Procurement Engineering
Implementing Web Procurement – Engineering a Deployment Plan

When engineering a web procurement project, the concept of rolling out a transaction based system within weeks, not months is hard to fathom for most businesses. Most companies and institutions are used to projects that last months to bring a new application live. Usually, when told that it can happen very quickly, most organizations struggle to believe that it can be done.

An internet based system has many contributing factors to a quick implementation cycle:

1.    Since there is no software to install, the technology department rarely needs to be involved in the project. Of course, they need to be kept up to speed as to progress, but there is no software or hardware needed to get the application up and running.

2.    Existing approval processes can be duplicated very easily. Most departmental approvals are 2 or 3 levels before a Purchase order is sent out the door. This can easily be engineered and customized based on current business rules. Once the organization is up and running, these processes can be quickly be tweaked if needed.

3.    Catalog contract for existing vendors can be brought online with standard load processes or punch-out connections. Usually the e-procurement provider has existing technology and relationships in place to allow the customer to pick and choose their online vendors for displaying their contracts. This helps maintain contract compliance and reduces maverick spending.

Managing an online e-procurement project can be done in a fashion where the bulk of the work is creating an environment that meets the requirements of the customers. Once the environment has been developed based on configurations, then importing their specific data elements to allow them to do business the way they want is usually the next step in getting them transactional.

In summary, because the purchasing application is internet based, the traditional software deployment project rules are thrown out the window. Most of the project activities are done through conference calls and remote based training tools, which minimizes costs and expedites implementation schedules. When developing a standard project plan, most web procurement engineers will encourage “out of the box functionality” to ensure customization is not needed which will keep the deployment within scope.

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