PROCUREMENT

Requisitions are imported directly into the procurement section from material control. In the case of bulk purchased materials, or engineers directly input items that are not normally part of the material take-off process such as tagged equipment and the associated spare parts. The request-for-quotation (RFQ) facility assists the bid solicitation process and fully expedites functions enabling pro-active actions to be taken to avoid problems and delays before they occur or impact the delivery schedule. Requisitions are electronically converted to purchase orders, retaining their links with the original requisitions and ensuring full traceability is maintained through material control, as well as design drawings and documents.

A procurement plan can be established during the early stages of a project and these unique facilities allow establishment of any set of planning milestone events together with any number of standard activity durations. For example, a simple set of activities and duration times may be applied to planned orders for bulk materials whereas a more comprehensive set of activities with different durations can be applied to orders for major engineered equipment. As the project progresses, the procurement plan can be used as a central focus for weekly progress and onward planning assessments.

The procurement plan facilities can also provide early warning of any delays and, on very large projects, the analysis of data enables assessments to be made regarding the most effective manpower resource allocations for the various work activities. Updating the system with "actual" dates can be minimized where automated links can be identified with standard events in the procurement function, such as: order placement, first/last goods receipt etc.

A major benefit is in overcoming the problem of companies who purchase material from overseas. They authorize and release payment for goods and have goods delivered to a nominated Freight Forwarder. Invoices do not get paid until the material reaches the final destination. This problem is avoided by incorporating the Freight Forwarder as a delivery location in the system; they can manifest and onward ship material to the final destination, thereby enabling invoice payment to be made whilst at the same time maintaining full traceability for the material.

As well as fully supported Project Purchasing, Maintenance, Repair and Operating (MRO); Vendor Agreements or Blanket Orders, as they are sometimes referred to, are also fully supported, providing comprehensive functionality across the whole procurement function, making this the complete procurement solution.