1. Supplier Analysis and Impact Assessment
An analysis of your suppliers using the data from your financial ledger identifies the immediate opportunities to influence department spend behaviour and make immediate savings. As part of the analysis we also assess the potential impact of eProcurement on your supply base. With Local Government clients this includes the local business community, identifying the local SMEs that would be at risk from rationalisation, so that they can develop a procurement strategy linked to their community plan as required by the National Procurement Strategy. We have the expertise to guide clients through the legal and policy issues surrounding this complex area.
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2. Business Case
We use the supplier data to help clients develop their business case for a low-cost eProcurement solution that will bring them rapid benefits. This includes benchmarking of current costs to understand where the ‘low-hanging fruit’ savings lie and helping to form an implementation plan to gain these. This will be essential to ascertain the performance improvements that will need to be proved for the Gershon Efficiency Review and CPA for Local Government. We can use our expertise to help you develop a collaborative approach. One of the secrets to success in developing a business case is obtaining buy-in and commitment from the organisation. We help to identify where process time savings can be translated into real improvement in meeting service delivery targets, securing the support of key spending departments for change. Back to list
3. eOrdering
We help you plan and quickly take the essential first step - the relatively small-scale change from manual requisitioning to an online free-text ordering system. This provides real trading data within months, from which you can start to influence and improve your organisation’s buying efficiency. The e-ordering system automates the purchase order and approvals process; capturing your transactions and passing commitment accounting data through to your financial management system. Initially, buyers will continue to use the suppliers they like using, and suppliers will not notice any difference. The buyer and supplier ‘road-blocks’ to roll-out disappear. In most implementations the first cost benefits will come within months, thereby providing the finance for further improvements. The technology can be provided by your financial systems provider, a third party or by a marketplace provider – as independent
consultants we would help you source the best solution for your needs. Where a longer-term solution is planned which will provide, over time, full end-to-end capability, we might suggest an interim solution to get those ‘quick wins’. Back to list
4. Alignment
We have found that the conventional way local authorities have attempted to implement eProcurement misses out a vital step i.e. alignment. If you just re-engineer the business processes and introduce the new technology using traditional communication programmes, take-up is poor and the desired benefits will not accrue. The Alignment programme takes staff and managers from different departments through a three-part awareness and alignment process and assures success:
• An initial half-day workshop
• A modular online self-teach programme
• A final wrap-up half-day workshop
The programme allows staff and managers to become confident with the new concepts and explore the changes to their jobs while acknowledging their importance to the organisation. This is not a training programme in how to use eProcurement – it is an alignment programme. By giving staff the chance to discuss the issues affecting them and understand their role in the new eEnabled organisation, you can resolve potential conflicts that will hinder cross-department working and joint ownership of the changes needed. Back to list
5. Implementation
Assuming that you do not already have a solution in place, we can help you source, plan and implement the essential components that, together, provide the end-to- end benefits from ePprocurement. These include using eTendering, interfacing your eOrdering system to your financial management system and using an e- Marketplace to channel your catalogue and Request for Quote purchasing activity. We have the software tools and skills available to allow you to automate and upgrade the processes across your entire supplier relationship cycle, from selecting and short-listing suppliers, management and evaluation of tenders, to contract management, performance monitoring and supplier feedback.
We advise on coding standards and provide a low-cost product coding service, which ensures accurate data for analysis of what you buy, to enable smarter procurement decision-making. No need to worry about training buyers to use the right codes. Suppliers are well-catered for too. We understand how to join up buy-side and sell-side solutions, to enable you and your suppliers both to benefit – a more sustainable model than one which simply passes your costs on to your suppliers.
The consortium is working to help councils set up Kick-Start TM supplier recruitment and accreditation initiatives. This enables local and other quality suppliers to be eCommerce enabled at a minimal cost and with immediate benefits to both sides, including merchant accreditation and eInvoicing capability. Their products and services become available online to a wider audience at a reduced cost and you are able to take advantage of this in your procurement.
Reach-out programmes are being designed for a number of Local Councils which have carried out a supplier analysis and impact assessment and now want to increase the number of local BME-owned businesses bidding for council work. The consortium is working with representative organisations, local chambers of commerce and national government-backed projects and can provide advice and support if this is a priority. Back to list
6. Ongoing Savings
An eProcurement system will only provide ongoing savings if it is used to power the work of a professional procurement manager. From the start, we can offer this quality of procurement advice and support to enable clients to negotiate better deals and take advantage of the council’s buying power, either on their own or, more usually, as part of a collaborative group. If you do not have skilled procurement managers, we can provide this resource to help you to carry on saving money from your eProcurement programme, year on year. Back to list
