Buy-side Portals...
Buy-side Portals
Workflow Overview
Workflow Overview
There are 3 portals that facilitate the requirements of the 'buy-side' of the aggregated procurement ecosystem. Application functionality provided by these portals consist of a combination of workbenches, workbooks, worksheets, dashboards and utilities (please refer to the About the Aggregated Procurement Management Platform section for an explanation of these application constructs).
The three buy-side portals correlate with the standard roles found in industry-leading procurement operations, namely:
1. Buyer Portal
Used by Buyers to Create Purchase Orders by entering required quantities against selected items in the Master Procurement List; after item selection and quantity specification a purchase order is automatically generated, and is added to the 'Purchase Order Awaiting Approval' workflow stream.
2. Procurement Control Portal
Used by the Procurement Controller to control and manage the procurement workflow process, including approving and sending Purchase Orders (to the Procurement Aggregator Agency), processing supplier deliveries (goods received) and processing supplier invoices.
3. Procurement Administration Portal
Used by the Procurement Administrator to create and maintain procurement master data, including the Procurement Master List.
The Aggregated Procurement Management Platform provides 2 alternative ways to process a procurement transaction, namely (i) the Buyer-originating Procurement Transaction approach, and (ii) the Supplier-originating Procurement Transaction approach (for an explanation of the rationale and detailed description of these alternative processing cycles please refer to the How It Works section). Application and utilization of the buy-side portals in terms of these two alternative transaction processing flows are as follows:
i) Buyer-originating Procurement Transaction
ii) Supplier-originating Procurement Transaction
Besides the workflow actions described above, the Procurement Controller also uses the Procurement Control Portal to compile deposit requests and submit these to the Accounting System; when notification of deposit is received (from Treasury), the Procurement Controller sends notification of the deposit made to the Procurement Aggregator Agency via the Object Exchange; the account balance that reflects in the Procurement Aggregator Agency profile is also updated each time a deposit is made.
The Procurement Administration Portal is used by the Procurement Administrator to manage catalogs and the Master Procurement List (MPL); the list presents the approved items from which the organization's buyers may choose items for procurement. Proposed items (for MPL inclusion) and updates to existing items (e.g., new pricing information), is sent by the Procurement Aggregator Agency via the Object Exchange on an ongoing basis. The Procurement Administrator may choose to accept ('annex') or decline such proposed items; note that acceptance of a proposed item merely adds it to the MPL for possible future use by the buyers (i.e., it does not constitute an order).
More details about these portals are provided in the linked sections below:
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Buyer-Originating Procurement Transaction
Supplier-Originating Procurement Transaction
Catalogs & Master Procurement Lists
Buyer Portal Functions