a lot of your Procurement teams' time.
  • Preparing for and running fair, effective events is critical.
  • Rules that govern the sourcing process are constantly changing and complex.
  • It is difficult to define and track sourcing processes across your supply chain.
This is where using eSourcing solutions can help your in-house procurement teams.
How does eSourcing reduce cost?
There are a number of ways that an eSourcing solution can reduce costs. eSourcing provides you with the capability to replicate and automate tasks, enabling professionals to focus more on more value-add tasks. And by speeding up procurement processes, eSourcing tools reduce the total time of a tendering process and limit the time sourcing managers spend on tenders. Additionally, because eSourcing allows you to evaluate a broader range of suppliers and leveraging different eAuction strategies, you can negotiate online with multiple suppliers and keep competition longer in the process.
 
These is just a small sample of how eSourcing can reduce costs. For more information, speak to an eSourcing expert.
Does eSourcing improve compliance?
Market-leading eSourcing solutions ensure consistent compliance with regulatory requirements and guidelines. Additionally, an eSourcing system guides you through the qualification process of suppliers in the fastest and most efficient manner and will, at the same time, capture all relevant data. This will guarantee a transparent and objective process where you can always demonstrate the validity of choices.
Who can benefit from eSourcing software?
Top-performing Procurement professionals exploit the latest eSourcing technologies to conduct more sourcing events and direct a higher proportion of purchases through formal contracts without the need for doubling overhead, jeopardising quality or increasing exposure to risk. This not only benefits the Procurement departments, but the organisation as whole.
 
Read: Extract more savings from your strategic sourcing initiatives
 
What are the benefits of eSourcing and why do I need it?
Strategic sourcing delivers significant savings by streamlining the ongoing, long-term procurement of goods and services. It allows for competitive bidding; ensuring optimal pricing and supplier selection on a wide range of spend categories which results in very large savings when compared to traditional processes.
 
With Proactis' eSourcing software you can obtain best value by improving both strategic and tactical sourcing processes, while dramatically reducing administrative time and effort. eSourcing solutions provide a series of flexible, collaborative, and efficient methods for performing effective eSourcing events, such as complex tender projects, eAuctions and routine quote-based purchases. It enables a structured, transparent, and easily tracked process from expression of need through to final contract award.
 
Read: Five proven ways to transform sourcing
What are RFPs, RFIs and RFQs
  • A request for proposal (RFP) is a business document that announces a project, describes it, and requests bids from qualified suppliers to complete it.
  • An RFI (request for information) is a formal process for gathering information from potential suppliers of a good or service - intended to be written by customers and sent to potential suppliers.
  • An RFQ (request for quote) is a document that details pricing options for a highly-specific service or product.
eSourcing solutions help organisations develop supplier request documents that effectively express the need, streamlining the processes of publishing them in the form of an RFI, RFP and/or RFQ, evaluating responses, and ultimately awarding the contract.
Glossary
Spend Control
The aim of all organisations, to control what is being purchased and to optimise spend and supply chains so they can reach their full potential. Spend control helps to save money and create efficiencies while increasing compliance and reducing risk.

Source-to-Pay (S2P)
A complete end-to-end outsourcing solution, usually made up of component parts - Source-to-Contract (S2C) or Procure-to-Pay (P2P).

Source-to-Contract (S2C)
Part of the end-to-end spend management process that supports the Procurement team in the activities they perform to make qualified suppliers and negotiated best-value agreements available to the organisation for use when they need to buy something.

Procure-to-Pay (P2P)
Also known as Purchase-to-Pay, this is the part of an end-to-end procurement system that enables and manages the routine purchasing of goods and services by an organisation’s staff.

Spend Visibility
The ability for managers to easily access past in process, and potential (request submitted but not yet approved) spend within their realm of responsibility.

Spend Under Management
The portion of spend that is influenced by the Procurement team and their processes.


Procurement / eProcurement
eProcurement and all of its various component terms such as eSourcing, eAuctions, eInvoices, ePayables, etc. are all terms that simply imply the use of information technology and internet-based communications to support the Spend Control process – including all procurement and financial control aspects of that process.

Supply Chain
In its simplest form, a supply chain is the activities required to deliver goods or services to the consumer. When thinking about a service, services will come together to offer an overall customer service, as opposed to a finished product.

Supply Chain Management
Supply chain management is the process of managing the flow of goods and services to and from a business, including every step involved in turning raw components into final services/products and getting them to the customer.

Purchasing
The acquisition of goods and services on behalf of a buying entity.

eInvoice
Broadly speaking, an electronic invoice is any invoice sent by a supplier to the buyer in electronic form rather than as a paper invoice.


Supplier Relationship Management
SRM is building and maintaining a strong supplier base by structuring and streamlining the entire supplier lifecycle – from initial identification to adoption, approval, transaction and analysis.

Contract Management
Contract management in procurement is the process of managing agreements with suppliers to achieve the best possible financial and operational performance. The goal is to ensure compliance, mitigate risks, and optimise supplier relationships.

Marketplace
Sometimes referred to as an eMarketplace, a procurement marketplace is a platform that connects staff with approved suppliers and contract when they are purchasing products and services.

Accounts Payable Automation
An efficient and effective Accounts Payable function supports an organisation’s cashflow and helps build healthy supplier relationships. The process of capturing all incoming invoices and efficiently transform them into optimised eInvoices, and enabling efficient invoice matching/approval in their finance system.



1 Source to Contract: Global Design Principles Gov.UK Retrieved 2025-01-31.
2 Video: Proactis Sourcing LAKE Youtube Retrieved 2025-01-31.
3 Guide to the source to contract (S2C) and how to leverage it for business PandaDoc Blog Retrieved 2025-01-31.