Glossary

SAFETY STOCK

Extra stock that is held in case it is needed in unexpected situations, such as demand rising or suppliers being unable to deliver.

SALES AND OPERATIONS PLANNING (S&OP)

A multi-department planning process based on factors including expected levels of demand and supply.

SALES TAX

A tax collected by the retailer at the final stage of the supply chain.

SAMPLES

Examples of the product that is required.

SCALABILITY

An organization’s ability to increase its production profitability.

SCANNER

A device that optically scans images.

SCHEDULE OF RATES

An itemized list of component parts within a lump-sum contract, or a list of individual products, giving a price for each unit.

SCHEMATIC

A diagram showing the main form and features of something to help people to understand it.

SCORECARDS

Reports used to track the achievement of, or progress towards, targets or goals that can include quantitative and qualitative data.

SEALED

A method determined by the commissioner to prevent the contents being revealed or known before the deadline for submission of responses.

SEARCH ENGINE

A software system or program that is designed to search for information on the Internet.

SECOND SOURCING

A business practice wherein a supplier shares information about his product with his competitors in order to increase the supply of the product in the market.

SECOND-PARTY AUDIT

An inspection of a supplier by an organization/ company contracted by the organization (otherwise known as an external or supplier audit).

SECONDARY SECTOR

The second stage of the production and manufacturing process, e.g., manufacturing industries.

SELF-ASSESSMENT TOOL

An evaluation method that an organization will use to assess performance.

SENSITIVE RECEPTORS

People or living things that are more readily affected by exposure to contaminants or toxic materials, e.g., people in schools, day-care centers, hospitals and nursing homes.

SERVICE CREDITS

A deduction against fees payable as compensation for poor service, usually a pre-determined percentage derived from a contractual performance management framework.

SERVICE LEVEL AGREEMENT (SLA)

An agreement between a supplier and a buyer based on quality, delivery, availability and other measurable criteria.

SERVICE SECTOR

The third of three sectors recognized by economists. The first sector covers farming and raw materials, the second is manufacturing and the third covers the production and delivery of services.

SERVICE-DISABLED VETERAN (SDV)

A Service-Disabled Veteran Business (SDV) must be at least 51% owned, operated and controlled by a veteran with a service-connected disability of at least 10% and must be certified by the U. Department of Veteran Affairs or the Department of Defense.

SERVICE-DISABLED VETERAN-OWNED SMALL BUSINESS

Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business Means a small business that is at least 51% owned, operated and managed by one or more service-disabled veterans. In the case of any publicly owned business, at least 51% of the stock must be owned by one or more service-disabled veterans and whose management and daily business operations are controlled by one or more service-disabled veterans or in the case of a veteran with permanent and severe disability, the spouse or permanent caregiver of such veteran. A Service-disabled veteran is defined in 38 U.S.C. 101(2) with a disability that is service-connected. (Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business).

SERVICE-DISABLED VETERAN’S BUSINESS ENTERPRISES (SDVBE)

A business concern that is (a) at least fifty-one percent (51%) owned by one or more service-disabled veterans or, in the case of any publicly owned business, at least fifty-one percent (51%) of the stock of which is owned by one or more service-disabled veterans or, in the case of a veteran with a permanent and severe disability, the spouse or permanent caregiver of such veteran.

SERVICES

Unless otherwise indicated, both professional or technical services and services performed under a service contract.

SHARES

The means by which a business is apportioned among its owners.

SHIFT

A change in either the quantity supplied, or the quantity demanded while the price remains the same.

SHIPPING ADDRESS

The address to which deliveries are to be sent.

SHOP FLOOR

Within manufacturing, the area where the goods are made.

SIGNED OFF

A process of approving a sample so that orders can be placed or produced.

SILO THINKING

When people within a department do not share their knowledge or ideas with others outside the department.

SINGLE ADMINISTRATIVE DOCUMENT (SAD)

A standardized customs form used to control goods being moved in and out of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, Turkey, Macedonia and Serbia.

SINGLE SOURCE

An acquisition where, after a search, only one supplier is determined to be reasonably available for the required product, service or construction item.

SLOTTING (OR PROFILING)

The process of identifying the most efficient placement for each item in a warehouse.

SMALL BUSINESS

A designation for certain statutory purposes referring to a firm, corporation or establishment having a small number of employees, low volume of sales, small amount of assets or limited impact on the market.

SMALL BUSINESS ENTERPRISE (SBE)

A business independently owned, operated and in accordance with the definitions and size standards established by the SBA, available at http://www.sba.gov/size. The most common
size standards are listed in the following section.

SMALL DISADVANTAGED BUSINESS CONCERN (SDB)

Small disadvantaged business concern means a small business concern that is at least 51 percent unconditionally owned by one or more individuals who are both socially and economically disadvantaged, or a publicly owned business that has at least 51% of its stock unconditionally owned by one or more socially and economically disadvantaged individuals and that has its management and daily business controlled by one or more such individuals. This term also means a small business concern that is at least 51%unconditionally owned by an economically disadvantaged Indian tribe or Native Hawaiian Organization, or a publicly owned business that has at least 51 percent of its stock unconditionally owned by one of these
entities, that has its management and daily business controlled by members of an economically disadvantaged Indian tribe or Native Hawaiian Organization, and that meets the requirements of 13 CFR 124.

SMALL- AND MEDIUM-SIZED ENTERPRISE (SME)

A small- or medium-sized enterprise that is independent of other companies and is defined in terms of the number of employees it has.

SMART

SMART objectives are: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time bound.

SOCIAL SUSTAINABILITY

The impact a business can have on people and communities and actions to make this a positive impact.

SOFT SKILLS

Skills that may be taught but are more likely to develop with time and practice, for example, team working and good communication.

SOFTWARE

Programmed code that makes computers (hardware) operate.

SOLE TRADER

Someone who has exclusive ownership of a business and can keep any surplus profits but is responsible for any losses.

SOLICITATION

The process used to communicate procurement requirements and to request responses from interested vendors. A solicitation may be, but is not limited to a request for bid and request for proposal.

SOURCE REDUCTION PRODUCT

A product that results in a net reduction in the generation of waste, and includes durable, reusable and remanufactured products; products with no packaging or reduced packaging.

SOURCING

Sourcing is the process of vetting, selecting, and managing suppliers who can provide the inputs an organization needs for day-to-day running. Sourcing is tasked with carrying out research, creating and executing strategy, defining quality and quantity metrics, and choosing suppliers that meet these criteria.

SPECIFICATION

A concise statement of a set of requirements to be satisfied by a product, material or process that indicates whenever appropriate the procedures to determine whether the requirements are satisfied. As far as practicable, it is desirable that the requirements are expressed numerically in terms of appropriate units, together with their limits. A specification may be a standard, a part of a standard, or independent of a standard.

SPEND ANALYTICS

Gathering, cleansing, classifying and assessing spend data, with the aim of making efficiencies and reducing costs.

SPOT BUYING

One-off purchases or immediate requirements, common in domestic buying.

STAGED PRICING

Payment split into installments across the period of the contract.

STAGGERED DELIVERY

This is where a full order is broken down into smaller loads and delivered against a schedule, e.g., 40% delivered in Month 1, 60% delivered in Month 2.

STAKEHOLDER

Anyone with an interest, or stake, in the organization or project.

STANDARD

An item’s characteristic or set of characteristics generally accepted by the manufacturers and users of the item as a required characteristic for all such items.

STANDARD DEVIATION

A statistical measure that captures the difference between the average and the outliers in a set of data.

STANDARDIZATION

The process of defining and applying the conditions necessary to ensure that a given range of requirements can normally be met, with a minimum of variety, in a reproducible and economic manner based on the best current techniques.

STANDING ORDERS

Document setting out the internal rules of an organization.

STATUTORY

An action that is required by and controlled by law.

STEWARDSHIP

Care and responsibility for minimizing a product’s environmental impact throughout all stages of the product life cycle, including end of life management.

STOCK

Goods, products or materials held for future use or supply, often called inventory.

STOCK KEEPING UNIT (SKU)

An identification code for an item of inventory, usually displayed as a bar code linked to a database.

STOCKHOLDER

American term for shareholder.

STOCKOUT

When an inventory item is unavailable.

STOCKTAKE

The process of physically counting products in a warehouse to match them to the computerized inventory.

STRATEGIC

High-level planning, usually related to long-term goals.

STRATEGIC BUSINESS DECISIONS

Long-term decisions often made by senior management which affect the future and direction of an organization.

STRATEGIC CORE

A category of a buyer’s portfolio in which items have major consequences for the company if they are not available when needed.

STRATEGIC PLAN

A document that includes details of the organization’s goals and the actions to be taken to achieve them.

STRATEGIC PROCUREMENT

The practice of focusing on building long-term relationships with suppliers that could lead to a source of competitive advantage.

SUBJECTIVE

In the context of data, something is subjective if it is a matter of opinion, which may differ from one person to another.

SUBSTITUTES

Goods which, as a result of changed conditions, may replace each other in the market.

SUBTRACT OR OUTSOURCE

To employ another organization to fulfill a contract or part of a contract.

SUPPLIER DATABASE

All of the Seller’s supplier and vendor lists, records, telephone and fax numbers, email addresses and publications and marketing material relating to the purchase of goods or the provision of services to the Seller in connection with the Business.

SUPPLIER DISCOVERY

The process of an organization of located and sourcing new Tier I and Tier II suppliers.

SUPPLIER DIVERSITY PROGRAM

A supplier diversity program is a proactive business program which encourages the use of minority-owned, women owned, veteran owned, LGBT-owned, service-disabled veteran owned, historically underutilized business, and Small Business Administration (SBA)-defined small business concerns as suppliers.

SUPPLIER INSPECTION

A way of testing a supplier’s product or service to confirm compliance with the standard set by the organization.

SUPPLIER MASTER

A framework that a company uses to manage a comprehensive set of records about a company’s suppliers.

SUPPLIER MASTER DATA

The Supplier Master Data is a paper or digital document containing every information related to a supplier such as: contact person, location related information, range of products, legal form of the company and different collected certificates.

SUPPLIER RANKING

A priority order of suppliers that can be used for sourcing.

SUPPLIER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT (SRM)

Process for identifying all interactions with key suppliers and then managing them in a way that increases the value from the relationship for both parties.

SUPPLIER RELATIONSHIP MANAGER (SRM)

The role responsible for developing and maintaining supplier relationships.

SUPPLY

How much or how many of a product or service an organization has to sell, or the act of physically getting something from the supplier to the buyer.

SUPPLY CHAIN

A network of individuals, organizations, technology, activities and resources working together to make sure goods or services reach the end user.

SUPPLY ORGANIZATION

A supplier.

SURPLUS PROPERTY

Property in excess of the needs of an organization and not required for its foreseeable use. Surplus may be used or new, but it possesses some usefulness for the purpose it was intended or for some other purpose.

SUSTAINABILITY

Supporting future ecological balance by not harming the environment or depleting natural resources.

SUSTAINABILITY DEVELOPMENT GOALS (SDG)

17 goals introduced by the United Nations General Assembly to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all.

SUSTAINABLY

In a way that avoids the destruction of nature and helps to keep a good ecological balance.

SYNCHRONISATION

The process of precisely coordinating or matching two or more activities, devices or processes in time.

SYSTEM-GENERATED REFERENCE NUMBER

A reference number automatically assigned to a record in a computer system.

SYSTEMIC

An attribute that applies to a whole system rather than one particular part of it.