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    Reference Austrian Institute of Technology

    eProcurement for 1500 potential users

    The Austrian Institute of Technology (AIT) is Austria's largest non-university research institution and a specialist in the key infrastructure issues of the future. It is therefore obvious that resilient and modern structures should also be established for procurement. The particular challenge here: a huge range of goods and services and a high proportion of one-off procurements.

    AIT-400x200

    Sector: Research & Technology Organization

    Web: ait.ac.at

    Learn more

    "Around 1,500 people work in the Group - and they can all order without any major restrictions," says DI (FH) Markus Zörnig, Deputy Head of Purchasing & Logistics, summing up the initial situation. This is exacerbated by AIT's extremely broad range of specialist areas: with seven centers - Energy, Low-Emission Transport, Digital Safety & Security, Vision Automation & Control, Health & Bioresources, Technology Experience and Innovation Systems & Policy - it is active in a wide variety of specialist areas. In addition, there are three subsidiaries in the areas of light metal research, nuclear engineering and Seibersdorf Laboratory: "This brings with it an endless range of potential procurements - it is simply impossible for a buyer to have the required product knowledge everywhere."

    Atypical purchasing process

    As the products to be ordered often require a very specialist approach, the researchers carry out the preparatory work themselves: "In this respect, we at AIT deviate from traditional purchasing. Alternative offers are also often obtained directly from the requester, as only they can assess the equivalence." Nevertheless, the ambitious eProcurement project was launched in 2016 : "My former line manager, Ms. Schwabach, launched this project before she retired." The document filing and workflow system DOXiS from SER Group was to act as the central system. "This is mainly due to the nature of our projects: We have to manage calculations and contracts, obtain approvals for funding, give auditors access, etc. That's why DOXiS plays such an important role in the company."

    Efficient system integration

    All processes were analyzedin the initial meeting with DIG . "It was important to us to retain the familiar access via DOXiS. The release processes should also take place in the familiar environment. We therefore needed a flexible bridge to SAP, where the order is ultimately generated." It is precisely this integration of historically grown structures into an efficient overall solution that is one of DIG's specialties. "Our users now start in DOXiS, from where they access the eProcurement platform. The shopping cart is compiled here and the account assignment is carried out. The shopping cart is then transferred to DOXiS and the relevant approvals are obtained." This would actually be a core competence of the DIG platform. "But since we are used to approvals in DOXiS, we wanted to map this for procurement here too. We were pleasantly surprised by the flexibility of DIG!"

    > DI (FH) Markus Zörnig is very satisfied with the flexibility of DIG.

    Free text orders and catalogs

    "Our challenge lies in the number of potential products. And the fact that we generally don't even know them before ordering," says Zörnig, emphasizing the special circumstances at AIT. Due to the great variety and the enormous proportion of one-off purchases, catalog management can only be used to a limited extent: "You can't make a catalog article out of a large welding system. That's why we have a high proportion of free text orders, which are then processed further in Purchasing. However, we are also trying to expand the range of catalog articles." Various catalogs are created, e.g. for occupational safety, standard furniture (with individual specifications for each AIT company), kitchen supplies and much more. "Creating content catalogs with Excel lists and uploading them via DIG-Catman is very easy." In the meantime,17 catalogs are already available .

    Standardization is also to take place in the area of service procurement and efficiency potential is to be realized through bundling, e.g. in the area of facility management: "The customer can then request services on the basis of negotiated hourly rates. The estimated cost is entered according to the service provider's offer, as is the deadline for completion." Free text masks and catalogs work together: "We have contractually agreed fixed dates for many services. For example, when calibrating a device. But these can also be changed via the free text mask - they are still catalog orders."

     

    Complex release regulations

    "We generally prefer OCI connections; there are no product range restrictions depending on the user." Only certain product groups, such as software and hardware or cell phones, are subject to restrictions: "We work with special providers in these cases. A corresponding requirement request is then always sent to our 12-strong purchasing team." ECLASS provides the necessary information . The specific departments to be involved depend on the product group and the type of procurement. "In the case of capital goods, for example, Purchasing is always involved because negotiations are necessary here." The requisitioners can also obtain comparative offers directly: "In the chemicals area, for example, we have five suppliers listed." Ordered catalog items are transferred directly to SAP via the DIG platform and a copy of the order is stored in DOXiS - in both PDF and XML format. Follow-up documents such as invoices or order confirmations are also stored here. Supplier communication itself takes place via EDI or by e-mail and PDF.

    High degree of utilization

    Depending on the product group,eProcurement is used to varying degrees: "We achieve a usage rate of 50% for the VWR Healthcare range, catalogs such as RS Components are higher. Overall, we want to achieve 80% for catalogs and 20% for free text orders." Around 700 of the 1,500 employees use the system: "However, this is misleading in that many researchers outsource ordering to their office, i.e. use eProcurement indirectly." The system itself was developed in a period of around one year from the kick-off. "The go-live took place in January 2017. We hardly have any queries from users, everything is self-explanatory. In addition to expanding the catalog offering, we are currently working with DIG on the automated processing of delivery bills, etc. Among other things, an automated comparison is planned here."