Inkoop sociaal domein Centraal Gelderland (SDCG) supports 11 municipalities in Gelderland with purchasing and contract management under the Dutch Social Support Act (Wmo) and Youth Act. With ISPnext Contract Management, Vendor Management and the Supplier Portal, contracts, supplier records and product structures are held in one central place.
Contract and supplier information was spread across personal drives and separate Excel sheets, which made processes hard to monitor and information hard to find.
A step by step expansion from Vendor Management to Contract Management and the Supplier Portal, bringing more and more processes together in one application.
One system for all contracts, up to date waiting times per provider through an API, and providers who manage their own data.
From decentralisation to digitalising care contracts
The decentralisation of care gave municipalities the responsibility to contract care providers themselves. The municipalities in the Centraal Gelderland region placed that task with Inkoop SDCG. During that transition the organisation chose ISPnext after a tender process, with the job of keeping a growing number of contracts, supplier records and documents manageable.
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Information spread across drives and sheets
Contract data, supplier information and documents sat on personal drives and in separate Excel sheets. That made it hard to monitor processes and to find information again.
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A growing number of care contracts
The number of contracts with care providers kept rising. Without central registration that volume is impossible to oversee, let alone to monitor.
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The need for one file per provider
The organisation wanted to work in a single file per provider, so that everything sits together and nobody depends on documents on a network drive or in an email.
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A lot of coordination with providers
Providers submitted their data and changes one by one. That cost both sides a great deal of coordination and created the risk that information would be lost or submitted twice.
“The ISPnext platform works really well. It gives us all our products in one place.”
Step by step towards one central place for contracts and suppliers
Inkoop SDCG started with Vendor Management and Spend Analytics. The organisation no longer uses Spend Analytics, because the municipalities do not share their financial data. That is not down to the software, but to the way the regional partnership is structured.
After starting with Vendor Management, Inkoop SDCG extended its use with Contract Management. The need was to store contract information, structure product information per provider and gain insight into supplier data. More and more processes are being moved into the application, precisely to encourage use and improve central access.
Where care contracts were the main focus in ISPnext at first, the organisation now also handles contracts outside the social care domain through the system.
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Starting with Vendor Management
After a tender process, Inkoop SDCG started with Vendor Management to record the supplier data of care providers centrally.
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Contract Management for a single file
Contract information, product information per provider and supplier data come together in one file, instead of on a network drive or in a mailbox.
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Waiting times on the website through an API
The overview of contract products and their waiting times is connected to the public Inkoop SDCG website through an API, so that the data is displayed automatically.
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Supplier Portal for the providers
Providers supply and manage their information themselves in the Supplier Portal: submitting data, changing waiting times and viewing products, all in one central place.
What ISPnext delivers for Inkoop SDCG
Inkoop SDCG manages contracts, suppliers and product structures in one place. According to Marieke Bruinsma the biggest gain is not in the internal processes but on the side of the care providers, who manage their own information through the Supplier Portal.
What it delivers for Inkoop SDCG
- One clear system for contract management, supplier information and product structures, instead of personal drives and separate Excel sheets.
- Insight into contract products including their waiting times, with an API connection to the organisation's own public website.
- Contracts outside the social care domain now run through the system as well, so all contract management happens in one place.
- Less coordination with providers: through the Supplier Portal they submit their own data, change waiting times and view their products.
- Less risk of information being lost or submitted twice, because the workload is shared.
- Short lines to ISPnext through the Customer Success Manager and the support desk, plus knowledge sharing with other care regions that work with the platform.
Frequently asked questions about care contract management at Inkoop SDCG
Inkoop SDCG has worked with ISPnext since 2017, from the period of the decentralisation of care. The solutions are rolled out step by step and used more and more widely across the organisation.
The organisation started with Vendor Management and Spend Analytics and later extended with Contract Management and the Supplier Portal. Inkoop SDCG no longer uses Spend Analytics, because the municipalities do not share their financial data.
At first mainly the purchasing department. Today more and more colleagues from other teams use the solutions actively, because the need for central files keeps growing.
Alongside care contracts, Inkoop SDCG has been managing other contracts through the platform for a year. That decision follows from the large number of contracts within the organisation and the need to manage them centrally.
Providers no longer have to send something over or check in every time. They can submit everything at once, change waiting times and view their products in one central place. For Inkoop SDCG that saves a lot of coordination and time.
There is close contact with other regions that work with the platform. During the sessions ISPnext organises they exchange experiences and work towards more uniformity, which makes things clearer for care providers. The Netherlands has 42 care regions, almost all of which use their own systems for availability, purchasing and contract management.
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