FMV Infosyst is the main IT procurer for the Swedish military. Their procurement project was to procure a system solution for UAV (a small aircraft without a pilot) to include the aircraft, a ground system, and training. Approximately 25 people were involved in the procurement team.

The difficulties the team faced were largely centered around information dissemination, as follows:

• There was a large information flow into the project office.
• The format of the information was often not usable in data format (for example, faxes, letters, notes, technical documentation, etc.).
• They had difficulty distributing the information to the procurement team members.
• There was no common information repository available to the team members.
• Team members failed to pass information to each other.

The experiment was therefore targeted at improving information flow. The following recommendations were made:

• Add an information TCP/IP server to the network.
• Use scanners in the network with OCR formatting.
• Introduce an MS Access database.
• Introduce Web Board 3.0 for full free text search, document retrieval, and standard interfaces.
• Allocate two half-time administrators to the project.

The expected benefits from implementing the recommendations were as follows:

• Create a balance in information flowing to and from the team members.
• The team members can access and store any data or document in the repository.
• Team members can easily find and search for all procurement data in the repository.
• The procurement information is stored for future use and evaluation.
• The team feels more organized, causing less anxiety over missing information.

Rhone Poulenc is an international chemicals, pharmaceutical, and animal health business with a turnover of US$14 billion and 69,000 employees worlwide. Their annual IT spend is at least £100 million on mission-critical systems.

Their method of working is decentralized, with central coordination. Their IT purchasing teams are led by senior managers based in France, the U.K., and the U.S., and they communicate by phone, video conferencing, and email.

Rhone Poulenc’s challenge was to bring about collaboration as a normal way to do business in a delegated, highly pressured environment. Therefore, the objectives of the experiment were to:

• Identify and prove a good practice in IT procurement teamworking that is attractive to adopt company-wide
• Increase synergy between business units and value added by the corporate head office

The following problem areas were identified:

• A structure and process should be developed for procurement, not just projects.
• There are gaps in the process and team dynamics.
• There is not face-to-face communication within the team.

The approach taken for the experiment was as follows:

• To begin with a team-building workshop (with executive support)
• To identify "quick win" projects to engage others
• To develop a simple framework for sustained collaboration

The TEAM consultant presented to the team members by video and phone. The team members themselves then developed the agenda and design of the workshop (guided by the consultant). The Procurement Survey Tool was used as a catalyst for rethinking their processes.

The procurement team at Rhone Poulenc realized that their instinct was to focus on projects, rather than process. The recommendations were to:

• Conduct global projects with early benefits
• Start on longer-term procurement and process projects
• Build awareness and buy-in