866.966.2911

Plan2Procure®

Collaborative planning, organizational alignment,

and outcomes-based decision-making

for stunning success in your planning and procurement projects.

Plan2Procure® is our highly adaptive methodology for planning and procurement initiatives, such as for ERP and other enterprise and departmental software systems, and medium- to large-scale business services.

Based on our Align4Success™ major initiative success framework, our Plan2Procure methodology combines proven, configurable DecisionDirector collaboration modules and deliverables with the deep experience and world-class support of the Advantiv team to guide your procurement project to success.

Extend Your Procurement Platform

Extend the reach and value of your existing enterprise procurement platform (BuySpeed, JAGGAER, SMART by GEP, et cetera) and strategy with the powerful capabilities of DecisionDirector.

With DecisionDirector, you can engage stakeholders in preparing a solid foundation for their upcoming procurements, guide them through the vetting and evaluation of vendors, and ensure that the desired business results are always top-of-mind.

Speaking of top-of-mind, read our Thought Leader address to procurement leaders.

View the presentation to learn how.

DecisionDirector extends e-procurement platforms and strategies through extensive stakeholder engagement before, during, and after procurement.

Here’s a behind-the-scenes look at just one of the system selection activities that DecisionDirector supports so well:

A project without measurable business outcomes

is like a compass without true north.

Focus on Outcomes

DecisionDirector allows you and your organization to focus on the outcomes and requirements that are most important to you, while freeing you from the burden of having to develop the detailed requirements that satisfy everybody… from scratch.

How?

By leveraging our extensive library of industry-standard requirements and corresponding vendor responses, you can rest assured that we have the details taken care of.

And, importantly, this allows the vendors to focus their valuable resources on what is uniquely important to you.

The basic steps of the Plan2Procure methodology are highlighted below.

 

If you’ve already started your project, no worries. Easy on and easy off.

If you are working with a consultant (or plan to), great. We play well together.

We will meet you wherever (and with whomever) you are,

and then continue the rest of the journey together.

Scroll down to learn more about these highly modular and easily customized steps.

 

Launch

Commence project with clarity of leadership and confidence in approach

  • Project leadership team is established
  • High-level project objectives are defined
  • Project approach and calendar are determined
  • Project stakeholders are identified
  • Project kick-off event is held
  • Project work begins

  • Planning and orientation sessions and materials
  • Online, facilitated interactive strategic planning and ideation sessions
  • Targeted DecisionDirector surveys and data collection
  • Administered by Advantiv or your certified consulting partner

Align

Align stakeholders with project purpose and expected outcomes

  • Stakeholder input to project purpose and high-level outcomes is captured
  • Stakeholder hopes, concerns, ideas and expectations are collected
  • Current state business policies and processes are evaluated
  • Quick wins, improvements that can be made now, are identified
  • Broad stakeholder awareness, buy-in, and support

  • Vision and discovery DecisionDirector survey(s) to identify and document perceptions, perspectives, ideas, inhibitors, and other important and relevant information and insights
    • Accelerated by proven survey and analysis templates, content, and reports
    • Can involve hundreds or even thousands of stakeholders for the broadest possible outreach, or can be highly selective for a very focused approach
    • Incorporates cohort analysis for greatest clarity
    • Administered by Advantiv or your certified consulting partner
  • Online, real-time professionally facilitated collaborative ideation, strategy development and problem-solving session
    • 90-120 minutes
    • 20-35 people
    • Incredibly powerful
    • Deeply and positively impactful

Define

Define the outcomes and requirements for project success

 

  • Major desired outcomes are defined
  • General functional and technical requirements are defined and prioritized
  • Detailed requirements are defined and prioritized
  • Vendor evaluation criteria and steps are defined and prioritized

  • DecisionDirector facilitates structured stakeholder capture and review of outcomes, requirements, and vendor evaluation criteria
  • Accelerated by proven survey and analysis templates, content, and reports
  • Can involve hundreds or even thousands of stakeholders for the broadest possible outreach, or can be highly selective for a very focused approach
  • Incorporates cohort analysis for greatest clarity
  • Administered by Advantiv or your certified consulting partner

Select

Select the solution that is best-aligned with the expected outcomes

  • Request for Proposal (RFP) or similar document is created and issued
  • Vendor responses to RFP questions, requirements, and information and documentation requests are collected
  • Responses are collated and analyzed
  • Bid defenses, demonstrations, reference checks, site visits, and other due diligence steps are completed and scored

  • Request for Proposal is authored by client or consultant in accordance with client policies and standards
  • All questions, requirements, and requests for information and documentation are imported into DecisionDirector and configured to provide secure, private online response environments for vendors
  • Response documents, extracts, and analytics are generated by the Advantiv team after the proposal due date and time
  • Due diligence steps and associated criteria are created in DecisionDirector to capture and analyze authorized evaluators’ ratings and commentary

Implement

Implement the selected solution

With the defined and document outcomes, requirements, and expectations in mind, the implementation begins.

While DecisionDirector is not an implementation management system, it can be used to collect pre-implementation information, facilitate pre-implementation decision-making, and periodically assess implementation progress and interim results.

 

Optimize

Evaluate implemented solution and outcomes for continuous improvement

  • Periodic evaluation of implemented solution and its measured outcomes against expectations and requirements
  • Periodic evaluation of stakeholder satisfaction and capture of stakeholder ideas and feedback
  • Periodic before/after evaluation of implemented solution’s impact on business processes
  • Continuous improvement and optimization of your investment

  • DecisionDirector surveys to capture basic feedback and insights
  • Detailed data collection via DecisionDirector for more extensive analysis
  • Tens, hundreds, or thousands of stakeholders can be involved
  • Cohort analysis and informative reports and extracts are produced

If you are getting ready for a major planning and procurement project, or are in the middle of one and need assistance, contact us for a no-obligation conversation.