Uncovering Billing Discrepancies Through Business Reporting Techniques In The Supply Chain

Cognos.com Tip: Meredith Levinson, in CIO Magazine, related the details of how a business intelligence software tool helped one company uncover a series of significant discrepancies between vendor’s negotiated prices and actual invoices. The company in question, a Texas-based restaurant operator, used a business reporting tool from Cognos to analyze the contractually-guaranteed food supply prices to actual prices charged in the vendor’s invoices. She reported that the software “parses all of the company’s invoices from suppliers and contracts with food vendors … to see if any of the vendors are actually charging … a higher rate than the chain had negotiated.” The operator enjoyed a $200,000 savings by correcting these discrepancies and better selecting suppliers through use of technological means. If you have a supply chain that you think needs to be re-evaluated, consider a business reporting tool to uncover discrepancies in your billing.