When starting a new Plan in Procurement Planning, one of the initial steps a user will take will be to select a Procurement Process. Your Procurement Processes will outline the different types of procurements that your organisation may undertake and will serve as your templates for what information will be required from users when they select a specific process. Some examples of these processes are:
- RFQ: a comprehensive quotation process
- RFT: a comprehensive tendering process
- Emergency procurement: RFTs that need to be processed quickly
The processes can have value thresholds and will dictate the required information on the Plan such as the required roles, required documents, budget considerations, identifying risks, evaluation planning and more.
These processes are created and managed by System Administrators in the Procurement Planning settings.
This is done from the 'Lists' section of the module settings, which can be accessed by following the below steps:
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Navigate to the Procurement Planning module, either via the app launcher icon in the menubar or through the navigation tile on your Homepage.
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Click on the Manage Module tab in the top right to open the module settings.
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Select the Lists tab and then select the Procurement Processes option to create new and manage your existing Procurement Checklists.
Procurement Process settings
VendorPanel provides some default Processes that can be used when first using the module. These can either be retained, overwritten or deleted.
- To edit an existing Process click on its name in the list. To create a new Procurement Process, click on the + button on the right of the table. This will open up the process settings in a pop-up window.
- In the Process name field at the top, define the name of your process that will appear for users.
- There are three tabs for managing the settings of a Process:
- Details: High-level settings for managing various aspects of the process.
- Process: Select which 'stages' and 'steps' will be included in the Plan and the whole procurement journey when using the process.
- Output: Defining the output of the procurement when using this process.
You will find detailed information about each tab below.
Details
When you select the Details tab you'll be able to manage high-level settings for various aspects of the process.
Value Threshold
This setting determines the value range for which this process can be used for.
When a user is creating a Plan they will set their estimated value for the procurement. In the next step, they will then need to select a Procurement Process to use. Their process options will be all those where the estimated value on the Plan falls within the specified value range.
Firstly, check the box if a value range threshold applies to use this process. If it does, set the lower and upper (can be unlimited) threshold values.
To use a process that is out of the value range of their estimated value, the user will need to get exemption approval.
Does this process go to market?
This setting determines if an Advertising stage will come after the Planning stage. This should be enabled if this procurement goes out to the market to get quotes from suppliers. If selected, once a Plan has been completed, the user can then use the Go To Market module to request quotes from suppliers.
This setting is only applicable if you are using the VendorPanel Go To Market module as well.
Exemption only
This setting determines if this process can only be used if an exemption is approved in all instances.
If this setting is on for a process, then once this is selected on a Plan, the user will need to request approval for an exemption before they can proceed with the rest of the Plan. Administrators can determine the approval workflow for exemptions.
Required Roles
This setting determines which of the default roles will be mandatory to be assigned to a user when creating the Plan.
When setting people in Roles on a Plan, if they are marked as 'required' then the user will need to assign someone to the role before proceeding.
Select the default roles to mark as mandatory from the dropdown list. Use the table control buttons on the right when hovering over the table to add additional lines to add more required roles.
Required Documents
This setting determines any documents that the user will be required to upload against the procurement record at specific stages (Setup, Plan, Advertise, Award). Users will be prompted to upload the document before proceeding past the stage.
List the 'name' of the document and select the stage where it will be required from the dropdown box. Use the table control buttons on the right when hovering over the table to add additional lines to add more required documents.
Procurement Checklist
This setting determines which Procurement Checklist will apply when using this process. This is optional to include.
The purpose of a Procurement Checklist is to have a list of specific tasks that users are required to mark as completed during each stage of the procurement before they can proceed. A single Checklist can be applied to multiple processes. You can find more information on setting up a checklist here: Managing Procurement Checklists
If your checklist has already been created, select it from the dropdown list.
Procurement Timeline
This setting determines which Procurement Timeline will be applied when using this process. This is optional to include.
The purpose of a Procurement Timeline is to generate a list of events with a suggested date that will be based on the user's set Target Advertising Date. A single Timeline can be applied to multiple processes. You can find more information on setting up a timeline here: Managing Procurement Timelines
If your timeline has already been created, select it from the dropdown list.
Process
When you select the Process tab you'll be able to select which 'stages' and 'steps' will be included in the Plan when using the process.
Process Definition
This section is for selecting and arranging the steps that are included in each stage when this procurement process is selected.
You can enable/disable a step by clicking on the name of it. A blue tick indicates that the step is included. If there is no tick and the step is greyed out, it will not be included. If a step has a blue padlock icon, this means the step must be included and cannot be disabled.
You can use the up and down icons on the right of each step to rearrange the order in which the steps appear in each stage.
Please note, that you can enable/disable an approval step in both the Setup and Plan stages.
Summary
At the bottom of the page, you'll find a pre-filled Summary of the process. This text will be visible when a user is selecting a process to use on their Plan.
By default, this summary lists the minimum requirements when using this process based on the steps and stages that were enabled above it.
You can check the Custom text checkbox to edit the summary with your own details.
Output
When you select the Output tab, you'll be able to define the output of the procurement when using this process. This determines the outcome of the procurement after it's been awarded.
The output of a procurement may be a contract, another procurement or a purchase order.
Please note that the Contract options and Purchase Order outputs are only available if you're also using VendorPanel's Contracts Management module.
The following options can be selected as an 'output' to the procurement when this process is used:
| Output Type | Description & Requirements | Integrations |
|---|---|---|
| Contract |
To be used if a Standalone Contract would typically be awarded when using this process. This will prompt the user to define high-level contract details, including contract type, duration, known extensions and more. |
If using the Contracts Management module, the contract details captured on the Plan will auto-populate when creating the contract (post-evaluation and award). These pre-populated details can still be amended when creating the contract. |
| Panel Contract |
To be used if any form of Head Agreement would typically be awarded when using this process. This will prompt the user to define high-level contract details, including contract type, duration, known extensions and more. |
If using the Contracts Management module, the contract details captured on the Plan will auto-populate when creating the contract (post-evaluation and award). These pre-populated details can still be amended when creating the contract. |
| Subcontract |
To be used if this process would award a Subcontract under an already configured Head Agreement Contract. This will prompt the user to first select the Head Agreement this contract relates to, and then provide high-level details of the subcontract under a Head Agreement that will be awarded for this procurement. |
If using the Contracts Management module, the contract details captured on the Plan will auto-populate when creating the contract (post-evaluation and award). These pre-populated details can still be amended when creating the contract. |
| Procurement |
To be used if this process would lead to second procurement event being undertaken. An example would be after running an EOI, you may then run an RFQ. If you select this type of output, you will also need to select a category of output procurement, where you'll select one of your other processes for the next procurement. This will prompt the user to create another Procurement Plan after this procurement is completed. |
N/A |
| Purchase Order |
To be used if this process would result in a Purchase Order being raised with the successful suppliers. This will create a new Purchase Order record in the system. |
This option is only available when using the Contracts Management module. |