The Dossier: A Guide to the Relationship Autopsy

The Premise: From Administrivia to Investigation

Your desk is littered with SRM scorecards. They're dull, backward-looking, and tell you what you already know: a supplier was late again. It's administrivia disguised as oversight. It's a waste of your time.

The Relationship Autopsy & Forward Surveillance Plan is different. It's not a report card; it's a forensic dossier. It's a one-page tool designed to turn your supplier reviews from a bureaucratic chore into a strategic investigation.

This is a guide, not software. It's a worksheet and a methodology for conducting a true forensic review of your most critical supplier relationships: dissect the past, read the hidden "tells" of the present, and define a Forward Surveillance Plan that prevents repeats and unlocks value.

The Autopsy: How to Conduct the Examination

This is a step-by-step guide to filling out the dossier. Each section is a critical part of the investigation.

1. The Case Header

  • Supplier: The name of your suspect.

  • Review Period: The timeframe of the investigation.

  • Overall Status: Your gut call, the headline of the case. Is it Green (all clear), Amber (person of interest), or Red (crime in progress)? Use the Scoring Rubric below to make the call.

2. Performance Forensics

  • The Vitals: On-Time Delivery %, Quality/Defect Rate %, SLA Adherence %. This is the hard data, the body on the floor.

  • Root Cause Analysis: This is mandatory. For every failure, you must determine the modus operandi. Was it a One-Off mistake, or is it Systemic (a problem with their people, process, tech, or capacity)?

3. Financial Forensics

  • Savings vs Target %: Did they deliver on the financial promises?

  • Value Leakage: Where is the money disappearing? Identify the what, where, and how much (e.g., "$50k in unused software licenses").

  • Financial Health: Read the vital signs. Are they Stable, on your Watchlist, or Deteriorating?

4. The Partnership Pulse (Rated 1-5 ★)

  • Proactivity: Do they bring you intel, or only react to your questions?

  • Transparency: Do they volunteer bad news, or do you have to drag it out of them?

  • Innovation: Have they proposed anything you haven't asked for?

  • Notes: Your observations on their character.

5. Forward Surveillance Plan

  • Joint Opportunities: What's the next move you'll make together?

  • Emerging Threats: What trouble is brewing on the horizon?

  • Next Interrogation: Set the date.

  • Owners/Actions: Who is responsible for what? Leave no loose ends.

The Interrogation: How to Get the Truth

A dossier is useless until you use it. These are the questions to drive your review meeting. Don't ask for updates; demand evidence.

On Performance:

"Walk me through the last performance miss. Give me the timestamp, the owner, how you detected it, and how you contained it."

On Financials:

"What were your top three value leakage vectors by annualized dollar amount, and what specific control will you apply next quarter to stop the bleeding?"

On The Pulse:

"Describe the last time you volunteered bad news. What was the last proactive risk you escalated to us? What did you propose this quarter that we hadn't asked for?"

On The Future:

"Name one joint opportunity that can return tangible value in the next 90 days. What's the single leading indicator that will tell us we're drifting - before the KPIs turn red again?"

Scoring Rubric: Making the Call

🔴 RED: Any KPI is below 75%, OR The Pulse is 2 stars or less, OR there is active financial distress.

🟡 AMBER: Any KPI is between 75-89%, OR The Pulse is 2-3 stars, OR there is at least one credible emerging threat.

🟢 GREEN: All KPIs are above 90%, The Pulse is 4 stars or higher, and there are no critical emerging threats.

Pulse Stars:

★★★★★ = Consistent, proactive, leadership behavior.

★★★☆☆ = Mixed performance, inconsistent.

★☆☆☆☆ = Chronic issue, requires executive escalation.