SRM - Segmented Lists — Organising Your Supplier Base

ARIA QUICK SUMMARY

Segmented lists let you create named groups of suppliers for targeted monitoring and management.

Segments can be based on any criteria — category, geography, risk tier, contract renewal date, certification type, project, or programme.

A supplier can appear in multiple segments simultaneously.

Assurance Criteria can be configured per supplier classification — see Article 5 for details. Supplier classifications are a separate function from segments and must be created and assigned independently.

Best practice: create segments that map to how your business actually makes decisions — by category, by risk tier, or by programme.

What Segments Are For

Segments are named groups within your supplier base. They let you organise suppliers in ways that reflect how your procurement function operates — and to monitor, filter, and act on those groups independently.

Common uses:

• Critical or single-source suppliers — for intensive monitoring.
• Suppliers up for renewal in the next 90 days — to trigger early engagement.
• Suppliers in a specific category — for category management visibility.
• Suppliers on a government contract — for compliance programme tracking.
• Suppliers in a specific geography — for geopolitical or regional risk monitoring.

Getting the Most from Segments

1. Create segments before you need them — not in response to a crisis. A pre-built critical supplier segment is immediately useful when a risk event occurs.
2. Name segments clearly and consistently using a convention your whole team understands.
3. Review segment membership quarterly — contracts change, categories evolve, and your segments should reflect current reality.
4. Use segments in combination with Assurance Criteria to build compliance monitoring specific to each supplier group.

Supplier classifications vs segments

Segments are flexible groupings you manage yourself. Supplier classifications are a separate SRM function that enables differentiated Assurance Criteria per classification — for example, applying stricter compliance criteria to government-contract suppliers than to transactional ones. Classifications must be created first and suppliers assigned to them before classification-specific assurance monitoring can be activated.

BEST PRACTICE — SUPPLIER SEGMENTATION

• Effective segmentation is the foundation of proportionate risk management. Your monitoring intensity should match the commercial and operational impact of each group.
• A practical starting point: Tier 1 (strategic and critical), Tier 2 (preferred and important), Tier 3 (transactional). Create a segment for each tier and apply differentiated review cadences.
• Segmenting by category enables category managers to have their own focused view — improving platform adoption across teams.
• Segments are useful for structured reporting — grouping suppliers by certification type or geography makes it much easier to produce auditable data for ESG or compliance reports.

SupplierGateway SRM User Success Knowledge Base. For guidance purposes. Regulatory content should be validated with qualified advisors.