Aerospace company to deploy Web-based purchasing system company-wide

Aerospace company to deploy Web-based purchasing system company-wide

Keywords Oracle, Purchasing, Software

Oracle has announced that The Boeing Company, the world's largest aerospace company with 1997 revenues of$45.8 billion, selected Oracle Strategic Procurement as the software solution to enable a fully-automated Internet-based system for all general procurement. As part of the agreement, Oracle Consulting, Oracle Education, and Oracle Support will provide Boeing with a full range of support services designed to get the system up and running quickly.

Boeing Shared Services Group, which buys all goods and services that do not become part of a Boeing product, will roll out the new system company-wide, replacing a variety of disparate systems with a single efficient backbone solution. The system is expected to significantly reduce the cost of general procurement at Boeing.

Oracle Strategic Procurement is a seamlessly integrated suite of products that incorporates TPN Register Buyer Services, content management and electronic marketplace services from TPN Register LLC. The Oracle system will handle the complete general procurement lifecycle for Boeing, including procurement analysis, ordering,contracting, administration and payment. Boeing employees will use a Web browser to enter and automatically route requisitions in the system, as well as to track and access information on a real time basis.

By replacing individual procurement transactions with a single automated system company-wide, Boeing procurement professionals can better analyse supplier performance and procurement opportunities, as well as create and maintain key supplier relationships. Boeing also expects to significantly improve data collection and reporting, speed the purchasing process, and better leverage its contracts for more economical purchasing. Boeing selected the Oracle solution because of its Internet-computing architecture, robust functionality, and scalability. To deploy Oracle Strategic Procurement, the only software required for each of the system's users is a Web browser. This computing model enables significant cost and time savings in a large-scale, distributed installation. Additionally,Boeing will benefit from the tight integration between the Oracle Strategic Procurement components and the Oracle database already installed at the company.

"Oracle brings to Boeing a commercial, off-the-shelf solution that offers proven technologies, minimal hardware impact, and a track record of successful use in other Fortune500 companies", said Terry Milholland, chief information officer for The Boeing Company. "This enables us to pursue an aggressive implementation schedule in order to quickly realise the benefits of standardising on a single system and streamlining our processes to take advantage of the software's capability."

"Oracle's strategic initiative is to provide its customers with Internet-enabled applications that offer huge cost savings over client/server-based computing models", said Oracle CFO and executive vice president Jeff Henley. "Boeing's decision to purchase Oracle's Strategic Procurement Solution, a first in self-service purchasing applications delivered via the Internet, is proof of the company's leading edge vision in technology and business."

Oracle and TPN Register Buyer Services are integrated to create a comprehensive procurement solution. To serve Boeing content management needs, TPN Register will create, host, and maintain an electronic product catalogue containing contracted product and pricing information and incorporating the industry standard Thomas Register classification system. TPN Register's parent company, GE Information Services,is providing software to help manage Internet bid and award notifications with suppliers.

Further details from Oracle, Tel: +44 (0) 118 924 0000; e-mail: acampbel/cnowell@yk.oracle.com