WORK / NO . 003
How I digitize partner contracts and ensure up to 85% accuracy in transferring the information from paper to the system
YEAR: 2023
COMPANY: TIKI
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Context
To boost profits in the e-commerce industry, Tiki not only connects buyers and sellers in the online marketplace but also aims to become a distributor in Vietnam by forming partnerships with retail businesses.
The Tiki Procurement team has to negotiate discounted prices with retail suppliers by acquiring a large number of products. These products will be resold on Tiki's platform to generate revenue.
This collaboration involves both parties following the terms outlined in the contracts between them.
Tiki Procurement team:
The team consistently monitors the reliability and performance of suppliers' service commitments. By evaluating the on-time delivery rate, confirmation lead time, delivery lead time, and fill rate, the Tiki team understands the efficiency of the collaboration between the Tiki team and their partners.
Suppliers:
They require the Procurement team to execute the anticipated minimum order requirements, ensuring the team is eligible for the best pricing or reaches the expected profit margins for getting the rebates. This operation is fulfilled by introducing Minimum Order Value/Quantity (MOV/MOQ) standards.
UI Showcase
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Supplier Dashboard - Automatically evaluate suppliers' performances.
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E-Contract information - Digitize all relevant data from the paper contract and put it into the system.
Problem
At that time, the Tiki team and partners agreed to fulfill the conditions through contractual documents. There was no digital storage platform for both parties.
The significantly higher number of contracts concluded, coupled with performance calculations done manually by Tiki employees using Microsoft Excel spreadsheets, results in inconsistent data across suppliers and Tiki staff. These consequences include over ten billion (VND) wasted every month.
User interview
The Product Manager (PM) and I invited the Tiki Procurement team and the retail supplier we worked with to an interview to provide a deeper insight.
By identifying the difficulties and needs, we have a concrete hypothesis and rationale for a good solution.
During that time, I decided to use qualitative surveys to gather data. The main benefit of this method is its ability to provide a detailed understanding of the needs and potential ideas of users from both sides. Thus, I could obtain a holistic understanding of the difficulties faced by each party.
Through the surveys, I gathered various issues and needs from both parties. Afterwards, I focused on evaluating and identifying the significant problems users were facing with:
Challenges - Tiki Procurement team:
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Difficulty in controlling contract terms: Updating and adding to their contracts continuously can make it difficult to keep track of documents, leading to confusion about the committed standards (MOV/MOQ).
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Complex legal information for businesses: Tiki staff faces many cases of misleading information in the connections between subsidiary, parent companies and among different individual businesses.
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Manual data entry for performance calculations: This authentication process always involves checking the accuracy of the information by comparing it with the contracts and the delivery report (delivery time, supply quantities, goods categories...) through direct contact with the warehouse inspection team continuously to get the delivery data and record it on the Excel spreadsheet.
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Overload in information check support: The performance information is only checked through the Tiki team, a long-term issue that may cause the need for businesses to contact Tiki monthly to get clarity on their operational performance. This calls for Tiki to allocate a substantial number of its team members to support the suppliers by giving them specific reports.
Challenges - Suppliers:
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Excessive information in contract terms: The information on contract paper is not concise enough for businesses to quickly grasp a comprehensive overview.
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Transparency in information demand: Due to the insufficient specifics in some of the evaluation data by businesses, it is still difficult for companies to rely entirely on the credibility of the information.
UX Solution
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Complex legal information for businesses:
Summarising and integrating business data into the platform is a significant step. Users can instantly confirm the truthfulness of information with a simple look, making the system easy to use.
Implementing a system between the Tiki team and suppliers whereby the mistakes are reported to the team for fine-tuning and updates will guarantee that data is regularly updated and accurate. This, in turn, creates an atmosphere of collaboration and transparency among Tiki and its partners, thereby raising the trust factor and user satisfaction.
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Manual data entry and lack of transparency:
After getting a contract from the partner, the Tiki Procurement team will transfer the data from the contract to the platform to synchronize with the system. Moreover, there will also be some data in the contract that the system will use to assess the performance of the business. This ensures the reliability and accuracy of the database, and the decisions and assessments are based on the latest and most relevant information.
Upon completion of order confirmation and efficient delivery of goods, the ordering and warehouse inspection teams will submit relevant information about the order confirmation time, delivery time, and the percentage of fill rate meeting specific requirements. This data will be uploaded to the system for assessment and analysis against the supplier's performance. Therefore, it provides a step-by-step guide for operational improvements in the collaboration between both parties.
The collaboration process and evaluation are conducted as follows:
The system will automate computations utilizing Tiki teams' predetermined formulas to expedite information processing. The basic metrics offered by the system support the partners with a clear insight into the collaboration potency, boosting the transparency level and trust. This will also help to assess and enhance the performance of Tiki as well as its partners' operations.
Moreover, the system provides all the relevant data to guarantee transparency and help suppliers double-check the information when mistakes arise.
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Challenging to grasp an overview of complex contract terms:
I was supposed to evaluate the contract details and the conditions and write down all the crucial points included in the contract.
A good strategy would be to use the data I extracted from the contract and implement the 'Card sorting' method. By doing this, I can test different versions of the contracting structure to improve the readability and manageability of the data. This will be useful for the Tiki Procurement team and suppliers to understand the contract comprehensively, hence minimising confusion.
After a series of trials and evaluations, below is the most potential version:
Based on the positive user feedback on the site map structure, I proceeded to implement my idea by creating a complete UI:
Result
After completing over a month of work on the partner information platform, I am delighted to receive affirmative feedback from the Tiki team and suppliers. This system significantly enhances businesses' ability to manage and evaluate the data from the contract more precisely and efficiently.
The project was highly successful, leading to the following achievements:
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The number of requests from the suppliers has decreased considerably because they do not have to contact the team as often as before.
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Synchronization of information to match paper contracts has been remarkably successful, with up to 85% of businesses partnering with Tiki displaying data that aligns perfectly with the contract information without errors.
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A decrease of more than 20% in stored contracts for businesses that no longer work with Tiki.
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466 out of 548 retail businesses collaborating with Tiki noted that their assessment results are in complete accord with the data offered on the system.
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Businesses can manage everything on the system without any need for Tiki staff to support.
My learning
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This project gave me a deeper knowledge of collecting and structuring essential information that will make it easy for users to search and understand the information provided in the system.
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Enhancing two-way communication, where both parties can fact-check and evaluate the accuracy of the information presented, ensuring transparency and clarity.
INQUIRIES
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