e-Procurement Services for Consortia & In-House Procurement Management

Consortia and In-house Procurement Management

What epsys can do for YOU:

The wide range of supplier arrangements and the choices faced by operators within the food service sector makes for a complex set of challenges. Any e-Procurement system developed to meet the needs of the customer and the manager of the supply chain needs to be flexible.

One of the greatest challenges in developing an e-trading system for food service was the integration of the disparate supplier network. From the large national wholesalers, to the corner fruit and vegetable shop.

epsys has been designed to meet the needs of every supplier and so provide a single one stop shop that allows users to login, construct orders (from multiple suppliers), and then send the order electronically by pushing one button.

When the goods arrive, the system checks the order and sends approval to the finance system so as to authorise payment. Credit request are automatic and stock and recipe systems are fed live pricing information. In other words, all the traditional manual tasks are automated and caterers love it!

Collective purchasing organisations are able to add tangible value to their position by offering epsys e-Procuremment services as part of their proposition.

In addition, to the client benefits derived from using epsys, internally, collective purchasing organisations use epsys as the tool to manage the supplier deals offered to their clients. It’s a complex task to ensure that individual clients are presented with the correct price file across diverse food categories. epsys streamlines this process by managing the process and by helping the buyers responsible for each category to construct multiple prices files and assign them to individual users.

Real time trading data is captured on a line by line basis which allows deep interrogation of a purchasing profile leading to an ability to utilise past trends to negotiate improved deals. Reporting is extensive and can be used both for the provision of client management reports by the collective organisation or by the client to track spend on a site by site basis in real time.

Procurement Management

Import Management System

• Automatically manages incoming price files.Checks format and rejects non-compliant files.
• Schedules expected incoming files, auto reminders sent for late files/incomplete files.
• Converts incoming files for import to Central Dbases.

Product Approval system

• Buyers are advised of the status of incoming price files. System will automatically identify by default reporting, line by line, new products, de-listed products, price up/down, pack size changes.
• Buyer proceeds to approve reject changes identified negotiating where necessary with Supplier.

Price File Generating System

• Manipulates each base net price file to create unique price file profile which can be pinned to an individual client or group of clients.
• Any net base price file change therefore “cascades”Â? through the estate as the differentiation is fixed for each client. Base net price files can be manipulated at product level if necessary.

Profit Modelling and supplier invoicing system

• The core system that manages supplier stats archive, supplier invoicing, volume traded – by supplier, by client – profitability, client rebates, commissions, query based reports.

Supplier Facing

Supplier Portal Exchange of data both incoming and outgoing

• Delivers the ability to “integrate” any level of supplier.

Supplier General Info Capture and maintain core supplier contact details

• Core details – provides : Contact details, VAT status, certification etc
• Depot details : Addresses, contact details etc

Client Centric Maintenance of client requirements

• Allows set-up/maintenance of specific client circumstances.
• i.e. delivery day management, allocated depot, account numbers, call centre details etc…

Price File Management Manages Price files

• Base price file submission portal.
• Manages price to client relationship.

Orders Order management

• Non-edi Suppliers receive client orders via the portal.
• For epsys clients, invoicing to client/credit note management is managed via the portal.

Finance Mgmt Tools The portal provides the means to :

• Create Statements.
• Match Order references.
• Manage invoice disputes.
• Submit volume statistics.

Marketing Supplier proposition information

• Marketing information and product profiles can be uploaded via the portal.

Testimonial: “epsys was developed specifically for the food service sector. epsys helps us manage diverse procurement arrangements on two main levels. Firstly our clients can utilise the best e-trading / finance platform available to caterers and secondly we have a tool that allows us to manage the numerous price files and category arrangements on a site by site basis. The system is superb…”

Key benefits

epsys specifically addresses a number of key challenges which often arise within organisations who need to control their spend throughout their estates, namely: