fipart’s mission is to bring together real quality business partners and create a high-quality online experience for the aviation procurement community. Doing so, we need to root out the bad business partners and reward the good ones. Therefore we developed the brand new quality rating, configured for, and adapted to, the needs of the aviation industry.

The Quality Rating is based on four basic principles

1. It is based on a carefully balanced combination of statistical information and user feedback, resulting in a numerical score that provides an accurate depiction of how people operate on the platform.
2. It is baselined on the average performance of peer companies. Scoring is calculated not just in absolute terms, but rather in relation to the performance of other similar businesses. This also allows a fair scoring of very dissimilar businesses such as aircraft operators and parts distributors.
3. It is an addition and not a replacement for common sense quality requirements such as ISO/FAA certification or credit scoring.
4. It can only be influenced by desired industry behavior and cannot be influenced by the payment of fees or the distortion or some quality components.

Every user registering on fipart for the first time is given a starting score of 500 out of a possible 1000. Then, their quality score is calculated once a week and takes into consideration system statistics and user feedback.

Every registered fipart user can see its own overall Quality Score on their profile page. The average user score within their Business Type is also shown.

In their company profile page, they can see the company Quality Rating as well as the average company score in their business type. PREMIUM users can see the detail components of their score and the company score. There is a small “info” button to the right of each component with a short explanation.

How can you improve your Personal Quality Score?

1. Update and complete your personal profile: Other users want to know who they are dealing with. Loading a photo, connecting to your LinkedIn profile, and indicating the industrial sector/aircraft/engine types you specialize in will increase your score.
2. Create a professional network and monitor its quality: Start building your network – connect with business partners, colleagues and acquaintances. Well-connected people are more trustworthy than those who are not. Make sure to monitor the average quality of your network and to disconnect from users with poor Quality Rating.
   
3. Give and solicit feedback: Praise people with whom you have a good business relationship and provide constructive criticism to those who don’t. Ask your business partners to do the same for you. The thumbs up/down mechanism found in every user profile is easy and quick to use.
4. Avoid sending frivolous RFQs (for buyers): Nothing frustrates suppliers more than a buyer who is not serious. Be sure to indicate in your RFQ notes the REAL circumstances of your request to incentivize the supplier to provide you a quote. If you receive too many “No Quote” RFQ responses, your rating will go down.
   
5. Answer RFQs (for suppliers): Buyers want to receive answers to their RFQs. Nothing frustrates them more than silence in response to their inquiry. At the same time, we understand that you might not want to quote on every single RFQs. That is why we have created three options to answer every RFQs you receive on fipart. Quoting RFQs directly in the system will get you the highest rating. Not responding will damage your rating.

How can you improve your Company Quality Score?

1. Complete the company profile: Users want to make sure they deal with reputable businesses. Such businesses provide transparent information about their activity and background. That is why fipart requires every business to have a website for example. In addition, you can input the company logo, LinkedIn profile, and DUNS number (for credit purposes) for a better score. Finally, be sure to select the company Business Type, Industry Sector and Aircraft/Engine Type to be rated against companies of similar activity. If your company has multiple Business Types, create a company profile for each to help users distinguish the right interlocutor.
2. Monitor the Quality Rating of your users: A company with quality users is a better company. Make sure all registered users follow the steps above to improve their rating. Use the statistics available in the profile for individual goals and performance reviews.
3. Give and solicit feedback: Make sure to indicate your preferred and blocked business partners in the system. This will help all your users identify the specific relation between the companies at a glance. It will also positively or negatively affect the Quality Rating of the target companies. Ask your trusted business partners to also “Prefer” your company in the system to increase your own score.
4. Update and improve your inventory regularly (for suppliers) Make sure to upload an inventory, capability, or catalog file at least once a month. This should be done even if there was no or very little change since the last upload. The upload date is being shown to the platform users and a more recent date will not only instill more trust, it will increase your quality score. Finally, make sure you include as much information as possible in the inventory file. Providing optional data such as NSN number, pricing of common items, aircraft/engine type and documentation will increase the quality of your inventory listing as well as your rating.

Remember that because the Quality Rating is displayed prominently on the website and integrated into the search functions, it supports users in making sound business decisions. We hope this helps you understand the scoring system a bit better and that you will take advantage of it to highlight the good work your company is doing.

We will be discussing website improvement and evolution of the Quality Rating in upcoming forums. Meanwhile let us know here of your ideas, concerns or interest in contributing.