Catalog Procurement integrates supplier catalogs directly into the procurement processes

The introduction of eProcurement often provides companies with an overview of their requirements, spendings and suppliers in the C-parts segment for the first time. This allows requirements to be bundled and better purchasing conditions to be achieved, suppliers to be structured efficiently and all procurements to be mapped via a transparent system (keyword: maverick buying!).

Regardless of its value, every order incurs process costs, which are made up of the effort required to identify the requirement, create the purchase requisition, select the supplier and create the order. According to various studies, such an ordering process costs between 100 and 300 euros (depending on the company organization). This results in enormous savings potential. eProcurement also enables strategic tasks to be performed that make a far greater contribution to value creation.

Specifically, significant costs are incurred in these analog process steps:

- analogous approval processes

- queries to specify requirements

- Manual order approval

- Manual query of order status

- High effort for evaluations for optimization

eProcurement shifts operational procurement to the (approved) requisitioner. The latter can order in the intuitive system exactly according to the purchasing department's specifications: i.e. only approved products, from defined dealers, within budget, etc. The respective signature guidelines of the company are strictly adhered to - an order can therefore require approvals that are individually defined by the company (depending on the role in the company, value limit, product group, etc.). As a result, all order processes are transparent and traceable, compliance requirements are met and error rates are reduced. The transparent approval process also makes it clear when an approval is outstanding, for example, so that requesters and approvers are always informed.

The digital workflow speeds up the ordering process and makes organizations more agile overall. The transparency of open tasks (e.g. approvals) also creates commitment. In addition, the entire ordering process is documented so that information and data are also available retrospectively.

For eProcurement solutions from DIG, interfaces can be created for virtually all ERP systems available on the market. This means that all procurement processes can be integrated directly into the respective ERP and linked to the respective financial accounting and invoice processing.

Maverick buying refers to the unauthorized ordering of goods or services outside of standardized procurement channels. This leads to invoices without a purchase order reference and to prices and payment terms that deviate from framework agreements. In addition, such wild procurements can also lead to compliance problems. The reasons for maverick buying are complex purchasing processes and a lack of awareness of the total costs of ownership. Maverick buying should account for less than 20 percent of the total volume - an intuitive eProcurement system contributes significantly to this result.

Tail spend" refers to individual or ad hoc orders with a low volume. These are often bypassed by purchasing - with all the known negative consequences of maverick buying. Conversely, it is also unprofitable to map all conceivable requirements in retail catalogs.

To solve this problem, DIG offers two options: On the one hand, missing products in the eProcurement offer can be requested in a structured manner via a free text request (in SAP BANF) . In this way, the given structures are adhered to even in the case of special requirements. Nevertheless, undesirable costs can arise because these individual orders are often placed with different suppliers, which causes accounting expenses. If shadow assortments are created, this also makes compliance more difficult.

This is why DIG offers a second way to manage the tail spend: Connecting marketplaces such as Unite opens up an enormous range of products to cover these requirements in one fell swoop - and with just one creditor thanks to the single creditor principle.

eProcurementis constantly evolving due to changing requirements. One way of requesting missing items in a structured manner is the free text form. By using predefined mandatory fields, this guarantees that the description follows clear guidelines, i.e. the purchasing department receives all the necessary information for procurement. The requester also creates a G/L account and material group. If desired, the free text form can also be activated for certain user groups only. Depending on the defined process, the entry is then processed further as an electronic order or electronic purchase requisition (BANF).