Supplier Recommendation Engine for Improved ISO Compliance

New Paradigm Consulting (NPC (NI) Ltd) supports companies in achieving and maintaining ISO certification. The company’s digital platform enables clients to comply with elements of the ISO standards instead of using tools like Microsoft Word documents and Excel spreadsheets to meet those requirements.

The Challenge

As New Paradigm Consulting’s client base using the digital platform grew, the “Search for a New Supplier” feature within the Supplier Management module needed a significant upgrade. The existing search functionality struggled with increasingly complex user inputs and couldn’t deliver reliable, relevant matches for clients seeking specific services. With businesses needing precise recommendations based on compliance, service type, and location, NPC required a solution that would filter large datasets efficiently. The challenge was to design a recommendation engine that could adapt to varied user queries, whilst delivering top matches without compromising on speed or accuracy.

The Solution

To address these challenges, Hartree partnered with New Paradigm Consulting to develop a Generative AI Recommendation Engine tailored to enhance supplier matching. This engine filters and ranks suppliers based on compliance scores, ISO certification, location and offering. Using an intelligent filtering system, the engine recognises and removes irrelevant terms from user inputs, allowing it to focus on essential service keywords. It also normalises geographic terms to ensure consistent results, so whether a user searches “UK” or “England,” they get relevant matches. Finally, the engine ranks suppliers by score and provides clients with the top five recommendations, ensuring that results are not only accurate but also timely and relevant.

Ryan Collins
9.5

Hartree NI Hub is a great first step into AI for companies without in-house expertise; the process was smooth and straightforward, and completely risk-free.

Ryan Collins, Managing Director

Benefits

The implementation of the model is expected to deliver significant benefits to the users of the platform. The model will successfully improve the "Search for a New Supplier" feature by automating supplier filtering, ensuring that only suppliers fitting the customer’s specific criteria are recommended. The system's ability to process both complex phrases and single-word queries allows for more flexibility in user input while still delivering accurate results. Customers can now quickly find suitable suppliers based on their service requirements and location, reducing search time and increasing decision-making confidence. In the long term, the model will enhance the platform’s scalability, ensuring that as the supplier base grows, the platform will continue to deliver accurate, real-time recommendations. Overall, the model boosts operational efficiency, enhances customer satisfaction, and strengthens NPC's competitive edge in the market.

Further Information

This work was completed as one of our data projects. Our projects are up to 12 weeks in duration. We will work alongside your business to scope your project, demonstrate proof of concept, and explore options to deploy it within your business. If you would like to learn more about the Hartree NI Hub and our Programme, please get in touch with us at: info@hartreeni.uk

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