VHTender

e-Tendering System facilitates Maxim's Group in achieving better-cost efficiency in procurement process

Nowadays, large organizations usually have to handle multiple procurement needs by applying different kinds of information systems developed by various suppliers. Such process will become inevitably long and cumbersome in conventional tendering systems when the categories of products are not well sorted out.

Retail business in particular has such a procurement need as it has been greatly stimulated by the increase of tourists from Mainland and other areas. Many large to medium size retailers have taken this opportunity for retail-network expansion, while some retail operators are forced to relocate to second-tier locations since they faced intense rental pressure.

Maxim's Group was established in 1956, serving Chinese and Western cuisine, fast food, bakery, Starbucks and various kinds of catering services in over 300 retail outlets, which is the largest caterer group in Hong Kong. Maxim's has been rapidly expanding its services to numerous areas of the region including Hong Kong Disneyland, by operating a Chinese restaurant, Plaza Inn, and a bakery, Market House Bakery, at Main Street, U.S.A. Thus, its renovation and fitting out projects will be sharply increased. Efficient procurement processes become more critical in order to meet the expansion needs.

With an objective to realize better-cost efficiency, VHSoft has provided Maxim's with an electronic-facilitated system to replace the manual paper-based tender procedures. The system bridges the gap in moving Maxim's from decentralized control of contracts to fully integration within a central repository of tenders and contracts, with comprehensive search, management reporting and data export capability. It provides an e-tendering facility for preparing and publishing tenders online. The system facilitates Maxim's to identify tender short-lists, control pre-qualification processes, create evaluation matrices, and administrate the return & opening of electronic sealed-bid submissions.

With the full set of administration suite for framework and project-based contracts provided by the system, Maxim's users can easily control document management, workflow planning, contract variations, interim payments and contract security levels at ease. The fast and user-friendly search, report and export data facility allows authorized Maxim's users to share contract information freely across every corner of the Group and the built-in XML-based integration capability enables the organization to link up seamlessly with other existing contract systems.

The system maintains a complete cross-reference of all the vendors. The Central Knowledge Repository archives the purchase history of every item bought with full details. Maxim's can leverage this information while negotiating with existing or new vendors to get the best possible price.

With a highly automated e-Tendering system that equipped with a suite of integrated tools, reduced paper trail on tendering exercises and labour intensive tasks can be achieved by Maxim's. [more...]