About the client
A prominent name in the global energy industry, the client has established itself as one of Europe's largest oil and gas conglomerates over the past century. Renowned for its cutting-edge exploration and production capabilities, the company operates some of the most advanced energy facilities worldwide and consistently leads innovation to deliver affordable and reliable fuel resources to major economies.
The energy company was facing several challenges in managing RFQ and procurement processes due to the lack of a centralized digital system. Some key issues included:
- Struggle with managing a high volume of RFQs every month due to the absence of a centralized system.
- Insufficient collaboration between stakeholders leading to delays.
- Lack of visibility into the procurement pipeline.
- Challenges in maintaining version control, a central document repository, and standardized templates.
- Over-reliance on redundant manual processes like emails and calls for sharing data/documents.
- No proper audit trail of the procurement activities.
- Inability to generate insightful reports and analyze procurement data.
Solutions
The client needed an integrated solution to manage their complex bid processes efficiently. They approached us, Beyond Intranet, to provide a comprehensive Bid Management System (BMS) leveraging our expertise in Microsoft technologies.
We introduced a SharePoint-based BMS that provided a centralized portal enabling end-to-end RFQ lifecycle management. The portal delivered the client with an intuitive user experience. M365 SharePoint was used as the platform for its flexibility and integration abilities. Additional features included:
- Advanced workflow tools allowing configurable approval flows based on roles
- Seamless vendor engagement through a dedicated portal
- Document management for centralized storage and version control
- Role-based access
- Analytics and reporting on key metrics
Some key capabilities of our BMS solution include-
- Simplified invite templates
- RFQ status tracking on dashboards
- Multi-tier approvals
Vendors could directly upload proposals on portal. Seamless Azure integrations provided scalability.
The unified platform approach ensured optimal performance. Additional benefits included automated audit trails, activity alerts, and notifications.s
Result
Top 4 Ways the BMS Streamlined Procurement:
- Centralized portal for RFQ lifecycle: All steps were unified on a single platform from invite to award RFQ.
- Automated workflows: Configurable approval flows based on roles cut down manual approvals by 50%.
- Version-controlled documents: RFQ documents and proposals are now stored securely on SharePoint with auto versioning, reducing errors.
- Auditable records: Detailed logs of all user actions using the system captured an accurate audit trail, ensuring compliance.
Top 3 Gains in Productivity:
- Reduced manual tasks: Features like vendor invites, and reminders saved over 20 man-hours per month.
- Search and access made easy: Powerful search and centralized document storage eliminated time wasted on manual filing.
- Streamlined collaboration: Secure vendor portal facilitated seamless document sharing and queries, reducing delays.
Top Ways It Optimized Costs:
- Better negotiation: Leveraging analytics on the top 15 suppliers, clients were able to negotiate a 5% price reduction.
- Identified opportunities: Analytics revealed potential to consolidate suppliers, translating to annual savings of $150,000.
- Prevented risks: Ensuring adherence to process through configurable workflows reduced risks of non-compliance penalties.
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SharePoint Online
Served as the centralized data storage and collaborative platform. -
Azure Cloud
Hosting for supplier portals and process automation. -
React.js
Used to build the customized web-based user interface. -
.NET Framework
Powered customizations and extensions to core SharePoint features. -
Active Directory
Integrated for seamless single sign-on and user authentication.
