Most commercial eProcurement platforms don't even graze the surface of the requirements listed in the "Procurement Evolution". They represent the basic level – the documentation exchange broker. It allows customers and bidders download or upload the bidding documents to the same repository. Comparing to manual process, the big advantage of such DPP is that the documents are always up-to-date; customers and bidders being immediately notified of any changes. The bidding lifecycle is well orchestrated and timed.
To move this technology further we need to solve the problem already encountered in PLM – Product Lifecycle Management – to make it aware of the product specifics.
Undoubtedly, Digital Procurement Platform (DPP) development shall be on the customer side, where uncertainty is the highest regarding the requirements and scope for product or service, and the bidder history. (Bidders always offer what they know best.) So the customers risk mitigation through process automation is the next milestone in the DPP evolution.
True DPP allows dialog between the customer and the supplier. Instead of the files exchange, it implements the data exchange. Unlike files, data may be instantly validated for completeness or deviations from the requested ones. This solves the bids price-quality conundrum. Bidders believe the lower-price bid trumps the numerous micro-deviations from the tender requirements. It is very common in the project engineering.
DPP for mega-projects includes two distinct parts – RFQ processing and Purchase Order Processing. Both are overloaded with the bespoke product specifics which are not accounted for by generic procurement software available in the market.
The DPP developed by crenger.com includes the following components.
- Procurement team builder
- Technical specification generator
- RFQ documentation aggregator
- RFQ terms and conditions editor
- Bidder’s account management
- Bidder’s team accounts management
- Online quotation submission
- Quotations validation and comparison
- Quotation/Order approval management
- RFQ/Order change management
- Quotation/Product quality assurance management
- Order/Product documentation management
- Order execution broker and tracker
- RFQ/Quotation/Order/Product search engine
This video shows how online quotation submission is carried on.