SRM Setup

Supplier Risk Management setup

General Configuration

From the main SRM setup page, you can complete some basic settings:
Complete Questionnaire Limit : if there are more than 30 questions in the questionnaire it will separate these into the control types to categorise and break them down.

Allow Partially Completed Questionnaires - this allows the client to complete and submit their questionnaire without answering all questions.

Supplier Registration Time - the amount of time the registration link will be live before expiring. The time frame excludes weekends.

Controls

Controls and the types (groups) they are broken down into determine what questions the supplier receives. Questions are created at control level and are designed to satisfy the requirements of the control as a whole.
A default set of controls are available in the interface, the control set available from URM is taken from ISO 27001(*), or please speak to your account manager about data protect questions. Additional controls can be added by the users directly into Abriska.
More information is available in the controls section and also information relating to the control assessment questions (questions sent to your suppliers).

Categories

Probably one of the most important components of Abriska. Categories provide the opportunity to tailor the questionnaire based on the nature of the commodity or service provided by the supplier. If there were only one category then all suppliers would receive all questions regardless of the commodity or service being provided. There is a default set of 17 categories. All of these categories can be edited. New categories can be added at any time. Only relevant categories are assigned to suppliers. On the default list, you will see the category name, description and whether controls have been allocated (you can click to view and amend the assigned controls) and the corresponding number of questions assigned.

Risk Rating

To understand whether the responses to the questionnaire are leading to an acceptable or unacceptable level of risk, you can assign a risk rating through the setting of risk appetite thresholds.
A high-risk commodity or service being provided by the supplier could have a different set of tolerance levels than a low risk supplier. For a high-risk supplier, you may require a score of 100% on the allocated questions, whereas for a low risk supplier you may tolerate a much lower level of compliance.

The table expresses residual risk based on the responses to the questionnaire and subsequent evaluation by subject matter experts. It is completely configurable.
Example: For a high-risk supplier with an attribute score of ‘3’, only a questionnaire score of 90% or more would be negligible residual risk, whereas a score of 0% would be high risk.

The assessment intervals are an optional feature to utilise. It will enable to keep a closer eye on your more high risk suppliers. The intervals are segregated into the number of months after which you would plan to reassess the supplier when they are related at the given risk level.

Filter Questions

Previously 'Master' Questions, Filter Questions are designed to provide a further breakdown of controls and their questions. A filter question can be used to remove a whole section of control questions, based on their yes/no answer. These questions carry no weight on the overall survey of the supplier.
Creating filter questions From SRM setup > Filter Questions > create the question e.g. 'Are all assets kept on site? (all assets including laptops are kept within one secure site).' This question could be linked to control 7.9:Security of assets off-premises, if answered 'Yes', then the controls questions will not be asked, if the question is answered as 'No' then the questions will be asked as part of the questionnaire.

Information Questions

Information questions allow you to ask supplier for additional detail that does not need to be scored. These questions are linked to categories to allow you to ask category-specific information questions.
For general information questions e.g. company address, contact details etc we recommend creating a specific category first > then go into the information questions > create your questions and then assign to said category.
For information questions you want to be part of existing categories > create an info question and then assign to the category.

Supplier Communications

There are three default emails configured with Abriska, all can be customised within the interface:

• The first is to be sent to the supplier to enable them to register on the system.
• The second provides the introduction to the questionnaire
• The third is a reminder email to the assigned contact at the supplier.
  

Locating the questions

Questions are related to controls. To view the questions, select > SRM Setup > controls > 'named control'. On the sidebar menu, an option is made available 'View Questions', these are the questions associated with that control. Select the relevant question and make any amendments and then select ‘Submit’.

One of the advantages of Abriska is that questions relate directly to controls, this allows a clear articulation of the risk presented and offers specific corrective actions based on international best practice. For this reason, questions need to be related to controls.

For additional information and support on control questions please got to control assessment questions.

Back to Supplier Risk Management

(*) ISO 27001:2013 will be subject to change following the updates to ISO 27001:2022