Strategic Guide to e-Procurement
Procurement Tools
Supplier’s Catalogue
An alternative approach to using an internal transactional e–procurement system is to access a supplier’s website and catalogue and purchase directly from the supplier. In this case the buying organisation effectively uses the supplier’s system to process the order and may either pay for the purchase with a P–card or alternatively receive an invoice from the supplier.
This approach provides a cheap way of accessing electronic commerce and can leverage suppliers’ investments in powerful electronic systems. However, the downside to this approach is that the buying organisation may not have any record of the purchase transaction until the invoice is received, and end users may need to access and learn to use multiple supplier websites to complete their work.
Customers that directly access a supplier’s catalogue and use a P–card to pay for items create economies of scale for the supplier, as the supplier does not have to manage multiple catalogues, the customer does not have to create or update a catalogue, and payments are made electronically at the point of purchase, negating the need for an invoice. This process and the advantages and disadvantages of direct access to a supplier’s catalogue are detailed at Figure 6 below.
Using a Supplier’s catalogue is the most cost–effective way for both the agency and supplier to utilise electronic catalogues.
Summary of Checkpoints
e-Catalogues
Consider e-catalogues for spend categories when:
- a The category is high volume and low value
- a The category is currently on contract with an approved supplier
- a Approval requirements have been considered for purchasing
- a A decision has been made if the catalogue will be managed:
- a in house
- a outsourced to a third party
- a by the supplier
- a A process has been documented to handle exception orders
- a A single point of accountability has been identified for users and suppliers to contact regarding the catalogue system
- a Identified frequent users have been consulted and informed of the changes
- a Documentation has been posted on the intranet for new users on how to access the systems
- a Consult with suppliers to:
- a ensure a good understanding of their capabilities
- a determine if a customised solution is required to be built
- a determine if the volume commitment offered by the agency warrants a customised solution by the supplier
- a establish an implementation timeline and tracking process such as the monitoring of orders placed electronically versus manually and the provision of reports back to the agency to encourage usage and compliance
Contact for information on this page: ictprocurement@finance.gov.au