Design and Implementation of an Interactive Visual Analysis System for e-Sourcing

Sourcing is a business process of identifying, evaluating, negotiating, and configuring
optimal groupings of trading partners into a supply chain network that responds to changing
market demands. In this paper, we focus on a crucial step of the sourcing process, namely,
the bid evaluation and selection. More specifically, we present a decision analysis system that
helps sourcing professionals analyze offers and select suitable ones in reverse auctions and
RFQs (Request-For-Quotes). Unlike conventional bid evaluation systems that depend on
multi-criteria decision analysis methods to rank offers by score, this system provides a novel
interactive visual analysis capability at its core. The system allows the users to effectively
explore the information space comprised of the submitted offers, and selectively utilize
various analysis facilities in a controlled manner. We demonstrate that the visual interface of
the system is an effective communication mechanism that is to add value and meaning,
illuminate, simplify, and clarify, and, furthermore, an efficient decision analysis tool that
allows buyers to view, explore, navigate, search, compare and classify submitted offers.