Business Reviews

LSU Procurement recommends suppliers contracted with LSU to present an annual business review (ABR) to LSU Procurement and/or LSU stakeholder group(s). Depending on the supplier’s commodity they are contracted to provide, additional business reviews on a semi-annual or quarterly basis may be necessary. The supplier’s assigned sales representative(s) and leadership team shall present the report to the appropriate LSU stakeholder(s).

LSU Procurement’s business review structure is to conduct an overall annual business review (ABR) for contracts bid/negotiated by LSU Procurement at a system-wide level. For these reviews the supplier should present information at a system-wide level. If the supplier is meeting with a subgroup of LSU stakeholders, they can then scale down the business review information to the specific stakeholder group(s) for which they are meeting (i.e. LSU-Eunice, LSU A&M – Athletics, LSU A&M – Residential Life, LSU-Shreveport, etc.).

In the case of a supplier with a contract that is used and managed by one (1) or several LSU departments, LSU Procurement would not set up those annual business reviews. The discretion to schedule and conduct an annual, semi-annual, or quarterly business review (ABR, SABR, or QBR) would default to the LSU department managing/using the contract. LSU Procurement can be invited to attend those business reviews when applicable to address contracting issues or concerns, but LSU Procurement would not hold business reviews independently of the contract managing department.

The ABRs, SABRs, & QBRs should include sales data, service metrics, and other key performance indicators as determined by LSU and the supplier. Business review reporting will be based on the University’s fiscal year (July 1st – June 30th) or based on the contract start & end dates (contract term). Annual business reviews should be held in the 1st fiscal quarter of the new fiscal year, presenting data for the previous fiscal year.

Business reviews are used to review the LSU account from a historical usage/ data perspective of what has been purchased/ occurred on the account over the timeframe identified for the review. The business review should not serve as a sales pitch for new products and services. While new products/services can be presented within the “Projects, Opportunities, Barriers, and Feedback/Next Steps” section, it should not account for more than 5% of the presentation.

Business review timeframe:

Annual Business Review (ABR): July 1, 20XX – June 30, 20XX
Semi-Annual Business Review (SABR): July 1, 20XX – December 31, 20XX
Quarterly Business Review (QBR): July 1, 20XX – Current Fiscal Quarter
- FY Q1 = September 30th, FY Q2 = December 31st, FY Q3 = March 31st
By request to address contract performance issues/deficiencies

Metrics presented in business reviews may include, but are not limited to:

Account Overview (Overall Spend and Transactions)
- Amount of total spend
- Total number of orders placed
- Total number of lines ordered
- Average number of lines/unique items per order
- Average order spend amount
- Overview of spend by order method
  - Punchout (B2B) catalog orders, traditional orders (LSU paper purchase order), orders placed via credit card (supplier public website or phone), etc.
Year-over-Year (Y.O.Y.) and Quarter-over-Quarter (Q.O.Q.) Sales Activity Comparisons
- Spend by commodity groupings
- Spend by manufacturers (MFG)
- Spend by LSU campuses
  - LSU A&M – Baton Rouge, LSU Agricultural Center & Research Stations, LSU – Alexandria, LSU – Eunice,
    LSU – Shreveport, and Pennington Biomedical Research Center.
Breakdown of Spend by Order Method
- e-Commerce order details
  - Total number of e-Commerce orders
  - Total spend of e-Commerce orders
  - Punchout catalog (B2B) and website order details
    - Number of orders placed and amount of spend via each method
- Traditional order details
  - Total number of traditional orders
  - Total spend of traditional orders
  - Breakdown of e-mail, fax, telephone, formal quotation, orders placed with sales rep
    - Number of orders placed and amount of spend via each method
- Credit card spend details
  - Number of orders and total spend via credit card
Year-over-Year (Y.O.Y.) and Quarter-over-Quarter (Q.O.Q.) Supplier Performance & Service Metrics
- Time to ship orders
  - Breakdown by number of orders/lines shipped within 1, 2, 3, and 4+ business days
    - If commodity is custom orders and/or made to order, identify industry standard ship time metrics to benchmark against.
- Order Fulfillment
  - Average number of days to ship complete order
  - Percent of orders fulfilled in one shipment
  - Percent of orders fulfilled from warehouse stock
  - Percent of orders fulfilled from drop shipped/virtual warehouse/3rd parties
- Cycle time
  - Average time from when the order is placed to the end user receiving the product
- Deadline accuracy
  - Percentage of orders fulfilled within contracted delivery window
  - Percentage of orders fulfilled late (i.e. after deadline passes)
- Returns
  - Total number of orders with returns
  - Total items returned
  - Value of returns
  - Breakdown of return reasons with quantity & value
    - Items returned due to shipping damage
    - Items returned due to customer preference
  - Number of orders with errors
- Warranty
  - Number and value of warranty claims/ repairs
Cost Savings & Value-added Benefits
- Contract savings
  - Savings from retail price (total discounted amount)
  - Additional savings from contract pricing (total discounted amount for bulk/large transactions)
  - Savings from reduced or waived shipping/freight and other fees
    - Value of “free” shipping/freight
    - Value of “waived” expedited delivery charges
    - Value of other waived fees (i.e. return fee, small order fee, etc.) (if applicable)
- Contract incentives
  - Total value of annual volume rebate (if applicable)
  - Total value of annual bulk order over $XXXX rebate (if applicable)
  - Total value of early payment discounts/prompt payment terms (if applicable)
- Quantifiable value-added benefits
  - Number of manufacturer/product expos hosted and dollar value to hold
  - Number of product/safety trainings hosted and dollar value to hold
  - Value of free/sample products given for department use
  - Value of supplier-managed inventory costs
Product Availability
- Item availability
  - Number of unique items (or services) available vs. number purchased
  - Number of unique items (or services) purchased once vs. multiple times- repeat purchases
- Manufacturer availability
  - Number of manufacturers offered vs purchased (if applicable)
Projects, Opportunities, Barriers, and Feedback/Next Steps
- Supplier-provided
  - Provide a list of “projects” supplier is involved in to create opportunities or value-added benefits to LSU campus(es) and end users.
  - Provide a list of supplier-identified “high” level opportunities for expanded service offerings (include title & description, value, estimated purchase date/quarter of year, point of contact/department name).
  - Provide a list of barriers/concerns related to fulfilling the contract in accordance with the terms and conditions and/or concerns related to lack of opportunity with a department/campus.
  - Highlight/showcase supplier’s capabilities including new products and/or services available (if applicable).
- LSU-provided
  - Provide documented examples of suppliers’ unresolved/reoccurring issues impacting LSU department operations (if applicable).
  - Provide documented examples of suppliers’ success meeting and/or exceeding contract expectations (if applicable).
    - Highlight areas where supplier streamlined additional department operations beyond the initial purpose/use case. This will help supplier promote applications with other LSU departments.
- Supplier & LSU-provided
  - Next steps and action items to address concerns, projects, and opportunities identified during the business review, and/or any other areas of reporting/discovery of information identified within the data presented.

Rev. 3/10/2025

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