The management of procurement processes and the accompanying logistics is a complicated and labour-intensive task, particularly for large organisations such as government, municipalities and branches of military.
However complex, it is certainly a necessary process to prevent inventory shortages and to properly manage the relationships with multiple international suppliers through complicated supply chains, especially in the context of extensive and elaborate public tender processes that have to be tracked and managed. To handle this complicated environment, managers and procurement specialists require access to accurate, real-time information.
If the corresponding commercial world was examined, it would be interesting to see the correlation. Supply chain management systems with closely integrated business intelligence (BI) facilities help monitor the provision and consumption of supplies. Such systems can much easier bridge the information gaps between suppliers and customers.
Just in time
Government organisations with complicated procurement processes and widespread supply chains can benefit immensely by applying similar BI technologies and principles to their logistical systems.
Martin Rennhackkamp is COO of PBT.
These systems combine conventional reporting and dash-boarding with rich analytical capabilities (such as measuring inventory, costs, production, and consumption levels), and with proactive messaging capabilities (generating reports for review by management and staff, as well as communicating with order, shipping, and sales systems within a company or to external vendors and customers). Companies can use this information to reduce inventory-carrying costs and streamline their supply chain processes.
Technologies such as near-time or real-time data warehousing with active event-based reporting certainly contribute to making just-in-time inventory management a reality.
So the question that needs to be posed is - can this process be simulated into the pubic sector? The answer is simple: yes!
Government organisations with complicated procurement processes and widespread supply chains can benefit immensely by applying similar BI technologies and principles to their logistical systems. By operationalising the information produced through BI and Web-based information and collaboration systems, these organisations can greatly improve the information sharing between suppliers (sales representatives, fulfilment centres, and delivery facilitators) and customers (procurement managers and base supply depots).
Serving the people
Not only do the active BI applications alert users of potential inventory shortfalls, but also accelerate the re-order process by facilitating semi-automated new order transactions, within predefined thresholds. Applying BI and more advanced analytics to supply chain data within the public sector can also allow users to detect wasteful processes, prevent delays and highlight better ways to manage costs and customer expectations.
Better management of such processes ensures that not only are resources deployed more appropriately, but they are in fact not wasted - streamlining processes, facilitating communication and ultimately impacting costs and return on investment. This is turn ensures that departmental functions not only operate efficiently, but are integrated into the other departments (eliminating silos), resulting in eradication of duplication, sharing of knowledge and ultimately better service to citizens.
The injection and operationalising of BI into the procurement process within the public sector is a crucial step for executives and line managers to optimise and streamline their logistical systems and, in the end, deliver the service that meets citizen expectations.
* Martin Rennhackkamp is COO of PBT.
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