Design And Implementation Of Procurement Management Information System

Purchase has developed into functions which minimize cost, maximize profit, and receive services in today's world of economic globalization. It plays such a strategic role at the top of the supply chain and is the pioneer of any production and consuming.Many domestic, international, and multinational corporations set up independent procurement centers to not only centralize the purchase, but also reduce the purchase channels so that the preferential prices are gained due to the quantity buying. These gigantic companies also contract 3rd party logistic services to handle their purchase activities so that they can focus on their core business. The purchase activities are only to be accomplished by the procurement center after the approvals from relevant management sections in the corporation, based on the initial applications from branch offices or sub companies. The key to the success is the control of workflow and the exchange of information which is not only accurate but also swift. The implementation of a procurement management information system has therefore become a necessary choice.This paper briefs the most commonly used purchase models and purchase tactics and discusses the development trends. The author explicates the methods of developing a procurement management information system using WebSphere by clarifying with her hands-on project - the Advanced Procurement System for the procurement center of Hitachi Global Storage Technology. This project was based on the operation modes of multinational corporations. The features are:·Based on the J2EE distributive component technology.·Analyzes the system requirements and designs the system models using the object-oriented methods.·Develops the purchase process model using the workflow theory so that the purchase business flow is under control.·The complete automation of purchase activities also benefits from the theory of ERP and the supply chain management.The purchase process includes many key elements such as quotation, purchase request, approval, order, and the management of suppliers. This paper stresses the orderly management of all these elements. The developed system introduced in this paper applies for the procurement centers of medium to large enterprises and the 3rd party purchase included logistic service companies. Its purchase models include centralized purchase, united purchase, quotation purchase, functionalized purchase and purchase outsourcing.