Dictionary of Terms Version

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Term Key:
blue: SCA term
cabernet: SCM term
black: used in both with the same meaning.

Meaning

Parallel Term & Meaning

Similar Terms & Notes

A

Acceptance In SCA, the part of a contract document that outlines the buyer's rights to inspect items purchased on the contract, and to return them. For example, if items arrive damaged, the buyer may have a specified period of time (e.g., 10 days) to check the items for breakage and return them for payment credit. May also be labeled "Product Acceptance."
This term is on the contract Information Sheet in the  Catalog.

The SCM concept of "accepting a contract," which users must do, makes local contract data available to the SCM analysis tools, projects, and dashboard graphs.

The Acceptance term in SCA is different: it refers to the buyer's right to inspect and return product items that are defective.

The Documents panel for a contract in SCM may be used to attach an Information Sheet on a local contract that may contain return rights on items.
Accept a Contract

Marking a local contract as "accepted" in SCM makes the contract's spend available for analysis in SCM and in the SCM Savings module. After contract acceptance, contract prices can be activated.

With the , accepting a local contract in SCM makes the contract data available to the Catalog.

If a site is enabled for it, SCA Price Activation occurs automatically (after the nightly SCM/SCA synchronization) for local contracts accepted in SCM. Even if enabled, the site can decide not to SCA activate an individual local contract.

SCA activation makes the contract data available to SCA, to Supply Analytics, and to other applications such as GHX, if used at the site.

In SCA, accepting a  contract is not relevant.


Local contracts accepted in SCM are automatically SCA price activated, if a site is set up for that.

SCA Price Activation writes contract data to other applications such as Supply Analytics.

Accepted Contract A local contract that has had the accept date entered. A contract that is "accepted only" has no vendor/items activated.

In SCA, accepting a  contract is not relevant.

SCA Price Activation performs similar functions in that it writes contract data to other applications such as Supply Analytics.

 
Active Contract A contract is Active if the current date (i.e., "today") is within the contract's start and end dates. In SCM, the field Status on the Contract Info panel displays "Active".
Active Price / Inactive Price A contract item's price is Active if the current date (i.e., "today") is within the start (effective) and end dates. This term is not used in SCM. When a tier becomes Inactive because of expiration, each contract line is marked Exp.
Activate Prices

Activating a contract in SCM makes the contract prices the purchasing prices for the contract items.

Activation flags the contract prices as current, and writes the prices to the site's local item master file. The contract items are available for purchase at the contract price from the date that the contract price is effective.

See Price Activation.

Both SCA and SCM use the term "activation," but meanings differ.

See SCA Price Activation.

Activated Spend Spend dollars for a file item whose price has been activated on a contract line. On Contract spend. See Spend Type for SCA
Activation Status The extent to which an item's SCA Price Activation on a contract has occurred. SCA has three potential activation statuses:
On contract -- a contract has already been fully executed and the contract price is effective.
N/A -- the products purchased in the contract category are not on contract.
PA Opportunity -- for an unactivated item price, an opportunity to activate the item is available.
No equivalent in SCM. SCM does not track activation status with a flag. However, on several lists, you can filter data for activated and unactivated contracts.
Acquisition Method A contract attribute on the  contract Information Sheet. It states how the contract item(s) are acquired, e.g., "purchase." "lease." This attribute would typically apply to large or expensive items or items that use complex technologies (such as an MRI unit). No equivalent descriptor in the SCM application. May occur in contract information sheets for SCM contracts. The Documents panel for a contract is a good place to to attach and look for an Information Sheet on a contract.
Acute Adjusted Discharge (AAD) A value that weights (adjusts) a Member's spend trend data for item use. This value provides a better estimate of how many items (i.e., implants, admission kits, etc.) are used once per discharge period at their acute facilities (or any facility that can take patients overnight). No equivalent in SCM.
Acute Adjusted Patient Days A value that weights (adjusts) a Member's spend trend data for patient days. This value provides a better estimate of how much their acute facilities (or any facility that can take patients overnight) spend per patient day, which allows better utilization measurement. No equivalent in SCM.
Average Each Price

Total spend for the product divided by the volume purchased.

No exact equivalent in SCM. SCM contains several analyses that use item prices at the lowest unit of measure. Data for item costs purchased at higher units of measure can be calculated by using the UOM conversion factors.
Alternative product Items that are the same in regards to strength, form, package quantity, but with various package sizes.  No exact equivalent in SCM.
Award To accept a manufacturer's bid and enter into a contract with that manufacturer. SCA has the descriptor Award Type. This term is from SCM Projects. In SCA, a contract can have an Award Type.
Award Type

One of several values that indicates how a contract was offered: as a single source contract, a multi-source contract, or a sole contract.

Multi – Contract for which there is more than one supplier.

Single – Contract for which there is only one supplier in the market or one willing supplier for a specific product or service.

Sole – Contract where there is more than one supplier but where a sole source agreement is in the best interests of the membership. A contract would be awarded to only one supplier in this product category.

No equivalent in SCM. In SCM Projects you can award contracts to bids that you accept, but the application does not provide a selectable designator for the award type.

B

Base Each Price The price paid per unit for the product without distributor markup applied. Facility Base Price / UOM Conv Factor. Unit Price
Base Spend Total spend without distributor markup applied.  
Beds A value that contains the total facility number of beds. Members equate their spend trend data to total number of beds, based on the facilities they select. No equivalent in SCA.
Benchmark

A reference price or set of prices for supplies.

The reference prices ("benchmarks") are collected, summarized, and provided as a service by benchmarking companies.

In analyzing spend or in sourcing new items, medical centers usually want to compare current or proposed item prices (e.g., on an RFP) to benchmark prices. Both SCA and SCM provide this feature. Typically, prices can be compared to "high," "middle," and "low" benchmark equivalents.

The  Catalog contains a link to benchmarking information, for relevant items.
Benchmark Median Price Premier benchmark pricing based on the median price. The Use Price column with the selected value Average is similar. This column is on the SCM Projects Price Comparisons panel. In SCM Projects, when comparing prices, users can populate the field Use Price with benchmarks at the high, middle, and low levels.
Benchmark to Low Price Premier benchmark pricing based on the 5th percentile. The Use Price column with the selected value Low is similar. This column is on the SCM Projects Price Comparisons panel. In SCM Projects, when comparing prices, users can populate the field Use Price with benchmarks at the high, middle, and low levels.
Best In reference to benchmarking, the term "best" means the lowest spend per the selected operational metric (for example, spend per bed). No equivalent in SCM. In SCM Projects, when comparing prices, users can populate the field Use Price with benchmarks at the high, middle, and low levels.

C

Capital Incentives A  contract attribute available on the contract Information Sheet.

SCM has an incentives feature that lets you define incentives and enter suppliers' incentive terms. SCM then calculated the incentives over time.

Incentive terms may occur in contract information sheets for SCM contracts. The Documents panel for a contract is a good place to to attach and look for an Information Sheet on a contract.

Case Mix Index - Acute Adjusted Discharge (CMI-AAD)

Case Mix Index (CMI) is a measure of the resources used in treating patients in each hospital or group of hospitals, and it is calculated for all patients discharged.

The Acute Adjusted Discharge (CMI-ADD) is a value that represents adjusted discharge data.

Members equate their spend trend data to CMI per Acute Adjusted Discharge (AAD), so they have a better idea of how many items are used once per discharge period at their acute facilities (or any facility that can take patients overnight).

No equivalent in SCM.
Category A label for the type of items included in a supply contract. This is a  SCA term, but it is also used for supply contracts in SCM.  Categories are used in SCM as descriptors in spend analysis to subset spend.
Category

An SCM term that is used in services contracts only to identify the type of services provided by the vendor and covered by the contract.

A Category is associated with the vendor entity.
Examples:
Vendor                     Category
Air Liquide                Medical Gases (bulk and                                  cylinder)
Cadbell Labs, Inc.    Reference Laboratory

Not relevant for service contracts in SCA. Note the different meaning of the same term in SCM and SCA: Services contract Categories and vendor Categories in SCM are not the same as a Category in SCA.
Categorized Only A descriptor that applies to spend for purchased products associated with a defined Category, but without a PIN (Product Identification Number). No equivalent in SCM.
Catalog Code

An identifier associated with each materials system (MMIS) when a site has several materials systems. Each materials system is assigned its own catalog code.

Since manufacturers and items may be the same across the materials systems, each manufacturer item record and item catalog/inventory record displays the code for any materials system where its record exists.

The catalog number typically appears with the manufacturer number or item number in parentheses, in light gray; for example:

Item 91330 (MM456)   MM456 is the Catalog Code Thermometer Temp Incubator.

No equivalent in SCA.

In SCA, Catalog refers to supplier catalogs. A Catalog is identified by the Contracted Catalog Number.

In SCM, the Catalog Code identifies the site's local item catalog. Large medical systems may have multiple item catalogs.

The  Catalog contains items available on -managed contracts, local contracts, and items in the site's local item master(s).

Catalog Num/
Manufacturer Catalog Num
The manufacturer's identification number for the product. MIN
Compliance Change

The percentage difference in an organization's compliance between the current time period (as chosen in the panel timeframe selector) and the prior time period.

If the Compliance Change value is positive, the relevant facilities are purchasing more items on a Premier contract than they were previously.

No equivalent in SCM.
Confidentiality A  contract attribute available on the contract Information Sheet. It refers to the supplier's status as it relates to HIPAA. No equivalent descriptor in the SCM application. In SCM, the Documents panel for a contract is a good place to to attach and look for an Information Sheet on a contract.
Contract

Supply contract: An agreement between a medical center and an item/product supplier (e.g., manufacturer). Supply contracts may be simple, or complex, with one, or many tiers; and may cover elements such as minimum purchase requirements, delivery terms and guarantees, incentives, etc.

Services contracts: Agreements between a medical center and a vendor who provides purchased services. A service -- for example equipment maintenance -- may also include supplies in the course of services, such as parts. But, the vendor's primary role is that of service provider, not product supplier.

SCM has separate modules for supply and services contracts.
Contract Access Level The tier level at which a facility can purchase items on contract. Typically, tiers have volume/dollar requirements that determine whether the tier price is available to the facility. This term is not used in SCM.
Contract Access Price The price per unit at the access level of the contract. Contract Item Price/Tier Price
Contract Amendment A change to an existing  contract. The change may be: deletion of an item; addition of an item; a price change on an item; the addition/deletion of a tier; movement of an item from one contract to another, etc. Contract amendments are available in SCA. No equivalent in SCM. In SCM, local contracts changed by the supplier can be imported, but they are not labeled as "amended" by the application. SCM does provide the ability to assign control numbers to imported contracts so that various updates can be identified. Also, dates displayed in SCM reflect the change, of course.
Contract Best Price The price per unit at the best level of the contract. This term is not used in SCM.  
Contract Effective Date The contract start date.
Contract Expiration Date The contract end date.
Contract Group A -defined group of similar contracts. This term is not used in SCM.
Contract Line A single item as priced per UOM in the contract agreement.
Contract Name The name of a contract.
Contract Number The identifying letter and number combination assigned to the contract.
Contract UOM Conv The number of individual products in a package on the contract. For example, if a package is a case with ten items, the Contract UOM Conv is ten. Conversion Factor/Conv
Contract Pkg UOM The unit of measure description of the package type on the contract (case, box, carton). UOM
Contract Price Exception An instance where an updated contract price is outside the tolerance (acceptable amount of change) for a price increase or decrease. No equivalent in SCA.

In SCM, various types of contract tolerances can be set for contracts as the site looks forward to contract updates or new contract imports.

For example, SCM can be set to flag increases in contract prices larger than a set value -- or tolerance -- of, say two percent.

Contract Type One of two values:  Contract or non  Contract. Not relevant with this meaning in SCM.
Contract Type A descriptor applied to a services contract that indicates the kind of contract; for example: Construction, Data Processing, Consulting, Financial, etc. Not relevant with this meaning in SCA.

In SCM, the Contract Type is associated with a security level in services contracts only.

Contract Types and Security Levels are defined by sites. For example, a contract type "Photocopier Maintenance" might have a low security level allowing department managers access to the contract. Whereas "Physician Consulting" might have a higher security level, allowing only vice presidents access.

Contracted Catalog Number The catalog number for the company that holds the contract. Applies to  contracts only. No equivalent in SCM.
Contracted Supplier The name of the company that holds a contract (could be a supplier, business partner, vendor, distributor or manufacturer). Entity or Local Entity
Conversion Factor The factor used to convert one unit of measure (UOM) to another. For example, if 1 box = 10 each; the conversion factor is 10. Contract UOM Conv
Current Spend Total spend for selected facilities for the current time period chosen in the panel's timeframe selector. Spend, Total Spend As in SCA, periods for displaying spend in SCM are selectable.

D

Deactivate Contract In SCM, the process of "undoing" item price activations. Additionally, deactivating a contract "unaccepts" the contract.   In SCM, you can re-activated a contract that you previously deactivated.
Demographic

For SCM, one of the following descriptors if applicable for a vendor: Minority Vendor, Minority Vendor Certified, Preferred Status, Female Owned, Locally Owned, Small Business.

Diversity Type In SCA, Diversity Type applies to contracts, not vendors.
Department A clinical, research, service, or administrative unit of a hospital. In SCM, departments are subdivisions of Organizations. In SCA, departments are sub-units of Facilities. In SCA, Departments are cost centers. In SCM, Departments may be cost centers, or, as a function of the purchasing application the site uses, may point their charges to other departments.
Department Name A description of a department (SCM) or facility cost center (in SCA).
Department Number An identification number for a department.
Direct Parent Smaller health care centers(s) that belong to a Top Parent health care center. Direct Parents may be further subdivided into other units. See Facility.
Contracts for "child" facilities are often managed in SCA by the parent. These are "parent-managed contracts."
No exact equivalent in SCM. SCM has the descriptors Organization and Department. Typically, Departments are sub-units under Organizations.
Distributor A business that purchases products from manufacturers (or other distributors) which it then resells to customers.
Diversity Type

In SCA, a contract has a special status with regard to diversity. If a contract has a Diversity Type, one of the following descriptors applies: Minority Owned, Small Business, Women Owned, Veteran Owned.

Demographic

SCM has a parallel field descriptor - Demographic - but it applies to a vendor, not a contract.

E

Each Price Cost per unit: a calculated value based on the contract tier product price, the product's total quantity, and the package size. Price
Entity

A business that provides a hospital with supplies or services. An entity may be a vendor, distributor, or manufacturer.

For supply contracts, a Contract Entity is a corporate name for a manufacturer. Contract entities are regional/national companies, and are defined in the Product Index Layer.

Entities may have families of sub entities or "child" entities...companies or subsidiaries of the parent company.

For example, Novartis A.G. is a parent entity for suppliers such as Alcon Inc. and Gerber Products Company. The parent entity and its child entities are an "entity family."

A site may also have Local Entities (vendors or manufacturers) and these are defined in the site's own databases.

Note: The word "entity" has different uses in the  Catalog/SCA:

- This use, for manufacturer, vendor, and distributor "entities:" these are companies that supply products.
- A facility at a site. The Entity Code is a descriptor (in SCA) and refers to a location at a medical center, or to an entire site, depending on how the health care center is organized.

A facility at a site. The Entity Code is a descriptor in SCA (Supply Chain Analysis) and refers to a location at a medical center

or

A manufacturer, vendor, or distributor: a company that supplies products.

  See the discussion of Entity for SCM.
Equivalent product/item Refers to products/items that are the same in terms of to strength, form, package size, and package quantity No equivalent in SCM.
Exception/ Vendor Exception on a Contract

A local contract may contain items that do not match a hospital's item file records in every respect, or that have prices above/below limits set by the hospital. These are "exception" items.

Exceptions appear when a contract is imported; SCM generates exceptions during the matching process. In SCM, exceptions include:

  • UOM errors: items whose unit of measure in the contract does not exist as a purchasing unit of measure in the item file/catalog record.
  • Price exceptions: unactivated items whose prices on a new or updated contract are outside of a tolerance that the site has set.
  • Contract exceptions: items that have been imported on a contract, but that are already activated on a different contract.
No SCA equivalent.
Extended Price In SCM invoices, unit price times quantity. Appears on the invoice line for an item.

F

Facility

An organization at a medical center. The term facilities is another way of referencing the organizations, hospitals, or large units, that make up a medical center's structure.

Facilities may contain each other. Typically, the Top Parent facility is the highest in the hierarchy.

The Top Parent will have subdivisions -- other facilities --- that themselves may have child facilities. Here is an example:

Top Parent facility:
University of Winnipac Medical Center
child facilities:

- Children's Winnipac Hospital
- Women's Hospital at Beaver Creek
- Mulholland Cancer Center

  

 

 

 

Facilities are defined in SCA and in the  Facility module.

The term facility in SCM is used in assigning local contract eligibility to a site's organizations.

New facilities can be created in the  Facility module, and then assigned to local contracts in SCM.

Access to a contract for any user is also determined by the facilities associated with the user's role.

Facility Group

- In SCM and SCA, a collection of facilities (organizations) identified by the site as a unit.

The facility group assigned to the contract determines which organizations are eligible to use the contract.

In SCM, the default eligibility for a local contract is the Core Facility Group, which is defined at implementation. A different facility group can be assigned when a local contract in SCM is accepted.

Facility Groups can be created in the  Facility module, and represent the facilities tied to the same material management system.

Each facility group has a Facility Group ID and a Facility Group Name.

 

File Item A file item is an item/product listed a site's local item catalog. It is an item regularly used and purchased by the site. File items include stock items, which are may be kept on site, and non-stock items which always must be ordered when needed by a department. No SCA equivalent.
File Spend Spend dollars for file items only. File items have an item number in the site's local item catalog/item file. No exact SCA equivalent because the concept of matching to a site's MMIS item master/catalog is not relevant in SCA. SCA and Supply Analytics do provide visibility to various subsets of a facility's spend.

G

GPO

Group purchasing organization. An organization (such as ) owned by member hospitals or a hospital association that negotiates purchase agreements for supplies, drugs, food, services, capital equipment, and software.

GPOs usually achieve superior pricing by combining the purchasing volume of several hundred medical centers and either requiring or encouraging compliance.

 

Yes/No.

if Yes, a contract contains items identified by the supplier as environmentally preferred.

No SCM equivalent descriptor.
Guaranteed Savings A  contract attribute available on the contract Information Sheet. It states whether purchases on the contract will generate savings for the purchaser. No exact equivalent descriptor exists in SCM. In SCM, the Documents panel for a contract is a good place to to attach and look for an Information Sheet on a contract.

H

No terms.

I

Import a Contract In SCM, the process of uploading a local contract into the application. No SCA equivalent.  uses the term Launch a contract or Contract Launch to mean the process of making a contract available to customers. Typically a contract is launched 60 days in advance of its Start/Effective Date and made available in SCA.
Inactive Price/Active Price Inactive: A price whose ending effective date has passed. In SCM, a contract tier may be marked "Inactive.

When the current Default Tier on a  managed contract expires, Inactive appears next to the tier. The application continues to display the tier until a new tier activation message comes over from SCA.

In SCM, contracts can be Current or Expired. Individual item prices on a contract can also be expired; that is, the End Date for the price has passed, even if other prices on the same contract are still good.
Incentive

Reimbursements from suppliers for purchases on contracts. Incentives may be compensation for services; for example, a manufacturer distribution incentive if the hospital distributes the manufacturer's items to multiple locations. Incentives can be rebates and sharebacks, loyalty incentives, and others.

In SCM, sites can define, set up, and apply different incentives based on the manufacturer's terms. An incentive may be a fixed dollar amount, or may be based on the hospital's percent of spend on a contract.

Rebate SCA uses the flag Rebate Available to indicate that a particular contract item has an associated rebate.
Incentive Type

An incentive is a dollar amount or percent offered by a contract supplier that encourages purchase of items on the contract.

The incentive type is the reason why an incentive is offered by a supplier. For example, incentive types include rebates, administration charges, sharebacks, distribution charges, loyalty or utilization incentives, etc.

Rebate SCM allows a site to define different kinds of incentives.
Internal Benchmark Benchmark measurements unique to selected facilities over a selected timeframe. No SCM equivalent.  
Invoice A "bill" from a supplier for items or services.
Items Materials used in a medical center in the course of providing services; hospital supplies. Products
Item Catalog/Item File/Master Item File A medical center's local master list of items that it purchases. The item catalog/file is created and maintained in the site's materials management system, and contains items commonly used at the medical center, including items that are on the site's contracts and items that are not on contracts. Catalog

The  Catalog combines items from a site's contracts and from any local item catalogs at the site.

Note: This use of "catalog" is different from the SCA item supplier's catalog of items.
Similarly, it is different from the vendor's catalog in SCM and from the Catalog Code in SCM which refers to a particular local item catalog, for sites that have multiple local item catalogs.
See the discussion of Catalog and Catalog Code.

Item Class In SCM, a broad category of items, such as gloves. Item classes are defined by each site (usually in their supply chain/materials management) system. See Item Subclass (below).
Item Subclass A narrower, specific type within an Item Class. For example, if an item's class is "gloves," its subclass may be "surgical gloves" or "exam gloves" or "cleaning gloves," etc.
Items Materials used in a medical center in the course of providing services; hospital supplies. Products

J

No terms.

K

No terms.

L

Landed Price The price of an item, including any vendor/distributor markup. Landed Cost
Landed Cost The cost of a contract item including vendor/distributor markup. Landed Price
Last Base Each Price The most recent price paid per unit for the product without distributor markup applied. Price In SCM, the price displayed on contract lines is not a landed price. However, Price Exceptions are based on landed prices, and the Mfr Item view in the SCM Analysis Workbench displays landed prices.
Launch a Contract The process of making a contract available to members.  lists contracts that it has launched on the SCA Launch list. Importing an SCM contract is close. The import process brings the contract into SCM, and makes it available for price activation and use.

Typically a contract is launched 60 days in advance of its Start/Effective Date and made available in SCA.

Local Contract A non  contract.
Local Entity

A business that has been defined in a medical center's database, whose data applies only to that medical center. Local entities may have contracts with the medical center.

In contrast, a contract entity (without "local") is typically a business of regional or national stature, for example, Johnson & Johnson, 3M, Stryker, and others.

No SCA equivalent.

 
Yes/No. If Yes, the supplier is allowed to negotiate outside of the set tiers of a  contract. No SCM equivalent.  

M

Manufacturer Entity Code The -assigned alphanumeric and numeric code for the company that makes an item/product. Entity and Local Entity
Manufacturer Name The name of a company that makes an item/product.
Manufacturer Number The manufacturer's identifier for the item. MIN See the discussion of MIN.
Manufacturer Top Parent Entity Code The -assigned entity code for the parent company that makes a product. Parent Entity
Markup/Markup Value A dollar amount or percent added to an item's manufacturer price by a vendor or distributor. Markup can be a fixed amount (such as a per-item dollar value) or a percent.
Matched Item

An item in the site's local item catalog/item file that is matched with the same item on a contract.

“Match a contract” line means matching all of these: the manufacturer item number, UOM, and price.

No SCA equivalent. Supply Analytics has a matching process that determines if a product is considered on contract.
Matched Spend Spend dollars for: a file item that matches a contract line, or, a non-file item that matches a contract line. Similarly, in SCA, matched spend is On Contract spend.
Materials Management/MMIS

The process involving all activities and functions related to the cycle of acquisition and use of materials. Broadly, this cycle may include production, packaging, purchasing, shipping, expediting, handling, receiving, warehousing, inventory control, distribution, invoicing, and making payments.

The abbreviation MMIS refers to a materials management information system that automates all or part of the process.  ERP is such a system. Other systems are provided by vendors such as Lawson, Oracle, and more.

Medical center MMIS systems use a subset of these activities to manage their supplies (typically, not involving production).

 
States (Yes or No) whether a price activation or signed Member Designation Form is required for access to base prices on the contract. No SCM equivalent.
Minimum Order Requirements A term used in contracts. Occurs on  contract Information Sheets, where relevant. It means that a minimum order amount/volume is required when purchasing items on the contract.   May occur in contract information sheets for SCM contracts. The Documents panel for a contract is a good place to to attach and look for an Information Sheet on a contract.
Missing Vendors In SCM, vendors that have been deleted, or are not active in the database. A list of these vendors is created when Sourcing and Contract Management has spend for the vendors, but no vendor definitions. No SCA equivalent.
MIN An item's manufacturer item number. This is the manufacturer's identifier for the item. It may be different from the VIN (vendor item number), and from the item number used in the site's local item catalog.   See the discussion of Manufacturer Number.
MMIS Materials Management Information System. An application for acquiring, inventorying, and distributing supplies. Not used in SCA. See the discussion of Materials Management.
MMIS/MMIS# The Materials Management Information System number associated with a facility. Catalog Code

N

Non-Contractible Item An item that is never purchased on contract, or even available on contracts. "Blood products" are an example of non-contractible items. No SCA equivalent.

SCA does have the concept of "non-contract" items, which means either items purchased outside the window of their availability on a contract at a contract price, or items that were never on a contract

This concept in SCA, however, has more to do with analyzing spend, and is different from the idea of "non-contractible" as a descriptor on an item master record.

Non-File Item An item that is not in the medical center's local item catalog. Such an item might be a capital purchase item, an implant customized for a particular case, or any special item that is not frequently purchased. See File item. No SCA equivalent.
Non-File Spend Spend dollars for items that have no item number in the site's local item catalog/item file. No SCA equivalent.
Includes the following:
The dollar amount of an item/product purchased where the product purchased did not utilize a contact and no functional equivalent exists on a contract.
The products purchased did not utilize a contract and a functional equivalent does exist on a contract.
Off Contract Spend is close, but not exactly the same. Difference with the same term in SCM: In SCM, spend for items that are matched to a contract, but not purchased on contract is considered On Contract Spend. See the discussion of Off Contract Spend.

O

Off Contract Spend The total amount of unmatched spend dollars. Non Contract Spend and Off Contract Spend are similar. Difference with the same term in SCM: In SCM, spend for items that are matched to a contract, but not purchased on contract is considered On Contract Spend.
On Contract (Forecasted)

Those products which are currently on a price-activated contract with an effective date, at most, 60 days from the current date.

- If a contract is expiring within 30 days from today's date, then the data associated with it should no longer be considered "On Contract" unless the new contract has been price-activated.

- If the data will no longer be on a  contract, then it should be included with the "Not On Contract" data.

- If some facilities have activated the item's price, and others have not, for those others, the item is considered a "PA Opportunity" (price activation opportunity).

No SCM equivalent.
On Contract Spend The dollar amount of products that have been matched to a  Item Master (PIM) item and were purchased using a contract (, local, or regional) with a completed price activation. Similar, but not exactly the same as On Contract Spend in SCM. SCM's On Contract Spend includes spend for items purchased on a contract. It also includes spend for items from the site's local master item file that are matched on a contract, but not necessarily purchased on the contract.
On-Contract Spend On-contract spend = Activated spend + Matched spend. Similar, but not exactly the same as On Contract Spend in SCA.
Opportunity at Tier (Last Base Each Price -Tier Each Price) * Quantity * UOM Conv Factor ) No parallel SCM term.

In SCM, similar, but not exactly the same metric.

The concept is used in price comparisons in SCM Projects.

Opportunity to Low The savings found by comparing the last price paid to that of the benchmark low. No parallel SCM term.

In SCM, similar, but not exactly the same metric.

The concept is used in price comparisons in SCM Projects.

Opportunity to Median The savings found by comparing the last price paid to that of the benchmark median. No parallel SCM term.

In SCM, similar, but not exactly the same metric.

The concept is used in price comparisons in SCM Projects.

Ordering Instructions A contract attribute available on the contract Information Sheet. It covers instructions to the buyer about how to order items on the contract.   In SCM, the Documents panel for a contract is a good place to attach and look for an Information Sheet on a contract.
Organization

In SCM, a top-level clinical, service, research, or administrative division within a medical center.

An organization can be an entire hospital in a large medical center, or a unit of a medical center; e.g., Med/Surg, Administration, Ambulatory Clinics, Cancer Center. An organization typically contains multiple departments.

No SCA equivalent. See Facility.

P

PA Opportunity

(Price Activation Opportunity)

An item/product on an active contract, where the contract (or tier on the contract) has not yet been SCA price activated.

Note that a contract is not considered to be SCA price-activated until the contract has been signed, approved, and completed within SCA.

No SCM equivalent.
Package Size The quantity of the product in each package. If the unit of measure is BT (bottle), for example, and there are 500 tablets in a bottle, then 500 is the package size. Conversion Factor
Packaging String

One or more values that abbreviate the unit(s) of measure (and conversion factors) for an item. Example: 1CA/10BX/100EA.

Some panels also display a Pkg UOM which is a unit of measure in the packaging string on which the product price is based; for example, BOX.

UOM and conversion factor.

A site's MMIS item catalog entry for a product may list several units of measure (and their conversion factors) depending on whether the item is being purchased or issued.

For example, band-aids might be purchased on a contract as a case of 25 boxes. Each box may contain 100. The average cost may be based on 1 each.

In this case, the MMIS may show all three values: CA(100), BX(25), EA(1). SCM would focus on the units of measure for purchasing.

In Premier ERP, the value EA (1) for the item above is called the lowest unit of measure.

Parent Entity For a supplier (company or corporation) with subsidiary companies, the "top level" company in the hierarchy. For example, Novartis A.G. would be a parent entity for suppliers such as Alcon Inc. and Gerber Products Company. Manufacturer Top Parent Entity
Parent-Managed Contract

In SCA, a contract that is controlled by a parent facility, and used by the facilities under the parent, and lower in the hierarchy (i.e., "child facilities." See Facility and Direct Parent.)

IN SCM, a "parent-managed" contract originates in SCA and is activated there. Sites may also have "local" contracts, which are non-Premier contracts, and are not parent managed. Contracts from other GPOs (e.g., Vizient) are considered as "local."

Parent-managed contracts are synced between SCM and SCA.

The contract is managed in the  SCA application (also called "-Managed Contracts"). These are  contracts where tier activation is handled in SCA. This field on the SCM Contract Info panel only appears for users logged in as   internal users.
PIN
Premier Item Number
-assigned Product Identification Number. The unique number that  assigns to an item in the  Item Master. A PIN is unique to a Vendor Entity Code, Catalog Num and Pkg UOM. Items distributed in multiple Pkg UOMs could generate additional PINs for a product. No SCA equivalent in the user interface.
Pkg UOM A unit of measure in the packaging string on which the price is based; for example, BOX. UOM
Premier Entity Code A -assigned alphanumeric code for a facility. No SCM equivalent. SCA entities can
refer to a  Member or to a supplier
(manufacturer, vendor /distributor). SCM "entities" are either a manufacturer or vendor/distributor. However, for SCM sites that use SCA, an Entity Code can be assigned to an SCM organization so to associate it with the parallel facility(s) in SCA.
Premier Item Master (PIM) 's comprehensive list of items. Sometimes referred to as the  Master List (PIM). The SCM Product Index Layer (PIL) is similar. Sites may also have a master item list or item file in their materials system. That list would include contract items, and items that are not matched on any contract.
Premier- Managed Contract

-managed contracts are those contracts offered to  members. Prefixes for  contracts contain the following letter combinations: PP, FA, GB, GS, PS, AS, EB, RS, IC, SD, SP-, IN-, PIMS, or GH.

 contracts are created in Supply Chain Advisor (SCA) and synced with Sourcing and Contract Management (SCM). The sync process uploads new  SCA contracts to SCM, and synchronizes SCA updates of existing contracts in SCM. Synchronization runs nightly.

A -managed contract containing a tier negotiated and established by a member is still considered  managed.

 

In contrast to -managed contracts are "local" contracts ("NPC" contracts in SCA).

Sites may upload local contracts directly into SCM. See the discussion in the Integrated Platform topic.

Previous Period In SCA when you have selected a timeframe for displaying data, the Previous Period is the months preceding the selected timeframe. So, for example, if you select the three months of March, April, and May, your prior time period is the three months before: December, January and February. This "period" does not necessarily translate to a financial period.
Previous Year

The year preceding the year that you select for displaying data in SCA.

So, for example, if you select the three months of March 2018, April 2018, and May 2018, your prior time period is the same three months from the year before: March 2017, April 2017, and May 2017.

This "year" does not necessarily translate to a financial period.

For  members, when a local contract is uploaded to SCM and accepted, automatic SCA price activation makes its data accessible to other applications, such as SCA, Supply Analytics, and GHX.

Automatic SCA price activation must be enabled for a site.

No exact equivalent in SCM. See the discussion of accepting a contract.

 

See SCA Price Activation.

Activating prices in SCM is different from SCA Price Activation.

In SCM, activating contract prices writes the prices to the item master file so that they are available for purchase.

In SCA, "SCA price activation" captures the member-supplier agreement on tier pricing in SCA and makes contract prices and spend data available to Supply Analytics, and other applications.

Price Change

A change in a contract item's price initiated either by the contracting GPO or by a user in the site's MMIS.

Price changes -- which are different from price exceptions -- occur in SCM when...

  • A user changes the price of an activated contract item in the item vendor record. This type of price change is user-initiated.
  • An updated GPO contract changes the price of an activated item, and the new price is outside of a tolerance that the site sets.
Pricing Change
Pricing Change A change in average each price for the same products that were purchased in two timeframes. Price Change
Primary Contract Entity The Primary Contract Entity is the manufacturer that is present on the majority of the contract items. Only a manufacturer that is registered can be designated as a supplier. For local contracts, this value can be edited as long as the contract has not been accepted. This is an SCA term that has been added to the SCM Contract Info panel for contracts. The SCM Entity is also on the panel.
Prior Spend Total spend for the selected hospital units (facility, department) for a prior time period chosen in the filter on a list or display.
Product Acceptance/Rejection

A  contract attribute available on the contract Information Sheet. Outlines the buyer's rights to inspect items purchased on the contract, and to return them.

For example, if items arrive damaged, the buyer may have a specified period of time (e.g., 10 days) to check the items for breakage and return them for payment credit. Also may simply be labeled "Acceptance."

A product information sheet can be attached to the Documents List for a contract in SCM.
Product Description A brief description of an item/product. Item Description
Product Index Layer

In SCM, a cross-referenced index of item records by manufacturer, MIN, vendor, and VIN that allows items on contracts and in the site's local item catalog to be matched without intensive data cleansing.

The Product Index Layer uses manufacturer and vendor entities to identify items by MIN (manufacturer item numbers) and VIN (vendor item numbers) in a standard way.

Associating a vendor or manufacturer location with the overall corporate name -- entity -- registers the vendor or manufacturer. Once registered, a vendor's or manufacturer's supply or services spend is available for display and analysis.

 Item Master
Product Mix Change Refers to the change in product use from the current time period to the prior time period (i.e., the Facility purchased Product A in the current time period but not in prior time period and/or the Facility purchased Product B in the prior time period but not in current time period). No equivalent in SCM. SCM supply chain analysts would be familiar with the common term "product mix," but it has no special meaning in SCM.
Products Hospital supplies. Items

Q

Quantity The arithmetic sum of products purchased in the relevant unit of measure.

R

Rebate

A dollar amount offered by a contract supplier that incentives the purchase of items on the contract.

Contracts have a field Rebate Available - Yes/No.

Incentive
Reference Number The identifier for a product/item in the  Item Master (PIM).

SCM uses several item identifiers, depending on the application area. Manufacturer Item Number (MIN) - the manufacturer's identifier for the item. This value may also be the Catalog Number in SCA and in the  Catalog.

Vendor Item Number (VIN) - the vendor's identifier for an item in its catalog.

Item Number - the identifier for the item in the site's local MMIS item catalog."

Refurbished Equipment An attribute on a contract's Information Sheet indicating that contract products are equipment that has been remodeled/refurbished. No exact equivalent term in SCM. In SCM, the Documents panel for a contract is a good place to to attach and look for an Information Sheet on a contract.
Region A geographic, conceptual, or other type of organizational unit (e.g., Midwest, Southeast, <100 beds, 100-300 beds, >300 beds). Usually, regions are used by large IDNs. No equivalent in SCA.
Registration The process of associating a Product Index Layer entity or local entity with a vendor. No equivalent in SCA.
Replacement Parts / Capital A contract attribute available on the contract Information Sheet. It means that the contract items are replacement parts for a piece of equipment, normally capitalized. No equivalent in SCM. In SCM, the Documents panel for a contract is a good place to to attach and look for an Information Sheet on a contract.

S

Savings

Savings associated with an accepted or activated contract. On the contract, the savings may come from:

- matched file items

- activated file items

- matched non-file items.

Calculated as: (Pre-Contract Price * Comparable Qty) - (ComparableSpend)

Contract savings is computed from the contract start date or activate date (whichever is later) until the contract end or extension date.

No exact equivalent in SCA. Opportunity/PA Opportunity are similar concepts.
SCA

Supply Chain Advisor - A  contract repository for member contracts. Several activities are available such as searching and SCA price activation.

SCA may also contain local ("NPC") contracts for sites that do not use the Integrated Platform.

SCA price activation for -managed contracts captures the member-supplier agreement on tier pricing in the SCA application, and makes contract data available to other applications, such as Supply Analytics.

When a local contract is accepted in SCM, it is automatically SCA price activated to write its data to SCA and other applications the site may use (if the site is enabled for auto SCA price activation).

See the discussion of Accept a contract in SCM, which is similar.
SCM Sourcing and Contract Management
Service Options A  contract attribute available on the contract Information Sheet. It may describe options for servicing (repair, maintenance, etc.) contract items. No equivalent term in SCM. In SCM, the Documents panel for a contract is a good place to to attach and look for an Information Sheet on a contract.
Single Source A contract agreement in which a purchaser obtains all items from a single supplier, even though other suppliers have identical items. Single source purchases may provide advantages such as discounts, economies of scale, and more.
Sole Source Pertains to a supplier who is the only source for an item.
Source

In the Catalog, the location from which the product data was derived. Sources include:

 - the product is from a  contract and is in the  Item Master (PIM).

SCM - The product is either in the ERP item catalog/master file for the site; or is not in the item catalog, but is in an SCM contract.

No SCM equivalent. Source is used on different SCM panels, but the context is always clear; e.g., the source of a price change on a contract price.
Spend

Actual invoiced dollars from the previous number of months as specified by the user (default = 12 months).

Spend is a "rolling" measure: as a month is completed, the spend values change.

The SCM Spend Workbench and the Projects features provide sites the capability to work with spend.

Spend

Spend data is imported into SCM automatically from ERP Materials Management, for sites who have that as their MMIS system.

For sites with a different MMIS, spend data is automatically imported into SCM via connectors with the site's MMIS system.

See the discussion of Total Spend.

Spend Purchase order dollars as submitted by the site. The  Spend Dashboard is the tool used for reviewing spend. Spend Sites submit spend data to  so that they can review spend in the Spend Dashboard. Typically, purchase order spend data is sent by sites, but some use invoice data.
Spend Type

Indicates the state of the products purchased at the time of the transaction.

On Contract Spend - The products purchased are on a  , local, and regional contract. Products categorized as On Contract are included in a completed price activation, fully executed paper member designation form (PMDF). Or, a PMDF is not required to access base pricing for products to fall into this category.

Off Contract Spend - The products purchased did not utilize a contract and a functional equivalent is available on a contract.

Non Contract Spend - The products purchased did not utilize a contact and no functional equivalent is available on a contract.

On Contract Spend (PA Op) - The products purchased are on a  contract that does not have a completed price activation or a fully executed PMDF.

Categorized Spend - The products purchased are in the data cleansing review process.

No equivalent with the same meaning in SCM. Spend Type in SCM has two values: services spend or supply spend.
Spend Type Spend for either services or supplies, the two spend types. No equivalent with the same meaning in SCA. SCA does not categorize spend by services vs. supplies.
Supplier The name of the company from which a product was purchased. The company could be a supplier, business partner, vendor, distributor or manufacturer.

T

Tier A price bracket on a contract. Typically, the higher the tier, the lower the item prices. The ability to purchase at a particular contract tier is usually determined by the site's past purchases of the item(s) based on quantity, dollar amount, or both.
Top Parent The primary healthcare system, which may contain facilities that roll up under the top facility in a hierarchy. See Facility. No equivalent in SCM.
Total Difference in Spend

A change in spend between the current time period and the prior time period. This value is displayed on some panels of the  Spend Dashboard.

To calculate, add: pricing changes, volume changes, and the spend for new products purchased in the current period but not purchased in the prior period. From that sum, subtract the spend for products purchased in the prior period but not purchased in the current period.

No exact equivalent in SCM.

Several features in SCM calculate and display spend deltas for different parameters; e.g.:

- The Incentives feature calculates current spend compared to a threshold amount that earns an incentive, and displays the delta.

- Tier thresholds can be set to calculate spend deltas between current spend and amount of spend needed to use the next tier's pricing. See the discussion of Variance.

Total Spend Sum of all On Contract, Not On Contract, and Categorized Only spend for selected timeframe and facilities. Total Spend in SCM includes spend for matched items that are not purchased on contract.
Total Spend

Total Spend=Unmatched Spend + Matched Spend + Activated Spend

or
Total Spend = On-contract Spend + Off-contract Spend

or
Total Spend = File Spend + Non-File Spend

See Total Spend for SCA. Some differences in the meaning exist across SCM and SCA.
Trade In Allowances On a  contract, an attribute that specifies if an allowance is made when trading in a used item for a new item on the contract. No equivalent field in SCM. In SCM, the Documents panel for a contract is a good place to attach and look for an Information Sheet on a contract.

U

Unit Price The price of an item per unit of measure. Base Price
Unmatched Spend Spend dollars for a file or non-file item that does not match any contract line. File items are in the site's item master. Non-file items are items not listed in the item master. No term in SCA with the same meaning. The key difference in use of the word "unmatched" between SCM and SCA/SA is this:
In SCM, matching involves a comparison between a contract and a site's item master/catalog to determine if the site's catalog includes the contract item.
 Supply Analytics does display unmatched spend, which means spend for non-contracted items. But the concept of comparison to a site's item master/catalog records is not relevant in SCA.
UNSPSC,
UNSPSC Code

The United Nations Standard Products and Services Code® (UNSPSC®) is a hierarchical set of codes used to classify all products and services.

An UNSPSC code provides multiple, layered categories for identifying goods and services.

Each code has four levels of classification: segment, family, class, and commodity. Two digits are available for each level.

(The UNSPSC web site http://www.unspsc.org provides more information about the codeset.)

UOM
(Unit of Measure)

The package category in which an item is priced (issued, and inventoried). For example, "Each," "Box," "Case," "Roll," "Bottle," etc.

The purchase UOM on the contract may be different from the UOM used to issue the item. For example, Band-Aids might be priced and purchased by the case, but issued by the box.

Items in a site's local item catalog typically have a lowest unit of measure; for example: each.

UOM Conv The number of individual products in a package. Conversion Factor/Conv

V

Value Adds An attribute on a  contract. No equivalent in SCM. In SCM, the Documents panel for a contract is a good place to attach and look for an Information Sheet on a contract.
Variance

The difference between the total spend from the current time period and the total spend from the prior time period. The formula is:

Variance=Total Spend - Previous Period/Previous Year Spend

Variance is a generic term in SCM that means the "delta" or the difference between two values; for example, a current price and a past price for an item.
Vendor A company that sells (or distributes) products, as opposed to the manufacturer of the products. Distributor
VIN The vendor item number. This value is the vendor's identifier for an item. It may be different from the MIN (manufacturer's item number), and from the item number used in the site's local item catalog. Not used in SCA. The approximate SCA equivalent is Distributor Part Number.
Volume Change A change in the quantity for the same products that were purchased in both time periods. Not used in SCM.

W

No terms.

X

No terms.

Y

No terms.

Z

No terms.