List your top 10 suppliers by spend or criticality. For each one, answer the four questions. Mark the risk level. The suppliers with no alternative and high impact are your single points of failure. You don't need to fix them all — you need to see them.
High riskNo alternative + high impact if they fail
Medium riskAlternative exists but slow to activate, or moderate impact
Low riskAlternatives ready, limited impact if disrupted
| # |
Supplier |
What they supply |
Location |
Alternative? |
If they're down 4 weeks? |
Risk |
| 1 | | | | | | |
| 2 | | | | | | |
| 3 | | | | | | |
| 4 | | | | | | |
| 5 | | | | | | |
| 6 | | | | | | |
| 7 | | | | | | |
| 8 | | | | | | |
| 9 | | | | | | |
| 10 | | | | | | |
What to do with this
- Count your "High risk" suppliers. Those are your single points of failure.
- For each high-risk supplier, start one conversation this month: ask about their capacity, constraints, and what's changing on their end.
- For any supplier where "Alternative?" is blank or "don't know," that's research to do before you need it.
- Revisit this map quarterly. Risks shift. A low-risk supplier in January can become high-risk by June.