A major international company owns shopping malls in many countries. They are responsible for the security, safety and comfort of shoppers visiting the stores in the mall and the facilities management of the locations. The company relies on IT services provided by its IT division. The IT division consists of a corporate IT department at the company's headquarters and a local IT team at each mall. The IT division obtains IT services and products from over 100 different suppliers globally.
The management of suppliers within the IT division is currently performed by the local IT teams in each country, often by the most appropriate technical manager. This has resulted in inconsistent processes and levels of service across the countries.
The management team realizes that this is an ineffective use of IT resources and will have an impact on the future growth of the company. They are currently reviewing the situation and wish to develop supplier management processes that are more closely aligned to ITIL practices. The management team recently conducted a survey of all of the local IT teams within the different countries to collect details about the number and type of contracts and suppliers.
The IT division has developed and implemented many other ITIL processes over the last two years, which has led to significant improvements. The management team would like to build on this success and develop and implement a supplier management process. You have recently joined the corporate IT department and have been given the results of the survey carried out by the management team.
Refer to Scenario
Which one of the following options is the BEST sequence of activities to adopt in order to implement a supplier management process and to bring the current situation under control?

• A. 1. Design and develop a supplier management process.
  2. Define and agree a supplier policy.
  3. Use the results of the survey to categorize each supplier to determine the type of relationship required.
  4. Establish and populate a supplier and contract management information system (SCMIS) from the survey feedback.
  5. Deploy the process in the corporate IT department as a pilot.
  6. Agree which individuals in the corporate IT department and local IT teams are accountable for the management of each contract and supplier.
  7. Deploy the process in the remaining countries and conduct a program of awareness and training.
• B. 1. Define and agree a supplier policy.
  2. Design and develop a supplier management process.
  3. Use the results of the survey to categorize each supplier to determine the type of relationship required.
  4. Establish and populate a SCMIS from the survey feedback.
  5. Agree which individuals in the corporate IT department and local IT teams are accountable for the management of each supplier.
  6. Deploy the process in all countries and conduct a program of awareness and training.
  7. Identify where there are duplicate or multiple contracts in place with suppliers and instigate an initiative to review these with the relevant suppliers.
• C. 1. Define and agree a supplier policy.
  2. Agree which individuals in the corporate IT department and local IT teams are accountable for the management of each supplier.
  3. Use the results of the survey to categorize each supplier to determine the type of relationship required.
  4. Establish and populate a SCMIS from the survey feedback.
  5. Design and develop a supplier management process.
  6. Deploy the process in all countries and conduct a program of awareness and training.
  7. Work with the service level manager to ensure that all contracts correctly underpin service level agreements.
• D. 1. Carry out a further review of the suppliers used by each store in each country.
  2. Establish and populate the SCMIS from the results of the exercise.
  3. Design and develop a supplier management process.
  4. Define and agree a supplier policy.
  5. Appoint a supplier manager from the corporate IT department to manage all contracts and all suppliers.
  6. Deploy the process in all countries and conduct a program of awareness and training.
  7. Renew all contracts to try to obtain better terms and conditions.

Scenario
An IT security company provides secure data services to many large financial organizations in several countries. The company has an administrative headquarters in its home country and a data centre in each country of operation.
Each data centre obtains support for services from third-party contracts provided by a number of suppliers. All supporting services are scoped and documented, and are aligned to the corporate strategy and the regulations in force in each country. The security services company maintains and regularly reviews a preferred supplier list from which suppliers are selected as required.
A service desk function is provided by one of the suppliers. Over the last 10 years, a strong relationship has been built up with the supplier based on the high-quality, consistent service they have provided. The nature of the financial business requires the service desk contract to contain severe penalty clauses that can be enforced if the agreed service levels are not maintained, although these have never been required.
A number of complaints have been received from a new banking customer highlighting that, over the previous three months, the level of service provided by the service desk in the management and handling of incidents has been inconsistent, and many incidents have not been resolved in line with agreed targets.
The IT security company has a service level manager who has performed the role for many years. Recently, a new supplier management process was implemented and a supplier manager appointed. Some confusion has arisen over how, and by whom, the recent complaints should be dealt with.
Refer to the Scenario.
You have been asked to resolve the confusion over the service level manager and supplier manager roles. Which one of the following options BEST represents the correct division of responsibilities and will also address the current complaints regarding the service desk supplier?

• A. Service level manager: Log the complaints. Inform the customer that the complaints will be discussed with the supplier at the next scheduled review meeting. Assure the customer that the contractual disputes process will be invoked to ensure that the complaints are dealt with in an efficient and effective manner. Inform the customer of the actions taken.
  Supplier manager: Discuss the complaints with the supplier at the next review meeting
  Initiate the dispute process with the supplier. Carry out a risk analysis of the supplier and their contract.
• B. Service level manager: Inform the customer that the complaints will be reviewed as a matter of urgency. Assure the customer that a disputes process is in place to ensure that the complaints are dealt with in an efficient and effective manner. Inform the customer that they will be updated on the outcome. Review performance of the supplier for all the services they deliver to the company's customers.
  Supplier manager: Log the complaints. Quickly arrange a meeting with service desk supplier to investigate the complaints. If necessary, initiate the dispute process.
• C. Service level manager: Log the complaints. Inform the customer that the complaints will be reviewed as a matter of urgency. Collect evidence of failures and pass to the supplier manager. Ensure that the complaints are dealt with efficiently and effectively and improvements are initiated where appropriate. Keep the customer informed of both progress and outcome.
  Supplier manager: Arrange a meeting with service desk supplier to investigate the complaints. Review performance of the supplier for all the services they deliver to the company's customers. Report findings back to service level manager.
• D. Service level manager: Apologize to the customer and compensate them financially for the poor service levels. Assure them that, under the terms and conditions of the contract, a review with the service desk will be carried out and that the supplier will be strictly monitored against agreed targets and penalties imposed, potentially leading to contract termination.
  Carry out a risk analysis of the supplier and their contract.
  Supplier manager: Log the complaints. Set up a review of the supplier and the service desk function. Invoke the contract's penalty clause to recover compensation from the supplier. Increase the supplier's risk rating. Initiate a service improvement plan in conjunction with continual service improvement.