Building a bridge between tendering, award of contract, settlement of account and SAP

Wiesbaden, March 2010

Many companies could increase the efficiency of their purchasing processes considerably if they worked with software which integrates tendering, award of contract and settlement of account into SAP. The solution provided by the Wiesbaden based software company Futura Solutions combines the technical and the purchasing side in a convenient way.

Even though the purchasing department is one of the essential departments of a company (“Profits a realised by the purchasing department”), the process is usually the following: The responsible technicians and planners in the relevant departments create extensive specifications sometimes with hundreds of item lines in their standard construction planning software. The tendering documents are then sent to the suppliers. However, as they are usually not connected to an electronic platform the specifications have to be printed out or copied on a CD-Rom and sent by mail, fax or E-Mail.

This process is not only cumbersome and time-consuming but it also runs past the SAP system. Orders are usually set in the construction planning software and entered manually in SAP. A further disadvantage is that to simply matters in the purchasing department only cumulated order values are entered in SAP because the effort is too great to enter all the detailed specifications. As a result it is impossible to apply a decided activity recording which could also serve as a basis for a credit note procedure in SAP.

Therefore, the suppliers have to carry on handing in their invoices which need to be checked manually with much effort in the purchasing department. It causes just as much inconvenience when bidders return their offers on paper or as a GAEB data file. As a result the purchaser needs to compile a price comparison list manually or import the GAEB data files, which are sometimes erroneous, one by one. Having to deal with hundreds of requests and tenders per year, each involving 5 to 10 or more bidders this means a lot of work for the purchasers.

With the Futura Planning solution the whole process can be carried out a lot more efficiently. The relevant departments create the required specifications as usual and transfer them to the purchasing department by change of status. The purchaser can then start the request process at the push of a button directly from the planning software. The requests are sent to the suppliers online on the Futura supplier portal where they can also submit their quotes. The purchasers can import the offers at the push of a button into the price comparison list. However, Futura Planning does not only support the purchasing process but also the SAP integrated handling of construction and maintenance measures. In Futura Planning the purchaser can assign a purchase requisition to certain specifications and transfer offers to SAP. Once the purchase requisition has been approved and the contract has been awarded in the construction planning software, a purchase order is created automatically in SAP.

The advantage is that each item line of the specifications is added as a position in the SAP order in the MM module. Thus Futura Planning elegantly resolves a problem in SAP which does not support specifications in GAEB format. This way the activity input is not only displayed in the construction planning software but also in SAP. The complete activity input process is transferred to the suppliers via the Futura supplier portal. The suppliers enter their activity input online so that after approval in Futura Planning, the respective activity input sheets are created automatically in SAP.

It is therefore possible, to issue credit notes for this type of orders (in the construction sector). This means there are no more incoming invoices to be checked and the time and effort in settling the accounts is considerably reduced. Futura Planning does not only save the purchasers a lot of time but the integrated solution in SAP makes the settlement process more transparent and increases the security of the whole procurement process.

Advantages of the Futura Planning solution

It is possible to solicit bids online via the Futura supplier portal at the push of a button.
Demand carriers, purchasers and controllers can handle the individual SAP integrated process sections exclusively in the Futura solution and not in SAP. This simplifies the handling considerably. Ø Constant control of SAP communication due to status feedback from the SAP system.
Due to the process integration of the commercial side (SAP system) and the technical side (construction planning software) there is no need to enter the data twice. This in turn speeds up and simplifies the handling of all transactions and input data errors can be avoided.
Considerable ease of work: The activity recording is completely transferred to the supplier side. Therefore, manual input or import is obsolete in the construction planning software as well as SAP.
The approval process of services rendered is carried out online in communication with the suppliers. Therefore, the approval time is considerably reduced.
Due to the activity recording open items in SAP are automatically reduced which supports the controlling process of the measures.
Due to the activity input in SAP it is possible to arrange a credit note procedure with the suppliers. This in turn simplifies and speeds up the settlement of services rendered and there is no need to check incoming invoices.