General Definition: Supplier collaboration involves working closely with suppliers to share information, align on goals, and jointly plan activities to improve supply chain performance. This process involves working with suppliers’ data to bring additional insight to the supply planning process, ensuring that supply plans are feasible given the need to source materials from suppliers. It also aims to secure supplier buy-in to the plan, particularly where there are contractual commitments to meet certain requirements.
Value it Delivers: Effective supplier collaboration improves product quality, reduces lead times, optimizes costs, and enhances supply chain performance. It helps organizations and their suppliers align more closely, foster innovation, and build stronger relationships. This collaborative approach enhances communication and fosters mutual benefits between the organization and its suppliers.
How Anaplan Delivers that Value: Anaplan platform can capture external data, map data that are structured differently, and provide a single platform for internal and external stakeholders to exchange information. This exchange can be two-way, with the supply chain presenting their anticipated needs to the supplier and the supplier confirming their ability to supply
Typical Inputs for this Use Case: Typical inputs for supplier collaboration include supplier performance data, demand forecasts, production schedules, quality metrics, planned purchase requirements from the supply chain, and supplier-provided inputs such as inventory levels
What this Use Case Feeds Into:
- Anaplan use cases:
  1. Supply Chain: Rough Cut Capacity Planning
  2. Supply Chain: Material Requirements Planning
  3. Supply Chain: Production Scheduling & Sequencing
  4. Finance: Product & Channel Profitability Planning
  5. Sales & Marketing: Promotion Management and Planning
- Other Business Benefits: This use case enables joint demand planning, shared performance metrics, collaborative problem-solving, and innovation initiatives. Joint demand planning involves working with suppliers to create accurate demand forecasts, ensuring alignment on future needs. Shared performance metrics provide a common set of KPIs to measure the success of the collaboration and identify areas for improvement. Collaborative problem-solving addresses issues that arise in the supply chain, such as delays or quality concerns, through joint efforts to find solutions. Innovation initiatives focus on co-developing new products or processes that benefit both the organization and its suppliers.

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