Russia is one of PMI’s largest international markets, and its Sales and Marketing affiliate is dedicated to growing the business still further, with over 100 offices across the country. The organisation strives to manage ever-growing volumes of business information and is always looking to identify easy-to-use solutions to scan, capture and store business information and to automate paper-based processes.
Issuing tenders and drawing up supply chain contracts is a major, complex process for the organisation, entailing around 50 business steps. Bids from competing suppliers are invited by advertising the scope, specifications, and terms and conditions of the proposed contract. Bids are then filed, consultations take place across different departments, and a selection decision is made based on these discussions.
With a Documentum-based workflow management system for competitive bidding already in place, the affiliate’s purchasing department wanted to enhance it with contract management functionality. Those involved in the process face intense time pressures, and documents need to be easily moved between participants. With around 5000 system users across Russia, and over 50 simultaneous users, the PMI affiliate needed to enhance the quality and speed of tender and contractual administration by introducing sophisticated process automation.
We have been helping PMI achieve its goals in Russia since 2002, so when the Sales and Marketing affiliate required an extension to its workflow management system, we were the natural partner to deliver it.
We were tasked with the design, implementation, testing, deployment and maintenance of a contract management solution. Utilising many of the platform’s standard features, the solution was designed in accordance with the architecture of the existing competitive bidding system.
Contract preparation and endorsement workflow was implemented as a coherent continuation of the tendering process. The customised Webtop was significantly reworked to meet the high demands of the affiliate’s management, and enables end users to determine the status of contracts instantly and amend them where necessary at every stage of the process.
Our deployment of a contract management solution substantially reduced time-consuming and material-heavy administrative tasks, by automating routine business processes. Over 50 participants now benefit from faster, more convenient information access, while amending documents following legal, financial and general editing checks has become much faster and more convenient. This reduces time pressures and ensures contracts are drawn up to the very highest standards.
When introducing their solution, the Reksoft developers maximised the standard capabilities of the platform, which minimised further development and implementation costs. The system is currently in full commercial operation, and serves more than 50 users. Reksoft performed all project tasks on time and to an excellent standard.
Roman Shuvalov
Senior Analyst
Philip Morris Sales and Marketing
