TealBook Solutions
TealBook Classic
TealBook Classic refers to our existing in-market product that enables supplier discovery and comprehensive diversity and spend reporting. You can learn more in Tealbook Classic's separate online knowledge base.
SDP
Supplier Data Platform (SDP) refers to our next-generation platform that automates the collection, verification, and enrichment of supplier data across any data lake or enterprise system. It uses automated data harvesting to ingest vast amounts of supplier data that is constantly refreshed, evaluating all sources of each supplier attribute to determine its accuracy. We share that as a TrustScore that signals our confidence in the accuracy of the attribute. This gives customers critical insight into how to properly leverage the data being provided. SDP also provides a Business Rules Engine that enables customers to determine what data and what level of TrustScore they want to utilize for matched suppliers.
API and Integrations
Q. Will SDP have off-the-shelf integration with leading procurement vendors?
A: Off-the-shelf integration is not part of the platform at the moment. For the future, We will be actively working with our procurement partners to develop and support off-the-shelf integrations in the future. More details will be provided once the capabilities are finalized.
Q. Can I use the API to pull data from SDP into my own data repository (e.g., data warehouse or data lake)?
A: Yes - you can leverage the SDP API to pull data into your preferred data destination. Based on feedback from our customers, this is an ideal method of retrieving the data, such that it can be further utilized in multiple systems across the company and provides a level of flexibility for multiple teams within the company.
Q. We have a supplier data repository (e.g., data lake) we can use to pull data from SDP, but it might take me a while to confirm with my IT resources. How can we send and receive data to and from SDP in the interim? Can we do a flat file enrichment first?
A: You can use flat file enrichment first until your technical team implements the APIs. We have a Vendor Master template to upload your data in .csv or. xlsx formats for processing.
Q. What are available statistics, if I can see regarding the data and/or API call submissions?
A: As part of our GA launch for SDP, we will be providing a metrics dashboard with the following information:
- Number of enrichment requests
- Number of outstanding corrections needed
- Percentage of records with critical errors
- Average percentage of critical errors per enrichment requests
- Cumulative match rate for an enrichment request
Note: After our initial launch, the list of metrics will continue to expand with additional insight into data coverage by industry, revenue, TrustScores, and other operations metrics.
Data Attributes and Trust Scores
Q. Is the data that sits in TealBook Classic and SDP the same?
A: No. We are in the process of seeding SDP by populating data from proprietary sources. This will be ongoing as our teams identify more sources to use. In addition, we have a rigorous process to validate supplier data before it is populated in SDP to ensure improved data quality, so initially there will be fewer suppliers in SDP.
Q. Will the data in TealBook Classic continue to be updated?
A: TealBook Classic will continue to be updated with certification data for as long as it’s supported and being used by our customers. If and when this changes, a minimum of twelve month notification will be provided to our customers.
Q. What are the attributes available in SDP?
A: In SDP, we have Firmographics and Diversity data attributes that are available to our customers via API or flat-file. We are continuing to add more attributes to SDP each quarter. Below is the list available as part of our February 2024 release:
| Data Attributes Available Now in SDP |
Additional Data Attributes Available in SDP Next Release [Planned for Feb 2023] |
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Q. What are the data sources you use as you aggregate data in SDP? Can you share the sources?
A. Our data sources are a combination of structured and unstructured public information and strategic data partnerships. We capture data sources that are publicly available but difficult to obtain at scale manually. We then transform and cleanse the data for validation and refresh of our Universal Supplier Profiles (USPs) and when adding new profiles and attributes. Additionally, our strategic data partnerships allow us to expand the coverage of suppliers in our USPs, add more attributes of strategic value, and more validation points to inform our TrustScores.
Q. How is the Vendor Master utilized as a data source in SDP?
A: The Vendor Master data serves as an additional opportunity for us to validate the accuracy of the information we possess. Whether sourced from the Vendor Master flat file or APIs, all provided data undergoes obfuscation. Of critical note: any validation performed on this data is kept confidential and is never shared or linked with any other customer. Our focus remains on ensuring the utmost data accuracy while maintaining the highest standards of privacy and security.
Q. How do you track parent and child company hierarchy in your supplier records in SDP?
A: At our GA launch in February, there is no formal relationship established for hierarchies of companies. This is a critical capability that we have on our roadmap for after launch.
Q. What is your mechanism of finding duplicate records in the supplier data that we send you, and if you find duplicate records, will you be informing us?
A. We have a method of de-duplicating our Universal Supplier Profiles to help us better consolidate supplier records in our own database. For supplier data provided to us, we don’t remove duplicate records as there may be a valid reason for them (e.g., supplier records come from multiple sources). However, we do provide a TealBook ID for each matched supplier so that customers can look at the results to see if there are duplicate TealBook IDs and decide on any corrective actions.
Q. What are TrustScores and are they only included in TealBook SDP?
A. TrustScores are an exciting new concept being introduced as part of SDP. The TealBook TrustScore indicates our level of confidence in the accuracy for each of the supplier attributes we hold in our master data set, which we call our Universal Supplier Profiles (USPs). The TrustScore is a key element that will provide a clear signal and guidance on which data to enrich and which data to augment in your key procurement systems.
Q: How are TrustScores determined?
A. There is not one single way that all TrustScores are determined. This will vary depending on the type of attribute. For most Firmographic data attributes, it will be driven by consensus modeling. For example: if “Year Founded” is the same in 19/20 sources, it would receive a ‘High’ TrustScore value. For some attributes, such as diversity certificates that come from one certifying body, the TrustScore is derived from the confidence in that source and would be the same across all certificate-level attributes.
Q. Do you have TrustScores for all attributes in SDP?
A. The goal is to have a TrustScore for every attribute in SDP. However, in cases where there is limited coverage or the approach is still a work in progress (e.g., Long Description), we will indicate that the TrustScore for that attribute is “Pending”.
Q. What is the Business Rules Engine and how is it configured?
A. The Business Rules Engine (BRE) empowers our customers the ability to define the specific data attributes incorporated in the supplier enrichment process. Through the BRE, customers have the capability to set various rules governing the inclusion or exclusion of specific data attributes. These rules are customizable, allowing users to decide whether data should always be included, never included, or included only when the data attribute meets or exceeds a designated TrustScore value. Importantly, all modifications to these rules are carefully tracked and documented ensuring transparency throughout the process.
Q. What could be the reasons for opting to not receive returned data?
A. The decision is entirely customer-specific; however, some customers have shared they prefer not to receive certain fields, such as supplier name, which might have slight variations. This choice is made to avoid potential confusion within existing systems.
Q. Do you use Artificial Intelligence (AI/MachineLearning) in SDP?
A. Yes, we leverage ML to improve supplier matching, to further refine company offerings and keywords, and to improve data normalization.
Application
Q. Will SDP have new applications for supplier discovery and supplier diversity?
A. At the moment, there are no supplier discovery or supplier diversity applications in SDP however similar capabilities are being considered as part of the SDP Product Roadmap.