Emptoris Inc. has upgraded its namesake supply management procurement software with a sourcing platform that unifies the company's products.

Emptoris Version 5, which the Burlington, Mass., company rolled out last week, promises to integrate the components of Emptoris' online procurement system—spend analysis, negotiation, supplier performance management, contract management, decision support and compliance tracking.

With the integrated technologies, Emptoris 5 delivers a centralized repository for all spend transactions, category knowledge and supplier performance information. This will help users improve the performance of Emptoris' supplier network, officials said.

Emptoris added four modules in Version 5: Category Management, Creative Negotiation, Supplier Performance Management and Internal Collaboration.

Category Management has a consolidated commodity-based view of sourcing information that is updated automatically, officials said. It also links approved suppliers and negotiated contracts to specific categories.

Creative Negotiation provides supplier-side access to bid analysis. The Supplier Performance Management module links automated buyer feedback with supplier key performance indicators. The Internal Collaboration module provides internal surveys as templates and auto-score responses, as well as the ability to aggregate and collaborate on findings, officials said.

Emptoris is also upgrading its ExpenseMap Spend Analysis module, which automatically creates action plans to capture savings, point out noncompliant spending and provide views of spending across a company.

Gregg Brandyberry, vice president of procurement, global systems and operations at GlaxoSmithKline plc., is adding the ExpenseMap and Supplier Performance modules to his company's Emptoris environment.

"With ExpenseMap, it's going to allow us to really focus at a granular level of spend data to make sure we're optimizing the impact on things we buy," said Brandyberry in Durham, N.C. "The Supplier Performance module has functionality that allows people buying to very quickly see how we're rating suppliers and how suppliers are ranked against peer groups."

An Emptoris user since June 2002, Brandyberry is looking forward to an integrated suite.

"Procurement work is evolutionary," he said. "The types of things we needed to do three years ago, we could do just fine. The types of things we need to do in the future, we need an integrated solution to help us work smarter."

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