Futura Solutions at the BME eLÖSUNGSTAGE 2025
RFX-based procurement
Not only to achieve short-term savings, but also to develop long-term successful and sustainable procurement strategies – FUTURA Smart supports a systematic and comprehensive approach, e. g. for the bundling of volumes or the consolidation of expenses, as well as for the development of negotiation strategies to optimize price, quality, delivery conditions and other important factors.
Optimal bidding competition
Be it to achieve cost reductions or to prevent price increases, e-sourcing can be used to include a larger number of bidders in the process, thus increasing competition on price and performance. Further price reductions can be regularly achieved by using a second or even several bidding rounds, after technical clarification discussions and commercial negotiations.
Applied AI in the sourcing process
Futura Solutions relies on best practices. This also applies to the various AI assistants used in the purchasing and procurement process. The FUTURA Smart AI assistants support both consumers and purchasers. For our use cases, we pay particular attention to data quality and the potential for optimization. This is a prerequisite for efficient automation.
Integration of RFX processes into the SAP system
Straightforward and seamless – real-time integration is the key. Purchase requisitions, material masters or contracts or existing purchase orders are transferred from SAP to FUTURA Smart – including file attachments. All sourcing activities as well as the communication with suppliers are documented in an audit-proof manner. After the award of the contract, SAP purchase orders and contracts are created via FUTURA Smart – automatically, of course.
From easy sourcing to multi-stage sourcing
Different material groups, purchasing volumes and project types require customized approaches, ranging from simple price inquiries to complex requests for quotations – for example, by efficiently handling routine requirements via Easy Sourcing (RFQ), while multi-stage sourcing, a combination of RFI, RFP and RFQ, allows for detailed analyses for strategic procurements.
Requests for information to qualify suppliers
Use case
General questions about skills, experience and qualities
- Used to obtain information about potential suppliers and their quotations
- Used in the early stages of the procurement process to gain an overview of the market
- Helps with the pre-selection of suitable suppliers for more detailed requests
FEATURES
- Questionnaires with weighting
- Scoring
- Evaluation matrix
Requests for quotation for more complex measures and projects
Use case
Questions about the details of a product (specification) or a service (functional description)
- Requests detailed proposals from suppliers
- Used when complex solutions or services are required where not only price but also qualitative aspects such as technical solutions, implementation plans or service offerings are crucial.
- Enables a comprehensive comparison of quotations in terms of technical and qualitative aspects and contains evaluation criteria for the selection of suppliers
FEATURES
- List of services or products
- Questionnaires with weighting
- Scoring
- Evaluation matrix
- Price comparison list
- Utility value analysis
Price inquiries with
easy comparability
Use case
Price inquiries and other commercial criteria such as delivery and payment terms
- Aims at specific quotations for specific products or services
- Used when the exact requirements are already known
- Enables a direct price comparison between different providers and is used to select the most economical quotation.
FEATURES
- Requirement specification
- Easy Access for suppliers
- CO2 footprint (PCF) query and comparison in the price comparison list
Transparent negotiations with suppliers in real time
Use case
Maximizing cost efficiency and fast decision-making
- Used when pre-qualified suppliers are already available and the focus is on optimizing prices and conditions
- Enables transparent, data-based, real-time pricing between qualified providers
FEATURES
- Various auction options, designed for different initial situations
Plug-and-play – highly functional, maximally adaptive, intuitive usage
Issuing requests just as easily as sending an e-mail – that is the aim of FUTURA Smart and the key to a high level of user acceptance. All you need is an e-mail address to invite suppliers to requests for quotation or to send price inquiries – and it takes suppliers just a few clicks to view requests for quotation and to conveniently process quotations – via “Easy Access” they can access the system without going through a time-consuming registration process, but with a high level of security.
AI assistants, cockpits and monitors pick up the SAP purchasers where they work every day: In the launchpad, conveniently with single sign-on. User-friendly and intuitive, FUTURA Apps enable even casual users or new users to start their first requests for quotation without a long training period.
AI-BASED REQUIREMENT SPECIFICATION
QM manager for the specification
AI-BASED RFQ AUTOMATION
Convert automatically requirement descriptions into RFQs
AI-BASED ANALYSIS & SIMULATION
Point out anomalies in quotations
ADVERTISE PURCHASE REQUISITIONS
Search and read purchase requisition items
CALL FOR TENDER
by free text
SAP-based free text requests for quotation
Advertise material
masters
Writing out material master data
Renegotiate purchasing contracts
Search for contracts and transfer to RFQ
Overview and control
of all RFQs
Track and control requests for quotation
Evaluate offers
Analyze and sucessfully
negotiate quotations
NEGOTIATE EFFICIENTLY ONLINE
Create auctions with predefined prices
show savings
Determining and identifying potential savings
Track purchase order confirmations
Manage order confirmations
With FUTURA Smart, we have found an S2C tool that integrates seamlessly with SAP S/4HANA. What is particularly convincing is that purchasers can launch requests for quotations in FUTURA Smart with just a few mouse clicks. All the data already available in SAP for requests for quotations and inquiries can be transferred at the push of a button, including documents. Our users also responded very positively to the modern user interface, which clearly dates from 2024.
Project Manager FUTURA Smart C. Zimmermann, RWE Offshore Wind GmbH
