How to create and send Vendor assessments

In this article, we take a closer look at how a Vendor Assessment is conducted, where you send a questionnaire to one or more vendors via NorthGRC.

Create Assessment

In the supplier module in NorthGRC, you get an overview of all your suppliers. You will see two different tabs: 'Vendors', and 'Assessments'. If you wish to evaluate a supplier, click on 'Plan assessment' at the top of one of the tabs.

When clicking 'Plan Assessment' you need to fill in the following:

The name of the assessment.
Start date for the assessment.
Deadline by which the supplier must complete the assessment.
Whether the assessment should be repeated weekly, monthly, or annually (Optional).
The assessment questionnaire to be sent to the supplier.
The workbench to which the assessment should be linked (This will always default to the workbench in which the assessment is created).

When you click "Next," you need to decide which vendor will receive the assessment questionnaire.

Once you have selected the vendor, a list of the contact person(s) associated with that vendor will appear. Here, you choose the contact person who should receive the questionnaire by email. If you are responsible for the the vendor you are assessing, you can also choose yourself as the person who will carry out the assessment. This will also create a task within the annual cycle.

When you click "Next" again, you will see the message that will be sent to the supplier's contact person. A draft title and body text are already provided, which you can keep if you wish. Otherwise, you are free to edit the title and body text.

At the bottom of the window, you'll find a list of labels you can use in the email. These labels allow you to insert information for the supplier, such as the deadline, Assessment name, contact person’s name, and more.

When you are satisfied with the email that will be sent to the supplier, click "Save" to create the assessment.

Check Status and Send Reminder

Under 'assessments', you will then be able to see your newly created assessment. Here, you can view how many suppliers have received the questionnaire, the deadline, start date, and the status of the assessment.

If you need to edit the assessment after it has been created, you can click on the "Assessment Status" bar and then select 'Edit'.

You will then have the opportunity to edit the assessment.

If the deadline is approaching or has passed without the supplier responding to the questionnaire, you can click on the three dots to the right of the status bar and select 'Send Reminder'.

Next, you need to select who should receive the reminder. If you have sent the questionnaire to multiple suppliers, and some have responded, you can send a reminder to those who have not yet answered by checking the box under the recipient field.

After that, you can edit the message to be sent in the same way as when you created the assessment, or you can use the suggested message for the title and body text. Once you are finished, click 'Send'.

A reminder has now been sent to the vendor to complete the questionnaire.

In NorthGRC, it is also possible to create your own questionnaires or edit existing ones. You can find that guide here .