Analytics: the dashboard and its reports explained

Under Analytics you see what Zalion achieves for your organization: savings and cycle times in sourcing, and automation, deviations and supplier behavior in order processing. This article explains how to use the dashboard and what each report shows.

Where to find Analytics
How to use it: period, filters, details and export
Sourcing terms: first offer, awarded amount, savings
Sourcing board: every report
Order Processing board: every report
FAQ

1. Where to find Analytics

The left navigation has two boards, each under its area:

Sourcing › Analytics: RFQs, quotes, negotiations and awards.
Order Processing › Analytics: purchase orders, order confirmations and how they were matched.

Each board is split into tabs. Within a tab, the cards are grouped into sections. At the end of a tab, More reports holds additional reports on the same topic.

Don't see Analytics in the menu? Analytics is enabled per organization. Please contact your Zalion representative.

2. How to use it: period, filters, details and export

Period

Choose the period in the top right. The default is This year. You can pick the current or last week, month, quarter or year, the last 30 or 90 days, the last 12 months, All time, or a Custom range with a start and end date.

Each card counts by a specific date, for example the close date of a thread or the import date of a purchase order. The card states which date applies (By close date, etc.).

Cards marked As of today ignore the period. They show what is open right now.

Comparison with the prior period

KPI cards show the change vs. prior period. For "This month", that is the same part of the previous month; for "Last month", the month before. Rolling periods (30/90 days, 12 months), All time and custom ranges have no comparison.

Filters

Use Add filter to narrow down every card on a board at once:

Sourcing: spend category, supplier, user, saving type and Confirmed outcomes only.
Order Processing: supplier, plant, value class (order value in your base currency), channel (email or supplier system) and user.

Filtered cards carry the label Filtered. If a filter doesn't fit a card, the card shows its figure without it and lists the filter under Not applied here.

Details and export

Click a number, a bar or a table row. A panel opens on the right with the threads or purchase orders behind that number. From there, open a thread directly or download the list as CSV or Excel.

Card information

Info icon (i): explains how the card calculates its figure.
n = … below the figure: the data basis, for example "n = 42 closed threads".
Estimated: the figure is derived, not measured directly.
No data yet: nothing is recorded for this measure yet.

Data quality

The Data quality button at the top of the board shows why figures may be incomplete or inexact, for example:

Threads with missing inputs (such as no first offer or awarded amount). They count, but add nothing to the total.
Currencies without an exchange rate. These amounts are left out of the totals.
Closed threads without a recorded close date, or with an approximated one.
Outcomes not confirmed yet. Use Confirmed outcomes only to leave them out.

Click Show these threads to open the affected threads and fill in what's missing.

3. Sourcing terms: first offer, awarded amount, savings

Awarded amount: the amount a thread was awarded at.
First offer: the first offer from the supplier that won the award.
Savings vs. first offer = first offer − awarded amount. Shows the negotiation result.
Hard saving = higher of budget or previous price − awarded amount. Shows the saving against your planned value.
Closed thread: a thread that ended, with or without an award. It counts in the period of its close date.

All amounts are converted into your organization's base currency.

4. Sourcing board: every report

"Negotiation results" tab

All threads closed in the period.

Report	What it shows
Awarded volume	Sum of the awarded amounts.
Success rate	Share of closed threads with a saving (either type). Threads without the required inputs count as no success.
Savings vs. first offer	Sum of first offer − awarded amount.
Avg. savings vs. first offer	Average saving as % of the first offer, across threads with a saving.
Hard saving	Sum of higher of budget / previous price − awarded amount.
Avg. hard saving	Hard saving as % of the budget or previous price, averaged over threads with a hard saving.
Threads by saving type	Pie chart: hard saving, savings vs. first offer, or no saving.
Savings vs. first offer per month	Sum per closing month.
Savings vs. first offer by spend category	As above, per month, split by spend category.
Success by spend category	Table with success rate and avg. saving per spend category.
Started and closed threads	Lines per month: is your backlog of open threads growing or shrinking?

More reports: savings by spend category, savings by supplier (suppliers with an award in the period) and the number of closed threads.

"Open threads" tab

As of today, regardless of the selected period.

Report	What it shows
Open threads	Number of threads not closed yet.
Avg. days open	Average days since these threads started.
Action on our side	Open threads whose next step lies with your team.
Open threads by next action	Split: action with us or with the supplier.
Open threads by age	Groups < 1 week, 1–2 weeks, 2–4 weeks, > 4 weeks.

More reports: open threads by phase (drafting the RFQ or analyzing quotes).

"Process & cycle times" tab

"From request to award" section: how many threads reached each phase in the period.

Report	What it shows
Requests received	Threads that started with drafting an RFQ.
RFQs sent	Threads whose RFQ went to suppliers.
Quotes received	Threads with at least one quote.
Threads awarded	Threads with an award.
Funnel	The four phases as a funnel: where do threads stall?
Avg. days per phase	How long threads stay in each phase on average.

"Supplier responses" section: suppliers invited, quotes and response times in the period (by invitation date).

Report	What it shows
Suppliers invited	Number of invitations, counted per supplier and RFQ.
Quotes received	Invited suppliers who submitted a quote.
Response rate	Quotes ÷ suppliers invited.
Avg. response time	Days from the RFQ to the first quote, per supplier.
Suppliers invited and quotes per month	Both as lines: are suppliers responding less?
Response rate by spend category	Where suppliers respond less often.

More reports: avg. cycle time (days from start to close), invited vs. quoted, avg. cycle time by spend category and closed threads per month.

"Team activity" tab

Work and results per user. This tab is visible to admins only. Your organization can also hide per-person figures entirely, for example at the request of the works council or for data protection reasons.

Report	What it shows
Usage	Threads started per month and user.
Open threads by user	Open threads per person, stacked by phase.
Awarded volume by user	Split by saving type.
Savings by user	Both saving types per person.
Activity by user	Table: threads started, awards and savings in the period.

More reports: open threads by user as a table with count and avg. age.

5. Order Processing board: every report

The basis is the purchase orders imported into Zalion in the period, and your suppliers' order confirmations for them.

"Overview" tab

"Overview" section: how much runs through without your involvement, and where does volume get stuck?

Report	What it shows
Automation level of the purchase orders	How the purchase orders completed in the period were confirmed: Fully automatic: no deviation, or cleared by a tolerance, a rule or the agent, and synced to the ERP without intervention. Automatic after clarification: deviation clarified with the supplier by email, the new confirmation was synced automatically. Confirmed manually: a user decided fields or confirmed it, then it was synced. Confirmed without sync: closed in Zalion, but not written to the ERP. Confirmed outside Zalion: confirmed directly in the ERP, Zalion only received the status.
Current status of the purchase orders	Where the purchase orders of the period stand today: confirmed, partially confirmed, ready to sync, needs review, waiting for supplier or waiting for internal.
Processing flow	Flow diagram from the purchase order through confirmation receipt, matching and clarification to the outcome. Each purchase order counts once. You see where volume needs clarification and how it was resolved: within tolerance, by a rule, by the agent, in the app, by email with the supplier or internally.
Weekly processing mix	Purchase orders per week (by import week) by today's outcome. The week's "Fully automatic" rate is shown below the axis.

"Purchase orders and confirmations" section: what was ordered and confirmed in the period.

Report	What it shows
Purchase orders by number of confirmations	How many confirmations each purchase order received from its supplier (none, 1, 2, 3, 4 or more). Many versions point to renegotiation.
Purchase orders received	Purchase orders sent to suppliers in the period.
Confirmations received	Confirmations received from suppliers in the period.
Avg. time to confirm	Average days from the purchase order entering Zalion until it is completed. Purchase orders confirmed outside Zalion don't count.

"Agent accuracy" section: how often the agent gets it right on its own.

Report	What it shows
Correction rate	Share of purchase orders in which a user overwrote a value read by the agent with their own value. "Use PO value", "Accept" and "Reject" don't count as corrections.
Email routing	What happened to the order processing emails: matched automatically or manually, dismissed automatically or manually, or still open in the inbox.

"Open threads" section (as of today):

Report	What it shows
Open threads by supplier	The 10 suppliers with the most open threads, split by status.
Open threads by deviation	The 10 fields currently deviating beyond tolerance without a decision on purchase orders not yet confirmed, plus line items added or not confirmed by the supplier.

"Deviations & fields" tab

Report	What it shows
Where deviations occur	Table per field (price, delivery date, quantity, unit of measure, payment terms, extra costs, etc.): line items with a deviation, their share of all compared line items, and affected purchase orders. Deviations resolved later count too. Price covers unit price, price unit and discounts; extra costs cover freight and packaging.
How deviations were resolved	Per field, the decision taken on each deviating line item. Automatic: within tolerance, by a rule, by the agent. By users: accepted manually, used PO value, overwritten manually. Rejected sends a clarification email to the supplier. Still open = no decision yet; Superseded = a newer confirmation arrived or the purchase order was completed. Hover over a segment for details.
Deviation frequency by field	Number of deviating values per field. A line item with a deviating unit price and a deviating price unit counts twice here, which is why the figures are higher than in "Where deviations occur".

"Suppliers" tab

Report	What it shows
Confirmation rate	Share of purchase orders with at least one confirmation.
Avg. time to first confirmation	Days from the purchase order to the first confirmation.
Overdue confirmations	Purchase orders without a confirmation after the expected response time. Shows "No data yet" until an expected response time is configured.
Active suppliers	Suppliers with purchase orders in the period, and how many of them had deviations.
Top suppliers by deviations	The 10 suppliers with the most deviations, split by field.
Supplier confirmation behaviour	Table of the 20 suppliers with the most purchase orders: confirmation rate, avg. confirmation time, avg. confirmation versions, automation rate (fully automatically confirmed / all completed purchase orders), deviation rate (purchase orders with at least one deviation / purchase orders with a confirmation) and Requested date match (line items whose first confirmed delivery date matches the requested date). Click a row to open the supplier's purchase orders.

6. FAQ

Why doesn't a figure change when I switch the period?
The card is marked As of today. It shows the current state, regardless of the period.

Why are the savings lower than expected?
Open Data quality. Often individual threads lack a first offer, a budget or previous price, or an exchange rate. These threads count, but add nothing to the total.

Why is the "Team activity" tab missing?
It is visible to admins only, and your organization can choose to hide per-person figures.

Can I work with the figures elsewhere?
Yes. Click a figure and download the list behind it as CSV or Excel.