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Aavenir Atlas early access is open Contractflow on the ServiceNow Store since 2019 Runs on ServiceNow, or standalone ProcureTech100 2025/26 Pioneering Digital Solution ISO/IEC 27001:2022 certified, SOC 2 Type 2 compliant

Glossary

What is electronic sourcing?

Electronic sourcing, or eSourcing, runs sourcing online: finding and inviting suppliers, collecting and comparing bids, negotiating and awarding contracts.

Schedule a Demo All Glossary Terms

What sourcing involves

Sourcing begins when an organization decides to spend money on goods or services. It covers analyzing the need, researching the market and suppliers, negotiating with current and potential suppliers and drawing up contracts. Electronic sourcing moves these steps onto a web based platform.

  • Requests for information, proposal and quotation
  • Supplier invitations and a response portal
  • Bid comparison and scoring
  • Pricing rounds and reverse auctions
  • Award and handoff to contract

Why it matters

Online sourcing reaches more suppliers, makes bids easy to compare side by side and keeps a full record of who was invited, what they offered and why the award was made. That helps generate savings, improves visibility of key business information and reduces the risk of a decision that cannot be explained later.

How Aavenir handles it

RFPflow runs requests for information, proposal and quotation on one record. Suppliers respond in a portal, Aavenir AI scores and summarizes every bid, a person makes the award, and the award drafts the contract. On ServiceNow, events start from the sourcing request.

Choosing the right event

  • Request for information. To learn the market and shortlist suppliers.
  • Request for proposal. When the solution and price both matter.
  • Request for quotation. When the specification is fixed and price decides.
  • Reverse auction. For standard items with several qualified suppliers.

Keep reading

Electronic tendering Electronic tendering, or eTendering, is sending and receiving tenders online instead of on paper, from publishing the requirement to receiving bids and awarding.Read more Open tendering Open tendering is a competitive procurement method where any qualified supplier may bid for a contract for goods, services or works, in a public process.Read more Source to pay Source to pay is the end to end procurement process, from spend analysis and sourcing through contracting and purchasing to processing invoices and paying suppliers.Read more

Frequently asked questions (FAQ)

Common questions

What is the difference between electronic sourcing and electronic procurement?

Electronic sourcing covers finding and selecting suppliers and agreeing terms. Electronic procurement is wider and includes ordering, invoicing and payment. Both work best on shared data. Read about electronic procurement.

What tools are used in electronic sourcing?

Request for proposal and quotation tools, supplier portals, scoring and comparison features, reverse auctions and links to contract management. The best tools pass the award straight into a contract. Read about electronic tendering.

How does AI help in electronic sourcing?

It can summarize long responses, check them against requirements and score them consistently, so evaluators spend time on judgment. The award decision stays with a person. See RFPflow.

Have a question we have not answered? Ask the Expert

Schedule a demo

See your contracts run on one record.

  • 1 A 30 minute walkthrough Built around your team, whether that is procurement, legal, IT or finance.
  • 2 Your contracts, not ours Bring a few sample agreements and watch Aavenir AI extract and review them.
  • 3 ServiceNow or standalone We show the deployment that fits the systems you already run.

Prefer to talk first? Contact the team.