Client Profile.
A global leader in fundraising based in USA, supports over 500+ nonprofits and agencies spread across five continents. With a strong 4000+ workforce, the company operates from multiple locations and production sites to help clients raise 5+ billion dollars each year.
Business Need.
The company was challenged with complex and time-consuming manual procurement processes for sourcing printing and packaging raw materials for its facilities in the USA. They wanted to improve accuracy, efficiency and speed of their manufacturing processes so that they could focus their energies on core business strategies instead of routine operational matters. Efficiencies need to be built in the areas of:
- Vendor sourcing (identification, availability and assessment of credentials)
- Raw material sourcing and tracking
- Procurement value vis-Ã -vis cost, quality and turnaround time.
Challenges.
- Unpredictability in vendor response time led to delays in the entire process of collecting quotes and fulfilling orders.
- Manual processes led to errors and mismatches in the entire procurement cycle.
- Data inaccuracy caused inventory and invoice mismanagement, hampering planning process.
- Contract finalization was a complex process since it needed to take into account multiple parameters such as price, turnaround time, quality, credibility etc.
Solution.
The customized solution aimed at achieving process optimization through process efficiencies and digitization ensured:
- Integration on a single platform of core procurement processes including raw material sourcing, vendor management, purchase order, purchase requisition, invoice approval, and contract management were integrated on a single platform.
- Powerful and intelligent searches to identify vendors based on profile, capacity to match with order-based turnaround time, shipping and delivery time and sending out requests for quotes.
- Real time visibility of data using Salesforce automation tool enabling teams to make informed decisions about vendors based on cost, approximate delivery time and quality.
- Development of a platform to effectively communicate with various suppliers; assign and track orders, and control change in orders- while tracking actual and planned spend.
- Tracking of milestones and contractual terms with a centralized database for key information like job name, order and status for future references.
Approach.
- Discussions / brain storming sessions with key stakeholders, shadowing teams, and understanding current operating model across locations / projects.
- Identified process inefficiencies at every stage and solutions to bridge the gaps.
- Created blueprint of proposed solution across the process, talent and technology landscape which would include:
- A single, integrated procurement solution by pulling together several fragmented processes
- Streamlining and infusing agility in materials sourcing, vendor management, ordering products, order tracking and invoicing.Â
- Integrated data sources across all processes to make it easily visible/accessible to all stakeholders for informed decision making.
- Leveraged automation to gain real time visibility into the entire procurement to pay process.
