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• ADECA, AchatPro Clients Association.

ADECA is an association that aims to accelerate the growth of e-procurement in France. By bringing together AchatPro’s client buyers and suppliers, ADECA encourages an exchange of experiences between companies and thus improves the deployment of e-procurement solutions through collaborative work.

ADECA, a forum for discussion and the sharing of experiences:

ADECA brings AchatPro’s client buyers and suppliers together four times a year and offers them the opportunity to take part in discussion forums on subjects of concern to them. The association thus aims to:
• Create a venue for discussion and the sharing of experiences between members who use AchatPro solutions
• Facilitate the implementation and optimum use of the procurement solutions offered by AchatPro
• Contribute to the creation and development of these solutions

The originality of this association is that it offers members conference activities through user testimonial accounts, thus providing them with an independence and autonomy of discussion. In addition, ADECA is chaired by an AchatPro customer elected by the members of the association, which reinforces AchatPro’s neutrality in discussions between members. AchatPro now intervenes solely as a logistical support for these meetings.


The next meeting is scheduled for Thursday 5 October 2006 and will be held on BRED’s headquarters in Paris


Summaries of previous meetings :

• Meeting of Thursday 6 October 2005 :

This meeting allowed participants to discover the UGAP (union of the public buying associations) eprocurement project, followed by a focus on a new service Achatpro proposes to its customers : electronic treatment of invoices.
Answering tools improvement proposals from the last Adeca meeting, Achatpro presented new developments on the platform, as well as future developments, planned for the next few months.

• Meeting of Tuesday 28 June 2005 :

This meeting was conducted in two parts. Starting with customer cases - the Faurecia case and the CHU project -, and followed by the organisation of workshops in which each participant was able to give his opinion and to propose evolutions:
- Reporting workshop
- i2 ergonomics workshop
- eCMI workshop

A number of proposals regarding tools improvement emerged, that AchatPro is taking into account and will try to satisfy as far as possible.

• Meeting of Thursday 27 January 2005 :

After a very positive point on AchatPro's activity in 2004, the eprocurement projects of groups Auchan and Legrand were presented, followed by new functionalities of AchatPro tools (improvement on the econtent tool, application of invoices capture...) and a focus on the different kind of training proposed (on-site, from a distance, auto-training).

• Meeting of Thursday 23 September 2004 :

The meeting of thursday 23 september allowed AchatPro to present all new customers gained in 2004, as well as the new functionalities of our tool. A project of White Paper on e-Procurement has been presented, and our customers -buyers and suppliers- have the possibility to participate in its development.

• Meeting of Thursday 8 January 2004 :

This first meetings of 2004 was the opportunity for our president Thierry Broutin to sum up this past 2 years ; Indeed, the association will have made it possible to treat close to fifteen topics related to e-procurement and to federate more than 200 members Buyer and Supplier. Based on the principle of sharing and exchange of knowledge, the ADECA made it possible in addition to facilitate the work of collaboration between all, while enabling them to meet each other in a recurring and convivial way.

The 3 themes covered in this session, still organised at Bred's premises, were as follows:

	- Workshop 1:	"Formalization of an AchatPro standard model of electronic invoice"
	- Workshop 2:	"Management of the Services's Catalogues (Interim, Travel, ...) : functional evolutions"
	- Workshop 3:	"Proposal of the detailed Plan of the White Paper on E-Procurement's Good Practices"

	- Workshop 1:	Electronic invoice management: needs, expectations, constraints (2/2)
	- Workshop 2:	Proposal for a standard Catalogues specification
	- Workshop 3:	Good ideas for deploying an e-procurement tool in a company

	- Workshop 1:	What functionalities would you like to see in future AchatPro versions?
	- Workshop 2:	Electronic invoice management: needs, expectations, constraints (1/2)
	- Workshop 3:	Content management: Enhancement, existing tool, good practice

	- Workshop 1:	Adopting the AchatPro tool internally (feedback of experiences)
	- Workshop 2:	The most effective process for managing catalogue content (design, maintenance, updating, etc.)
	- Workshop 3:	Optimising electronic catalogues from suppliers of indirect sale products (manufacturing supplies, office supplies)
	- Workshop 4:	Introducing and adopting an e-commerce site (most effective implementation process, integration into supplier offers, sales support tools, etc.)

	1.	AchatPro: assessment and prospects
	2.	Presentation of the new E.C.M.I. functionalities: E.C.M.I.© (E-Content Management Interface) is a tool developed by AchatPro to help suppliers update their electronic catalogues in a very user-friendly way: new developments have been added.
	3.	Best practices for managing your e-procurement project : The various projects run by AchatPro and feedback from customers have enabled us to identify the key rules to follow to make it easier to introduce an electronic platform in our companies. These “best practices” involve areas such as relations with suppliers, Change Management and functional configurations.
	4.	Demonstration of I2’s 5.2 version d’I2: Presentation of the extra functionalities offered by the software, which is available to AchatPro customers in ASP.
New members of the association Committee were elected during this third meeting. Our particular congratulations go to Mr. Thierry Broutin of Norauto, who was elected Chairman of the association.

	1.	Training : A vital factor in the success of an e-procurement project, training in the use of the user tool can be organised in different ways: several association members have shared their experiences and the results that they obtained in this domain.
	2.	Budget Monitoring and Reporting: An illustration of these basic functionalities and their practical implications.
	3.	Catalogue nomenclatures : Experiences of ADECA members in their capacity as suppliers, discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of a standard or specific nomenclature
	4.	Electronic invoicing and payment: Presentation and advantages of existing solutions.

	1.	Integrating suppliers:: from the identification of specific constraints to catalogue management, a full range of vital issues involved in the introduction of an e-procurement project. AchatPro’s new catalogue management and administration tools presented by a member of the association.
	2.	Integrating with the various ERPs or the importance of providing suppliers and buyers with technology that is compatible with every information system on the market, as shown by the integration of AchatPro tools with the Baan ERP,
	3.	the management of service provision in the service sector: Discussion of possible improvements to existing tools in order to deploy solutions adapted to service provision (Temporary staff, travel, intellectual services, works, etc.).