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Introducing Procurement Hub

Helping designers stay on top of their deadlines, payments and deliveries.
Programa
Updated: 03 July 2024
Our mission is to make life easier for interior designers and architects, and being able to manage multiple tasks at once is a core skill needed in running a successful studio. One of the most challenging parts of any project is sourcing, quoting, purchasing and facilitating the delivery of products on behalf of clients.

Challenges Faced by Designers in Procurement

A designer can easily be speaking with 30+ brands at any one time. That’s 30+ different sales reps, payment terms, purchasing terms, deliveries, and orders, across multiple projects, clients and deadlines. On the other side of the process are brands, who are dealing with dozens of designers, all with deadlines, receiving information in various formats of schedules, purchase orders, and spec sheets – and everything is urgent!

At the moment designers manage this process with spreadsheets, emails, to-do lists, Post-it Notes, and pure, white-knuckled determination. One mistake can easily cost the client (and possibly the designer) thousands of dollars.

There’s no easy way to share procurement details with clients. The current process involves sending them a schedule and a tracking spreadsheet containing purchase orders and invoice numbers which they have to manually cross reference. This spreadsheet is almost always out of date the minute we send it to the client

There are so many data points to track, it can be difficult to easily identify what’s late, what’s on-time, who needs to be chased-up, and it’s really easy to miss something.

Spreadsheets have no reminder functionality – it’s easy to miss order deadlines or forget to follow up on certain product orders. This causes costly project delays and unhappy clients

Consolidating emails, phone calls, faxes and messages into spreadsheets is incredibly time-consuming and tedious

At Programa, we’re working hard to make this process smoother for both designers and brands. Today, we’re releasing Procurement Hub, which is the first of several tools we’re building that will streamline the procurement process for designers. Procurement Hub allows designers to easily manage the procurement process from within their schedules, with important information available at a glance.

How designers can use Procurement Hub

  • Never miss another deadline – keeping track of your deadlines is hard, and our Procurement Hub allows designers to see all of their procurement deadlines, from all of their projects, in one place, sorted by urgency.
  • Easily mark deadlines as completed – no more hunting for data to edit in multiple spreadsheets, simply mark deadlines as completed directly from the Hub.
  • Manage your files – Easily attach your relevant quotes, purchase orders, and invoices directly to your products within your Schedules. These can also be easily viewed and downloaded from online shared versions of your Schedules.
  • Procurement will continue to get easier – we’ll be adding automation, with synchronised quote requests, purchase orders and more.

Built by and for designers

By launching Procurement Hub we’re taking our first meaningful step towards reducing the complexity of procurement for designers, and helping reduce cognitive load, and anxiety, reducing errors and saving time. You could even consider Programa’s Procurement Hub as an extra team member, someone who’s always there to help ensure you never miss a never deadline.
Table of contents
  1. Challenges Faced by Designers in Procurement
  2. How designers can use Procurement Hub
  3. Built by and for designers

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Introducing Programa's Procurement Hub: Simplifying Procurement for Designers

At Programa, our mission is to make life easier for interior designers and architects. Managing multiple tasks simultaneously is a core skill required in running a successful studio. One of the most challenging aspects of any project is sourcing, quoting, purchasing, and facilitating the delivery of products on behalf of clients.

Challenges Faced by Designers in Procurement

Designers often find themselves communicating with over 30 brands simultaneously, each with different sales reps, payment terms, purchasing terms, and delivery schedules. Managing this process across multiple projects, clients, and deadlines can be overwhelming and prone to errors.

The current process of managing procurement involves spreadsheets, emails, to-do lists, and manual tracking, which can lead to costly mistakes and project delays. There's no easy way to share procurement details with clients, leading to confusion and inefficiency.

Introducing Procurement Hub

Today, we're excited to announce the launch of Procurement Hub, the first of several tools designed to streamline the procurement process for designers. Procurement Hub allows designers to manage procurement tasks directly within their schedules, providing important information at a glance.

How Designers Can Use Procurement Hub

Never miss another deadline: Keep track of all procurement deadlines from all projects in one place, sorted by urgency. Easily mark deadlines as completed: Mark deadlines as completed directly from the Hub, eliminating the need for manual data editing. Manage files: Attach relevant quotes, purchase orders, and invoices directly to products within schedules for easy access and sharing. Future Enhancements

Procurement Hub will continue to evolve with added automation, including synchronized quote requests, purchase orders, and more, further simplifying the procurement process for designers.

Built by and for designers

By launching Procurement Hub, we're taking a significant step towards reducing the complexity of procurement for designers. This tool helps reduce cognitive load, anxiety, errors, and saves time. Consider Programa’s Procurement Hub as an additional team member, always there to ensure you never miss a deadline.

Experience the benefits of Procurement Hub today and streamline your procurement processes with ease. Explore Programa’s Procurement Hub and revolutionize the way you manage procurement tasks.