Diversity and business classifications

Track and report supplier minority ownership status and business entity classifications

Last updated: June 3, 2024

What is it? 

Diversity and business classifications for a supplier enable an agency to better understand and report on the diversity of their suppliers. 

A supplier can be certified as a minority-owned business if at least 51% of the company is owned, controlled, and actively managed by one or more individuals from a minority group. 

In addition to working with a diverse set of suppliers, countries like India and the US have implemented programs for small business enterprises. 

Why it matters?

Tracking this information is crucial to your agency's supplier diversity initiatives and corporate social responsibility goals.  In addition to getting access to a wider pool of service and product providers,  working with minority-owned and small businesses enables the distribution of economic benefits to the community. 

How does it work? 

Set up 

These classifications are attributes of the Supplier within Accountability. 

1. Navigate to Master Files > Suppliers.  Create a new supplier or click on the hyperlink to bring up an existing record. 
2. On the main Supplier form, click on the Settings menu option on the top-right. You'll see the options Diversity Classifications and Business Classifications.  
   
   
3. To capture the minority ownership classification of a supplier, select Diversity Classifications.  This brings up the Supplier Diversity Classification page:
   

   Column Name	Details
   Diversity Classification	Select from the standard list of options. The list is filtered based on the Country of Domicile assigned on the main form. If there's no country assigned, the full list of business entity classifications are displayed:  DOBE  - Disability-Owned IO - Indigenous-Owned LBE - Locally-Owned LGBTQ2+ - LGBTQ designation in Canada LGBTQ - LGBTQ-Owned MOBE  - Minority-Owned VMOBE - Visible Minority-Owned (Canada) VOBE - Veteran-Owned WOBE - Women-Owned Each supplier can be assigned to one or more business entity classification. For example, a supplier can both be Veteran and Disability Owned.
   Diversity Sub Classification	If a supplier is classified as a Minority-Owned Business Entity (MOBE), you can further classify the business as:  African American Asian American Asian Indian American Asian Pacific American Hispanic American Native American
   Certification Organization	If the supplier has a valid third-party certification for the classification selected, enter the name of the organization.
   Certificate Valid Until	If the supplier has a third-party certification, enter the certificate expiration date here, in addition to the name of the certifying organization.

4. Click Save to and return to the main supplier form by clicking on the back arrow.
    
   
   
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5. To capture the size of a supplier, select Business Classifications.  This brings up the Supplier Business Classification page. The available options are based on the supplier's Country of Domicile. If there is no country assignment on the main form, you will see all options across countries. 
   
   

   Business Classification	Setting
   IN  - MSME Registered	If the supplier's Country of Domicile is India, use this to select the MSME registration status of the supplier:  Medium Micro Not Registered Small
   US - Size	If the supplier's Country of Domicile is United States, use this to select the size of the supplier.  HUBZone Large Business Small Business Small Disadvantaged Business

6. Click Save to and return to the main supplier form by clicking on the back arrow.
   
   

Manage Supplier Diversity and Business Classifications via Import Template

1. Navigate to Master Files > Suppliers and click Excel-Diversity. 
   
   
2. You have the option to Export, Import, or Update the Diversity and Business Classifications for multiple suppliers or your entire supplier list.
3. To define or update these classifications for multiple suppliers at once, select Import and click Download template.  If you are updating these classifications, Export the data first. 
   
4. Navigate to your Download folder to access the template and start populating it.  
   
   Start populating the template at Row 4.  If you are importing new data, required and read-only fields are specified on Row 2. Populate the columns as follows. 
   

   Column Name	Importing	Updating
   ID Key	Not used	Populated with database ID. Do not remove.
   Office Code	Not used	Populated with the supplier's Default Office
   Office Name	Not used	Populated with the suppliers Default office
   Type	Choose one: Diversity Business	Populated with either Diversity Business
   Supplier Code	Enter Supplier Code	Populated with Supplier Code
   Supplier Name	Leave blank	Populated with Supplier Name
   Diversity Classification Code	If the Type is Diversity, enter the Diversity Classification Code for the supplier. You can have multiple lines per supplier.  Code  Name DOBE Disability-owned IO Indigenous-owned LBE Locally-owned LGBTQ LGBTQ-owned  Code is LGBTQ2+ for Canada MOBE Minority-owned Code is VMOBE for Canada VOBE Veteran-owned WOBE Women-owned
   Diversity Classification	Leave Blank	Populated with Diversity Classification Name based on the Code
   Diversity Sub Classification	If the Diversity Classification Code is MOBE, enter one of the following sub classifications: African American Asian American Asian Indian American Asian Pacific American Hispanic American Native American
   Certification Organization	If the supplier has a valid third-party certification for the classification selected, enter the name of the organization.
   Certification Valid Until	If the supplier has a third-party certification, enter the certificate expiration date here, in addition to the name of the certifying organization.
   Business Classification	If the Type is Business enter the Business Classification for the supplier. Choose one: MSME-Registered Size
   Business Classification Setting	If you selected MSME-Registered  choose one from this list:   Medium Micro Not Registered Small If you selected Size, choose one from this list: HUBZone Large Business Small Business Small Disadvantaged Business

    

5. When you're ready, click Import or Update, then click Select File.   
   
   
   

Report on Supplier Diversity and Business Classifications

1. Navigate to Accounting > Payables > Payables Reports. 
2. Select "Supplier Invoice Report". 
3. Populate the report parameters and filters and check the Include Diversity & Business Classifications in Excel option. 
   
   
4. Click Excel on the top right of the page.  In addition to the standard Supplier Invoice List, the export will include two additional files for Business Classification and Diversity.  
   
   
   Note:  This report is intended for you to get spend by diversity classification. For a supplier with multiple diversity classifications, the same invoice amount is repeated multiple times.   

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