Alliander Powers Ahead to Transfrom Procurement Processes

Mobility, operational excellence & standardization

One of the challenges faced by the procurement and sourcing teams at Alliander, was when needing to access documentation relating to an order in SAP, perhaps to handle a supplier or internal query. This meant leaving the SAP environment and performing a separate search in OpenText Content Server.

They required a solution that would allow them to view all content within SAP, quickly, easily, and in context of the business processes, with lower risk of errors.

After discussion, it was clear that OpenText Extended ECM for SAP Solutions was the natural fit to provide seamless access to unstructured content, in context, from within SAP. 

Carefully Planned Implementation Helps User Adoption

In the past, documentation would not necessarily be visible to all that required access. With the new solution in place, more than 100 users, including 60 in purchasing, can now access all documentation relating to a supplier or a particular order.

Alliander is also benefitting from greater control over document templates. With everyone accessing a single source, when a new document template is released for use, it is immediately available, without delay. This ensures, for example, that the very latest purchase order terms and conditions, or contract documentation is always used. This reduces the risks associated with the use of outdated documents, such as non-compliant terms and conditions, unfavorable terms, or unenforceable contract clauses.

Alliander will have to install millions of smart meters in the coming years. Each installation will involve capturing details of the location, installation, commissioning, and operation of the meters. All of this content will be stored and managed in OpenText Extended ECM helping them achieve their transformation goals, ensuring their business processes are efficient, accurate, and compliant.

Alliander will be well placed to work with the evolving and growing supplier landscape, will have the agility to onboard new suppliers quickly, and deal efficiently with queries as they arise. This could potentially add hundreds, if not thousands of users to the system and the rollout, once started, is likely to be fast.