Overview

Using Mendix Workflow, this application streamlines the vendor onboarding process, creating a single source of truth for internal teams and the external third party with whom the organization wants to conduct business. This vendor onboarding template covers intake, assessment, appropriate due diligence, and contracting, at which point the vendor is considered onboarded. 

The industry challenge for this case is that businesses continue to speed up the pace at with they operate, but purchasing is still slow. The issue is vendor onboarding and the associated due diligence. Teams and organizations have not adapted with automated processes and technology to address new required processes and regulatory risks.  

There is an increasing scope of data, documents, and due diligence required by cross-functional teams.  We have a solution that helps the retailed keep the data collected during the whole process within the same database, minimizes delays during de onboarding process, allows to keep track of its status without having to reach other parts, and boost consistency.

Created in partnership with Softserve.

Documentation

This solution smooths the vendor onboarding process, improving the communication between internal teams and the external third party with whom the organization wants to conduct business. The industry challenge for this case is that businesses continue to speed up the pace at with they operate, but purchasing is still slow. 

Currently, organizations are dealing with  disjointed, manual processes that involve multiple systems and stakeholders, Lack of visibility for external 3rd parties, and lack of consistency.

Even though Vendor Onboarding does not cover every requirement of an onboarding process, but the workflow implemented allows to add on additional conditions, stakeholders, data etc. to the process.

Functional Administrator:

• Manage accounts, set up master data and configure Docusign settings. 

Procurement

• Can initiate and manage onboarding records. Main point of contact for the vendor and in control of any onboarding records. Onboarding tasks should be auto-assigned to procurement after they have initiated an onboarding. 

Vendor

• Can fill out any requests that are sent their way by Procurement or Legal. Will be able to see their current workflow user tasks and (eventually) any open onboarding record(s). 

Legal

• Can verify the onboarding details to make sure there are no legal risks involved with onboarding a vendor. Can perform a due diligence check.

Finance

• Can verify the onboarding to make sure there are no financial risks involved with onboarding a vendor.

Technical components used 

- Connectors 

• LexisNexis AML connector 

• Docusign connector 

• Email Connector 

• GooglePlace Autocomplete connector 

- Other 

• Mendix Workflow 

- Web application 

1. Download the mpk from the app gallery and import the mpk into a new project. 

2. Edit in Studio Pro or Studio 

3. Master data and demo data will be generated in the after-start-up action.  

4. A set of accounts is generated after startup.  

Configuration Steps 

Setup constants 

1. Open Mendix Studio Pro.

2. Open Settings -> Default Configuration.

3. Go to the Constants tab.

4. Add a Value for the constant ‘Encryption.EncryptionKey’, the value should be a random string with a length of 32 characters.

5. Add a Value for the constant ‘EmailConnectorExtention.EmailAccount_Password’.

6. Add a Value for the constant ‘EmailConnectorExtension.EmailAccount_Username’.

7. Add a Value for constant ‘EmailConnectorExtension.EmailAccount_FromAddress’.

8. Add a Value for the constant ‘LexisNexisConnector.Password’.

9. Run your app locally and the relevant accounts and demo data will be generated in the after-start-up logic. 

DocuSign 

Login as an administrator and start the DocuSign wizard. It will guide you through the relevant steps of setting up a DocuSign integration.  

A few notes: 

• Make sure to add a custom field for the contract body, this will include the contract body that the vendor agreed upon. The name of the custom field in the Mendix app should be equal to the label of the custom field in DocuSign. 

• Sometimes the DocuSign connector will create a duplicate authorization record, we're still working out how to prevent this but please remove the irrelevant authorization record (the one that was not successful) as it could mess up the DocuSign functionality. 

Demo data 

Master data and demo data will be generated in the after-startup flow. If you want to reset the demo data then login as MxAdmin, in the dashboard, click on Demo Data, then click on Reset Demo Data. This will delete all existing demo data and re-generate it. Be aware that this process can take about a minute. 

If you want to remove the demo data functionality from your project, please take the following steps:

• Delete the module DemoData.
• Delete the DemoData related pages and microflows.
• Remove the link to DemoData_Overview from the Admin dashboard.
• Update security.
• Replace or remove the after start-up microflow.

Datahub 

Some of the requested data is considered master data. A lot of enterprises will have a centralized master data management system. Mendix Datahub will enable you to connect to these master data systems within minutes and keep all of your data configuration centralized in one place. 

Workflow 

One of the powerful capabilities of Mendix Workflow is that it is very easy to read and understand. Having clean and understandable code is a challenge for any software maintenance process. Changes to the onboarding process are likely to occur as the world changes rapidly and requirements must be adjusted accordingly. With Mendix Workflow you can easily understand the process. This should allow you to make changes easily and reduces any technical debt significantly.  

 
OData 

OData is an easy and secure way of quickly exposing data. The fuctionality is built into the platform and easily set up. 

• In the VendorOnboarding domain model, right-click an entity, Onboarding for instance. Select Expose as OData resource. Change any of the settings or use the default configuration. You can add a specific OData user role or make sure an exisiting role has access to the entity. Enter the url visible in the Published OData Service in your browser, make sure you are logged in as a user that has access to the data, and you're done.