How to plan, develop and implement an effective bunker fuel procurement process - Inatech

I’m often asked what’s required to develop an effective fuel procurement process/ solution.

When we work with prospects and customers on a bunker fuel procurement project we take a very collaborative approach with the aim of establishing the needs and requirements of each individual company.

The process itself typically involves online or face to face discussions and then depending on the complexity of project may also include client workshops, training etc. Our aim throughout, to assess, plan, develop, and implement a specific bunker fuel procurement solution tailored for each individual company’s business needs.

When looking to plan, develop and implement your own effective bunker fuel procurement process here are a few pointers to consider.

Assessment/planning your bunker fuel procurement process.

Every planned project or software implementation needs to start with a thorough preparation and a clear understanding of a project’s scope and requirements. Without a clear understanding across all parties involved there is potential for confusion, and with confusion comes project delays, conflicting expectations, missed deadlines and even possible project failure.

At assessment identify areas such as – business issues, project requirements, IT issues and desired outcomes. It’s a good idea to create a number of end-to-end key business scenarios, to help build understanding and help cover all business functions – front office, mid-office and back office.

Listen to the specific business needs of all parties and document them. Here the entire team needs to work together to create a shared vision of the project. This needs to include identifying and analysing market expectations, identifying specific product needs, business goals, target audience and end user expectations. This is the time to mix creative brainstorming, and business understanding together, keeping in mind the realities of a project’s budget, timeline and technical parameters.

At this stage you also need to look at existing systems, bunker fuel procurement processes (if they exist), available data, where it’s stored, teams involved, suppliers used and associated finance, contracts, labs, claims processes etc as these will need to be included as part of the final bunker fuel procurement process.

If you choose to work with a third party software company or look to buy a solution off the shelf in order to build your bunker fuel procurement solution then it’s essential you feel confident that the selected company has a good understanding of your business and has the capabilities to accurately establish the scope of a project, well before beginning any product implementation. At Inatech, our focus is to understand your business and its requirements, and to build a picture of your IT landscape in order to deliver an accurate statement of work. And as one of the world’s leading bunker fuel procurement solution providers our capabilities are well proven.

Also if an external solution is being considered do your product research and view product demos so you can see the type of user interfaces, user experience, analytics and reporting capabilities available from the various bunker procurement software specialists on the market.

Developing your bunker fuel procurement process.

Preparation complete then the next step is development.

Here you bring together all the hard work from the assessment stage – your vision, definition, design, and understanding of the project and turn that information – in conjunction with your solution architects, programmers and content experts – into a workable, interactive prototype of your final bunker procurement product.

This can be a complex operation and it is essential you get this part of the process right before moving to the next stage. 

Installing your bunker fuel procurement process.

The deployment is possibly the most important aspect of the whole process. After all this is when the project really begins. It is where the end users are involved. Here it is critical that the product is correctly installed, configured, and performing up to expectations.

The effectiveness is ensured through well-defined delivery processes and this where specialist software experts like Inatech really come into their own.

At Inatech we pride ourselves on delivering projects on time, on budget and with agreed statement of works. We do this through proven project management methodologies and by providing world class bunker procurement solutions.

Considerations after installation.

Work doesn’t stop once the bunker fuel procurement process is in place. You need to think about training, support, configuration of the product for different users, as well as hosting – in house, in the cloud etc.

Inatech is on hand to help

It can be an intimidating and complex operation planning, developing and implementing an effective bunker procurement process, so it’s reassuring to know that a company like Inatech with its product expertise and industry experience is on hand to help.

Inatech works with some of the world’s largest ship operators. That means we have an in depth understanding of the challenges facing your business especially when looking to implement an effective bunker procurement process.

Our products have been designed to meet the wide range of requirements of the shipping industry ranging from bulk/cargo, to tanker and containers. Shiptech Lite is designed for operators with less than 40 vessels and Shiptech ideally suited to those operators with 40+ vessels.

To find out how both solutions can be deployed to help you plan, develop and implement an effective bunker fuel procurement process download our latest product information or book a demo here.