Ah, I just love flowers and foliage this time of year. Every variety: roses and dogwoods and azaleas and sunflowers and, well, you get the idea. It's really great when previous years' bulbs and shrubs spread, creating more of the same beautiful blooms.

In AP, we refer to such spreading; i.e., creating more of the same, as duplicates, and they're not very pretty to see. More of the same with bulbs and shrubs is what we strive for in landscaping, not so in AP with our dreaded, feared, overlooked, and molded, vendor master file. Yes, that is a bit dramatic, but by any chance did anyone check the VMF closet during spring cleaning? Did widespread VMF allergies proliferate?

Duplicate vendor entries are, of course, unwanted like dandelions and crabgrass. Dupes make AP look bad, and are a corporate nuisance/embarrassment for any AP shop. If only grabbing the economy size of Weed-Be-Gone were the simple, hassle-free solution.

Now that we've chatted about flowers, weeds and dupes, I thought I would impart an exciting solution for those with allergies to the pollen-covered vendor master file. The AP Network has joined forces with Austin-Tetra, an Equifax Co., to launch the Master File Solutions Suite and Vendor Master File Cleanse Service. TAPN members, TAPN members-in-waiting, and non-TAPN members can now turn over their neglected VMF's to be cleansed, sorted, organized and brought in to compliance, in a way that is sure to impress your CFO, VP, Controller, or Director.

Supplier Data Management (SDM) and cleanse will greatly reduce and hopefully eliminate duplicate payments, improve 1099 compliance, OFAC compliance and a myriad of other compliance mandates, leverage parent-child corporate relationships to find unlooked for discount opportunities, ascertain how many minority-owned firms you are doing business with, etc.

SDM with regard to your VMF is an AP Best Practice, so add it to your growing list of acronyms to memorize this year. Turn your unsightly, weed-laden, overgrown Vendor Master dandelion farm into a near pristine vendor master file rose garden and smell the sweet smell of success. And maybe even enjoy a few kudos from your CFO and peers!

Susan M. Bova
Vice President
The AP Network
Financial Operations Networks
866.827.6389 x230