BT MINING
Business objective
BT Mining acquired Solid Energy from the NZ Government and needed to transition ERP’s from Oracle to Pronto and wanted to maintain procurement capabilities particularly around punch-out to their suppliers.
Business benefits
The integrated solution that B2BE delivered to BT Mining did not only fulfil their need for punch out, but also provided additional products that would help enrich their procure-to-pay environment.
B2BE solutions
BT Mining enrich their procure-to-pay environment
“I was absolutely convinced that it was impossible for the system to be up and running within such a narrow timeframe. So when it was completed on time and with days to go, there was no question that we were dealing with the right guys.”
Sean Whitaker, Project Manager, BT Mining.
The challenge
The transition phase that BT Mining had to undergo in the acquisition of Solid Energy from the New Zealand government was highly urgent. Due to the nature of mining operations, including considerations on safety, it was not only preferable but vital that the takeover was executed smoothly and seamlessly. Ultimately, the goal was to maintain as much business continuity as possible, while trimming unnecessary expenses and refining the efficiency of processes.
Part of the refining scheme involved the migration of the business’s ERP system from Oracle to Pronto. While Solid Energy was previously able to facilitate seamless and efficient procurement from their suppliers using Oracle’s catalogue punch out functionality, the reseller that implemented the new Pronto purchasing module was not able to incorporate punch out into BT Mining’s new system.
The tight timeline was a crucial element in this transition, as it was imperative that the mining sites would have no interruption to their operations, and that BT Mining’s procurement system was reliably and efficiently able to purchase mission critical parts like machinery and safety gear at any given time.
With only 2 months left to plan, organise and execute the changeover, BT Mining decided to approach B2BE to develop a punch out solution that would fix their procurement problem.
The solution
The integrated solution that B2BE delivered to BT Mining did not only fulfil their need for punch out, but also provided additional products that would help enrich their procure-to-pay environment. In total, B2BE delivered 3 products: Punch out, EDI services and a web portal.
With B2BE’s punch out functionality, BT Mining is now able to browse and order products from their suppliers’ catalogues directly within their inventory master environment, without having to host the catalogue in their own system.
Into this punch out procurement system B2BE incorporated its EDI product, enabling BT Mining to conveniently generate and send purchase orders electronically to the supplier, with just a few clicks. What B2BE essentially did was build an efficient EDI network that automatically sends and receives data in any format between BT Mining and their suppliers. This integrated environment is highly automated, and all the translation, mapping, enrichment and validation of the documents and data are handled by B2BE.
This simple procurement flow was completed with the integration of the B2BE web portal. BT Mining’s entire procurement process and all the relevant data can be accessed and engaged within the web portal dashboard.
The result
Of all the benefits that B2BE’s solution brought to BT Mining, the greatest would have been that the solution was delivered well within the transition timeline. “I was absolutely convinced that it was impossible for the system to be up and running within such a narrow timeframe, especially with all the supplier integration that was required. So when it was completed on time and with days to go, there was no question that we were dealing with the right guys,” said Sean Whitaker, Project Manager of BT Mining.
The speedy and seamless transition can at least in part be attributed to smooth and organised supplier management. B2BE managed all communications with each supplier, ensuring that all system handlers were fully cognisant of the system’s workings and that any issues were resolved with haste.
On top of that, B2BE provided the solution to BT Mining at a competitive price, which contributed significantly to their objectives of reducing costs and increasing efficiency.
