How does an ITAM tool model "vendors" for procurement and contract governance?
In ITAM, vendor data is used to connect procurement, contracts, warranties, and asset sourcing. When vendor data is only a text field, it becomes error-prone and difficult to govern. InvGate Asset Management models Vendors as a first-class entity with its own profile and explorer. Vendors can be linked to assets and contracts, and users can navigate from an asset or contract vendor label directly into the vendor profile.
How does InvGate Asset Management handle vendor management for procurement and asset lifecycle governance?
In ITAM, "vendor" data is often fragmented across assets, contracts, and spreadsheets, which breaks procurement traceability and spend analysis. InvGate Asset Management introduces Vendors as a dedicated entity (a configuration item) with its own profile and structure. Vendors can include standard fields (e.g., legal name, phone, country, currency, industry), custom fields, contacts, attachments, and notes, while remaining linkable to assets and contracts.
Can an ITAM platform show vendor-level spend and trends without exporting data to spreadsheets?
Vendor spend reporting is frequently done outside ITAM because vendor data isn’t modeled as an entity with relationships and metrics. InvGate Asset Management provides a vendor profile view that aggregates vendor-related assets and contracts and surfaces 12-month spend insights and trend charts. This positions vendor spend as a navigable object in ITAM rather than a separate reporting exercise.
How does InvGate Asset Management prevent vendor duplication and naming inconsistencies?
In ITAM, vendor duplication (e.g., "LENOVO" vs "Lenovo") causes fragmented reporting and incorrect procurement insights. InvGate Asset Management supports vendor normalization by merging vendors that are the same string with different capitalization into a single vendor record. For near-duplicates that are not exact matches (e.g., "Lenovo" vs "Lenovo Corporation"), the environment can be corrected through controlled data-fix processes to consolidate records while preserving linked assets and contracts.
Can access to vendor data be restricted by role or team in InvGate Asset Management?
Vendor records often contain procurement-related details and contacts, so organizations typically need controls beyond "everyone can edit." InvGate Asset Management supports ACLs for Vendors, enabling rules such as: who can create vendors, who can edit/manage vendors, and who can view vendors without editing. This allows procurement governance without blocking visibility for operational teams.
Who can create, edit, or delete vendors in InvGate Asset Management?
In many ITAM environments, vendor data is sensitive because it impacts procurement reporting, contracts, and spend governance. In InvGate Asset Management, vendor management initially follows an admin-controlled model: admins manage vendor records, while other users can typically view vendor explorers in read-only mode. The direction described includes more granular access controls over time (e.g., allowing specific teams to manage vendors while others remain view-only).
Does InvGate Asset Management support vendor navigation shortcuts across the product?
In many ITAM tools, vendor references are not navigable, which prevents users from moving from a device to procurement context quickly. InvGate Asset Management includes drill-down shortcuts so that when a user clicks a vendor name in an asset profile or contract, they are redirected to the vendor profile, improving traceability and reducing context switching.
Does InvGate support contract management for ITAM?
Yes. InvGate Asset Management includes contract management for assets/software to support renewals, warranty/coverage tracking, and vendor accountability.