Overview of the Company:
The Global Technical and Engineering Services Client’s Procurement Team relies on Robotic Process Automation (RPA) to handle the Vendor Research Process for purchasing requisitions. The team receives daily requisitions for products and parts, requiring buyers to manually navigate an Inventory Locator Platform to search for part pricing and availability from various vendors. To streamline this process and reduce time spent on requisitions, Accelirate integrated robotic process automation in procurement process capable of executing the task efficiently.
Challenges:
The Procurement Team faced significant challenges with the manual navigation of the Inventory Locator Platform, consuming valuable time in the procurement process. Gathering vendor data from various sources required extensive manual involvement, leading to potential errors and delays. Moreover, the absence of standardization in vendor data gathering and bid receiving processes further hindered the team’s efficiency, making it challenging to maintain consistency. These challenges increased processing time and limited the team’s ability to focus on strategic tasks, impacting their overall effectiveness in managing the procurement workflow efficiently.
Solutions:
Accelirate’s robotic process automation in procurement effectively addressed the challenges faced by the Procurement Team:
- Automated Email Request: When a buyer identified a new requisition in the Internal Catalog System, they would email the Bot with the requested part number in the subject line, triggering the automated process.
- Inventory Locator Platform Search: The Bot accessed the Inventory Locator Platform and performed a search for the requested part number, identifying all vendors supplying the part.
- Vendor Data Gathering: The Bot downloaded reports for each vendor, including capability, parts availability, and pricing data, and merged them into a single PDF report for easy comparison.
- Exception Handling: In case of any exceptions, the Bot notified the robotic process automation in Procurement and Purchasing team for further action.
- Internal Catalog System Upload: The final merged report was uploaded into the company’s Internal Catalog System for easy access by the Procurement Team.
Results:
The implementation of RPA in the Vendor Research Process delivered significant results for the Global Technical and Engineering Services Client’s Procurement Team:
- Processing Time Reduced: The automated solution reduced processing time by 50%, with the Bot performing a vendor search in just 2.5 minutes, compared to an average of 5 minutes when done manually by a buyer.
- Navigation Time Reduced: Buyers experienced a 50% reduction in navigation time as they could focus on high-level work while the Bot collected vendor information.
- Manual Involvement Reduced: The automation resulted in an 83% reduction in manual involvement, enhancing overall productivity and efficiency.