Vendors Workshop

Edit online

Preparing your Vendor data

You can get started and prepare your Vendor data by reviewing the below checkpoints:

If you haven’t done so already, load all of the relevant vendor data into Apptio.
Following Apptio standard practices, categorize each raw data set into the category of Vendors.
If appropriate, apply a date filter to your vendor data.

About the Vendor Identifier

The Identifier for the Vendor object is system generated and should not be altered. It includes:

Vendor Name
Vendor ID
Vendor Type
Vendor Function
Vendor Primary Service

About the Vendor Keys

The keys for the Vendor Master Data set are all system generated and should not be altered.

Key	Field key is based on	Logic
Cost Source_Vendor Key	Vendor ID Cost Source Key Metafield	Append the text CS_Vendor with the Vendor ID, Cost Source Key Metafield
Vendor_ITRT Key	Vendor CSP Key IT Resource Tower IT Resource Sub-Tower	IF Vendor_CSP Key = Vendor_CSP_null THEN Append the text Vendor_ITRT with IT Resource Tower and IT Resource Sub-Tower ELSE Set the text to Vendor_ITRT_null
Vendor_CSP Key	Is CSP Vendor Name	IF Is CSP = yes THEN Append the text Vendor_CSP with the Vendor Name ELSE Set the text to Vendor_CSP_null

Key

Field key is based on

Logic

Cost Source_Vendor Key

Vendor ID

Cost Source Key Metafield

Append the text CS_Vendor with the Vendor ID, Cost Source Key Metafield

Vendor_ITRT Key

Vendor CSP Key

IT Resource Tower

IT Resource Sub-Tower

Vendor_CSP Key = Vendor_CSP_null

THEN

Append the text Vendor_ITRT with IT Resource Tower and IT Resource Sub-Tower

ELSE

Set the text to Vendor_ITRT_null

Vendor_CSP Key

Is CSP

Vendor Name

Is CSP = yes

THEN

Append the text Vendor_CSP with the Vendor Name

ELSE

Set the text to Vendor_CSP_null

Vendor_CSP_Key is only required if you are also implementing the Public Cloud component. Otherwise, the key (and other Cloud-related fields) can be left blank.

Common Computed Columns Needed for Vendors

You may need to create any of the following computed columns:

Conditional statement to determine if a vendor is a Cloud Service Provider. This should return a Yes/No response.
Conditional statement to determine if a vendor is a Managed Service Provider. This should return a Yes/No response.
Vendor Type should be categorized as "Strategic", "Preferred", or "Transactional"

If your vendor allocation data is in a separate data set from your vendor data, you may need additional computed columns including:

Lookup of Annual Target Spend from a vendor list to a vendor allocation list
Lookup of Service Location from a vendor list to a vendor allocation list
Lookup of User Interaction from a vendor list to a vendor allocation list
Lookup of Vendor Function from a vendor list to a vendor allocation list
Lookup of Vendor Location from a vendor list to a vendor allocation list
Lookup of Vendor Manager from a vendor list to a vendor allocation list
Lookup of Vendor Service from a vendor list to a vendor allocation list
Lookup of Vendor Type from a vendor list to a vendor allocation list

Vendor Name MUST match the Provider name in the Cloud Service Provider Master Data set for a relationship to exist. If it does not, you may need to either clean up the data or build a computed column.

Map data to Vendors Master Data

Map the customer’s vendor data to the Vendors Master Data set. Most of the mapping is self-explanatory. In 12.7 you can now leverage the Column Map function in your raw dataset to map to the Vendors Master Data (Map Columns).

In order to use the Allocation percentage (for vendors mapped to more than one tower), use the Select additional source columns option when mapping your data. You’ll use this for the allocation from Vendors to IT Resource Towers on the models.

Review the Vendors object on the models

After you have mapped your data to the Vendors Master data, you can go ahead and review the objects on the models. Review the following models and ensure the values are flowing into the objects appropriately.

Model	Actions
Cost	Ensure values are flowing from the Cost Source object to the Vendors object. From Cost Source to Vendors, allocate using the Data-based Reference (this is the default setting).The keys joining the two data sets include Vendor ID and the Cost Source Key Metafield.
Budget	Ensure values are flowing from the Cost Source object to the Vendors object. From Cost Source to Vendors, allocate using the Data-based Reference (this is the default setting).The keys joining the two data sets include Vendor ID and the Cost Source Key Metafield.
Forecast	Ensure values are flowing from the Cost Source object to the Vendors object. From Cost Source to Vendors, allocate using the Data-based Reference (this is the default setting).The keys joining the two data sets include Vendor ID and the Cost Source Key Metafield.
CapEx	Ensure values are flowing from the Cost Source object to the Vendors object. From Cost Source to Vendors, allocate using the Data-based Reference (this is the default setting).The keys joining the two data sets include Vendor ID and the Cost Source Key Metafield.
CapEx Budget	Ensure values are flowing from the Cost Source object to the Vendors object. From Cost Source to Vendors, allocate using the Data-based Reference (this is the default setting).The keys joining the two data sets include Vendor ID and the Cost Source Key Metafield.
CapEx Forecast	Ensure values are flowing from the Cost Source object to the Vendors object. From Cost Source to Vendors, allocate using the Data-based Reference (this is the default setting).The keys joining the two data sets include Vendor ID and the Cost Source Key Metafield.

Review Vendor reports

The following reports are updated after you have configured the Vendors object:

Vendor Review
Vendor Portfolio
Vendor List
Vendor Spend by Project
Vendors Validity
Data Dimensions - Vendors
Vendor - Cost Center Trend
Vendor - IT Tower Trend
Vendor - Project Trend
Vendor - Vendor Type Trend
Vendor Details
Vendor Type Details

To see details of these reports (including navigation, roles, objectives, and questions answered for each report), please see the Costing Standard User Guide in the Online Help.

Track and manage vendor spend

The typical TBM enabled company will utilize Apptio to gain greater insight into the cost and value of its vendor relationships by monitoring the utilization of various products and services provided by vendors along with metrics related to cost-volume performance.

Apptio allows procurement, legal, finance, and IT to align viewpoints of vendor financial performance and clarify the nature of a vendor’s contribution to IT value. In addition, Apptio bridges the old and the new, providing standard insights into cloud vendor billing and comparisons of unit cost trends. Finance and IT can now see the meaningful details of what vendors are doing, what types of vendors are engaged, and how those vendors stack up to cloud-based alternatives.

This procedure encompasses analysis of strategic, preferred, and transactional vendors on the basis of total cost, budget, target, CapEx/OpEx, cost center, project, tower, sub-tower, and vendor function. This includes monitoring vendors by type and by spend target with time series analysis and key metrics.