Certain Sourcing™
Strategic Sourcing and Procurement Solution
Certain Sourcing™ helps you select the best, most cost-effective sites for your meetings and events. With all your events, RFPs, supplier proposals, and key contacts in one database available around the clock through the Web, you’ll save time and achieve better results for your clients. Available as a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) application, Certain Sourcing helps you track event planning information, create room blocks and the meeting agenda, create and manage customizable RFPs, track supplier responses, and generate instant budgets. Certain Sourcing includes access to a global supplier database with tens of thousands of popular properties and suppliers.
Event Sourcing and RFP Management
Certain Sourcing provides a single platform for you to manage the site selection process for your meetings and events. Store your event details, develop a preliminary budget and target dates, then begin creating requests for proposal (RFPs) so you can source the services you need from hotels and other suppliers. Send RFPs to your chosen suppliers and compare responses online to select the best match for your client’s requirements.
Note that there we offer different editions of the Certain Sourcing product. Some features described in this page are to available in all editions. Please contact us for more information.
Event and RFP Management features include:
- Enter event details and preliminary budget
- Create unlimited RFPs with dates, room block & agenda
- Version RFPs in a single click when client requirements change
- Select suppliers from a searchable, global database with thousands of properties
- Communicate easily with suppliers and clients through email reminders and updates
- Compare supplier proposal responses side-by-side
- Award RFP and inform suppliers of decision
- International support for over 170 currencies worldwide
- Spend Analysis by supplier
- Review all emails are that are sent out from the system
- Issue space holds to suppliers*
- Custom hotel contracts per planner organization, client organization, client contact or supplier*
- Auto-population of contract performance clauses
Powerful Contact Management
To get the best rates from suppliers, you need to store the preferred supplier contacts who know your business and needs. With Certain Sourcing, you can store your preferred contacts at every level: chain, brand and property. Track your clients too, including their preferences, gifts you’ve sent them, personal details, and preferred contract concessions.
Contact features include:
- Unlimited client and supplier contacts
- Mark contacts as favorites for easy access
- Correspond with contacts
- Brand forms and web sites using display editor
- Contact lists (exportable for easy mail merging)
Easy and Fast Supplier Response
When suppliers receive RFPs, they respond quickest when the process is simple and the requirements are clear. With Certain Sourcing, you can be sure that suppliers will have a good experience filling out the response to the RFP. Suppliers can respond on preferred date options or include alternates, along with concessions, best available rates, and answers to specified questions. Planners can monitor responses, compare proposals, and generate an instant budget that summarizes the cost effectiveness of the response to drive the best contracting decision.
Supplier Response features include:
- User-friendly supplier portal with no login required
- Supplier property profiles updatable during each response
- Respond with available preferred/alternate dates, best rates
- GSO's can suggest alternate properties for an RFP
- Planners can compare proposals side-by-side
Planner Tools
The life of a planner is a busy one. With tasks and timelines for multiple meetings typically overlapping and meetings and events departments scaling back on resources, planners’ time has never been shorter. Certain Sourcing makes the lives of planners easier with convenient tools to track critical event data and save time.
Planner tools include:
- Calculators to generate potential room block, catering, and travel costs
- Track tasks per event with milestones and due dates
- Generate attractive reports and budgets with a single click
- View all potential and booked event dates on event calendar
- Store standard questions and concessions to streamline RFP creation
- Shared browser bookmarks to leverage useful Internet resources throughout your team
For More Information
For further information about Certain Sourcing, please download our datasheet or view our product preview.
