Vendor portfolio management in support of vendor relationship management analysis, planning and evaluation

A computer-implemented method, the method comprising:

• storing information technology (IT) vendor information from an organization's IT vendors in a database;
• defining at least one organizational risk level;
• defining a vendor portfolio based on the organizational risk level;
• storing the vendor portfolio in the database;
• placing a plurality of the organization's IT vendors that match the organizational risk level and associated IT vendor information into the vendor portfolio;
• and
• managing the organization's IT vendors in the vendor portfolio, using one or more processors, by analyzing at least one business metric using the vendor portfolio.

A computer-implemented method, the method comprising:

• storing information technology (IT) vendor obligations between an organization's IT department and an organization's IT vendors in a database;
• defining a vendor portfolio and storing the vendor portfolio in the database;
• placing IT vendor obligations, associated with a plurality of the organization's IT vendors, into the vendor portfolio;
• and
• managing the plurality of the organization's IT vendors, using one or more processors, by analyzing the organizational impact of the IT vendor obligations within the vendor portfolio.

A system for supporting information technology (IT) vendor management, the system comprising:

• at least one processor operable to execute:
• a database containing IT vendor information;
• a vendor portfolio definer, coupled to the database, and configured to create a vendor portfolio and store the vendor portfolio to the database;
• a vendor portfolio populator, coupled to the database, and configured to place a plurality of an organization's IT vendors and associated IT vendor information, into the vendor portfolio;
• and
• a vendor portfolio analyzer, coupled to the database, and configured to analyze at least one business metric using the vendor portfolio.

A computer-implemented method, the method comprising:

• creating a vendor portfolio, the vendor portfolio comprising:
• a subset of the organization's IT vendors and associated IT vendor information;
• meta data;
• and
• a user permission criterion;
• and
• managing the organization's IT vendors, using one or more processors, by analyzing at least one business metric across the vendor portfolio.