How Do You Transform a Purchasing Policy Without Retraining Users

The Challenge

The challenge Halton Region faced began with a new purchasing bylaw. This created a need for an updated purchasing process! The problem? Halton Region was still using good old-fashioned PAPER!

Halton Region runs on SAP, though they had never used SAP for requisitions. Like any business, implementing a change as big as this came with a number of challenges, but at the end of the day, a solution needed to be created.

The solution specifics:

• Manage a highly regulated and complex municipal purchasing process

• Handle different procurement methods and non-standard fields

• Integrate with budgets (funds availability check)

• Improve approval times (currently 3-4 weeks)

• Allow mobile approvals

  
  BEFORE: Region of Halton used to manually track, store and report on paper forms throughout the purchasing process.

How Were These Specifics Addressed?

The process began with Halton Region working through an evaluation process to identify seven possible options that could solve their pending procurement challenges. These seven options proceeded to be further evaluated according to Halton Region’s business requirements - cost, technology sustainability, and resources needed. they determined that by using SAP Fiori and working with ConvergentIS to put a solution in place their key requisitioning and procurement issues would be addressed!

Halton Region was also able to leverage their existing investments with SAP and provide a fantastic user experience using a tailored intuitive interface.

The Solution

Using a team of specialists, ConvergentIS help Halton create their ideal solution that allows the user to indicate who a product or service is for and identify if there is sufficient budget available before giving a green light for the requisition. Other features included:

• Allowing multiple drafts of concurrent requisitions

• Offers a guided process with contextual fields to ensure that all process and policy steps are completed, no matter the procurement method or path the user takes through the app - a compliance auditor’s dream!

• Works on mobile devices, so management can access and approve purchase requisitions anytime, anywhere

  AFTER: The new suite of Fiori apps walks the user through the process of creating a purchase requisition, sends the requisition through an approval workflow, and automatically populates a purchase order once approved.
  
  

  The Results

  As a result, AND with no training, the complex policy process and SAP requisitioning solution were rolled out to the municipalities' 500 unionized employees successfully!

  The best part! Requisition approval time times dropped from an average of 27 days to 3-5 days!

  “Thank you for all the great support,” says Belkis Barrios. “As usual, Convergent goes the extra mile.”

  Let us help you create a beautifully simple solution to a complex day-to-day business problem. At ConvergentIS we are delighted when we make our customers become the real hero of their success story.