8 Key Reports You Need for Effective Vendor Risk Management

4 minute read

February 2021

The foundation for an effective vendor risk program starts with solid reporting. As your vendor risk management program grows and matures, you will soon realize there is a ton of data about your vendors you need to capture, consume, and report on – from vendor inventory, procurement and contracting, to vendor oversight and ongoing monitoring. The right reports will save your team time, help you prioritize tasks and show management and regulators that you have risk levels under control. And if risk is not under control, it will help you pinpoint critical areas to focus your attention.

Over time, as the number of vendors under management grows, it will inevitably become more labor-intensive and error-prone to compile reports the old-fashioned way – sifting through spreadsheets and home-grown databases. At this point, vendor-risk teams should lean on automation and one-click reporting. Modern, automated vendor risk management programs allow companies to quickly see their third parties’ risk classifications, view risk assessment and due diligence activities, and report upcoming and overdue assessments with ease. When issues are identified, alerts are generated, and their status are available for immediate review. This type of reporting functionality allows your organization to see the levers that cause risk and help reduce potential risk exposure.

8 Keys for Vendor Risk Management Reporting

What Are the Reports You Need for Vendor Risk Management?

There are all sorts of key performance indicators and reports that a vendor risk management department can use to help oversee the health of an organization’s vendor relationships. We have compiled a list of eight vendor risk management reports you can use to keep you and your higher-ups informed and show the value of a well-run vendor risk management program. By no means is this an exhaustive list, but it will provide you with a solid foundation to begin. You can find the full use cases of these reports in our eBook, The 8 Reports You Need for Effective and Efficient Vendor Risk Management. The report explains what the most important reports are when managing third parties and why you need them.

  1. The Vendor Risk Criticality Report: The Vendor Risk Criticality Report is a view of your entire vendor inventory, grouped by criticality tier. The tiers are based on your organizations’ scoring methodology. Drilling into the report gives you insights as to why the vendor falls within a specific risk tier. This report helps you categorize and prioritize your vendors to focus your assessments on the risks linked to specific vendors and the services they provide.
  2. The Vendor Assessment Status Report: The Vendor Assessment Status Report provides a live view of your vendors’ progress with their self-assessments. It displays which questionnaires have been completed, which ones are overdue, and the percentage complete per vendor basis. The report includes vendor contact information, the internal owner and key dates.
  3. The Issue Summary Report: The Issue Summary Report displays issues and their related details. The report shows severity, corresponding vendor, state (open or closed), the originator of the problem, owner of the resolution and expected resolution date.
  4. The Questionnaire Response Report: The report provides a comprehensive view of your returned vendor assessments – highlighting those that may need action – based on your organization’s risk thresholds. The report shows individual assessment sections or questions that may raise cause for concern or need further evaluation. It’s an initial report card on a vendor based on their assessment responses.
  5. Quarterly Assessment Schedule Report: A Quarterly Assessment Schedule Report shows your upcoming assessments by vendor, date, and scope. It quickly allows you to determine which assessments are coming in the next quarter or this year and outlines the resources needed to complete them.
  6. The Contract Review Status Report: The Contract Review Status Report initially provides a quick view of all the essential contract dates (refresh, termination, out clauses, etc.) for your vendors in one convenient place. It’s your hub for contract storage and management.
  7. The Contract Exposure by Service Type Report: The Contract Exposure by Service Type Report provides a comprehensive view of how much is being spent across the entire organization by service area. It tells you how much is being allocated for each place of the business and helps you understand your company’s risk profile.
  8. The Risk by Geographic Location Report: Based on location information for each vendor in your system, the Risk by Geographic Location Report initially provides you a snapshot of all the vendors you work with on a map. Used in conjunction with your own scoring methodology, you can use this report to see your vendor’s criticality/importance to your business and vendors’ concentration in each geographic area.

For an in-depth look at these reports and why you need them, download ProcessUnity’s latest eBook The 8 Reports You Need for Effective and Efficient Vendor Risk Management and see how one-click access to the right information is essential for an effective and efficient program.

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About Us

ProcessUnity is a leading provider of cloud-based applications for risk and compliance management. The company’s software as a service (SaaS) platform gives organizations the control to assess, measure, and mitigate risk and to ensure the optimal performance of key business processes. ProcessUnity’s flagship solution, ProcessUnity Vendor Risk Management, protects companies and their brands by reducing risks from third-party vendors and suppliers. ProcessUnity helps customers effectively and efficiently assess and monitor both new and existing vendors – from initial due diligence and onboarding through termination. Headquartered outside of Boston, Massachusetts, ProcessUnity is used by the world’s leading financial service firms and commercial enterprises. For more information, visit www.processunity.com.