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Chapter 2
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-60960-765-4.ch002
INTRODUCTION
The electronic procurement (e-procurement)
system is a key system that facilitates effective
communications between buyers and suppliers
whilst also providing opportunities for making the
system more flexible and efficient. It enhances the
selection of products, and makes information more
effortlessly accessible. There have been many
studies on e-procurement systems. According to
these studies, e-procurement allows enterprises to
decentralize operational procurement processes
Serdal Bayram
Siemens, Turkey
Özalp Vayvay
Marmara University, Turkey
E-Procurement System
and Adoption for SMEs
ABSTRACT
An electronic procurement (e-procurement) system is an electronic based procurement style that facili-
tates effective communications along the entire supply chain. E-procurement accelerates SMEs (small
and medium size enterprises) at a reduced cost. The purpose of this chapter is to show that adoption of
an e-procurement system is essential in the supply chain for SMEs and to fnd solutions in order to make
using this system as easy as possible. The adoption should be considered as a re-engineering process
from an innovative perspective. An adoption plan is proposed within the study. It contains three phases:
1) identifcation of the e-procurement process, 2) seeking integration points with other elements of the
system, and 3) IT implementation of the integration areas. The study also proposes to use business pro-
cess management tools that have workfow engines and Web service implementations for integration
points. Although BPM (business process management) tools are seen as quite expensive to SMEs, there
are also dependable free licensed ones. The study is concluded with a case-study that is implemented
with a free-licensed BPM tool for proof-of-concepts.