Transnet selects Dell`s e-business solution

Transnet has selected Dell South Africa to provide a business-to-business (B2B) solution that has allowed the parastatal to make its e-procurement system more efficient and effective.

Transnet uses an e-procurement system to streamline its purchases as far as possible, from daily stationery requirements through to departmental servers. According to Carel Lubbe, Programme Manager at Transnet, one of the most challenging aspects of the implementation was the capturing and presentation of the details of goods procured in a catalogue format.

"The bulk of the products we source are in a static catalogue on the Ariba e-procurement system," explains Lubbe. "But there are some limitations to the static format: you can only buy pre-configured items and it means wading through many pages of listings to find them. Incorporating some of our IT purchases into Ariba would have meant specifying pre-configured PCs - not the most flexible or efficient way of doing things."

Faced with this problem, Transnet turned to Dell for help. Dell`s solution involves a "punch-out" - an electronic temporary exit from the Ariba system onto Dell`s Web site where the customer can buy Dell products and services before returning to the Ariba system.

Kgomotso Mosobe, Internet and CRM Manager at Dell South Africa, says that with Dell`s B2B solution, a customer can shop online from within any enterprise resource planning (ERP) procurement application and return the contents of a shopping session back to the ERP system electronically.

"The electronic requisition is routed through your standard ERP workflow where it can be approved electronically," he says. "Once this electronic requisition is approved, it becomes an electronic purchase order and is transmitted instantly to Dell. These orders flow directly into Dell`s manufacturing system where orders are built immediately, saving hours or days in processing time. This has brought Transnet the latest technology at the quickest pace."

Dell originally pioneered the system with Ariba and uses it internally, which Lubbe says meant an exceptionally quick turnaround time in implementation.

"When we asked for this solution, Dell South Africa arranged a discussion with the London office and then the next morning they said that it was ready to test. We put through our first transaction in March 2003. We logged on, configured a server, bought it at our pre-negotiated price and then returned to our system. Ariba then ensured that the normal approval process kicked in, including approval from the head of IT and the financial department. The day after making our first transaction, we received an e-mail from Dell thanking us for the order and informing us of an expected lead time of 14 days. However, the server arrived within 11 days. Overall it was a very pleasant experience."

Mosobe adds that the solution extends Dell`s existing Internet infrastructure and e-commerce capability to integrate easily with any customer who supports open, industry document standards of XML (such as cXML based on Ariba) and EDI.

"This allows Dell to provide the same customised catalogue most customers use today with Premier Pages, and to integrate this dynamic commerce functionality into their internal procurement systems.

"If a customer is currently unable to integrate their procurement systems and processes with their suppliers, Dell can provide the necessary hardware, software and consultation to help build and deploy a solution that not only connects the customer to Dell, but can even connect to other suppliers or customers," he concludes.