ValueSource Partnersin tiimin jäsenet ovat hankinnan huippuammattilaisia, joilla on laaja kokemus eri toimialoista, teknologioista ja niiden vaihtelevista hankinta- ja investointiprosesseista. Yksi näistä ammattilaisista on Satu Penttilä, joka on tyytyväinen AirFaasin tuomaan apuun.
– Minulla on pitkä kokemus hankinnasta ja olen aiemmin työskennellyt useiden ERP-järjestelmien kanssa, mutta AirFaas on erilainen ratkaisu erilaisella toimintatavalla. Syynä tähän eroon ovat AirFaasin interaktiivisuusominaisuudet ja tarkoitus, johon se alun perin on rakennettu – järjestelmä on kehitetty hankinnan tarpeista ja interaktiivisuus ulottuu toimittajiin asti, Penttilä toteaa.
Penttilä on hyödyntänyt AirFaasia mm. suurten osaluetteloiden, vähimmäistilausmäärien ja eräkokojen hallinnassa. Lisäämällä kaikki toimittajat AirFaasiin ja luomalla hinnastot toimittajien ja asiakasyrityksen välille kaikki tiedot löytyvät samasta paikasta.
– AirFaasissa teen enimmäkseen ostotilauksia, kuittaan tilausrivit lähetetyiksi ja analysoin näistä tapahtumista luodut tiedot AirFaas-raportointiosiossa. Tilausseuranta auttaa minua pysymään ajan tasalla vastaanotettujen ja saapuvien lähetysten tilasta, kun taas lähetettyjen tilausrivien tiedot ovat erittäin hyödyllisiä raportoinnin näkökulmasta, Penttilä sanoo.
AirFaas on monipuolinen hankinnan ohjelmisto, josta löytyy paljon erilaisia ominaisuuksia. Käyttöönottoon ja tukeen on panostettu, mikä näkyy järjestelmää käyttäville henkilökohtaisena tukena. Jotta AirFaas pysyy hankinnan ammattilaisten käyttötarkoitukseen relevanttina, parannuksia tehdään pitkälle palautteen perusteella.
– Sain AirFaas-koulutuksen ja pääsin nopeasti kärryille järjestelmästä. Työskentelimme tiiviisti AirFaasin yhteyshenkilön kanssa määritelläksemme ne alueet, joilla järjestelmää voitaisiin kehittää tukemaan käyttötapaamme. Opin myös joitain pikatoimintoja päivittäisten rutiinien helpottamiseksi ja nyt tuntuu kuin olisin aina käyttänyt AirFaasia, Penttilä hymyilee.
– AirFaasin päätavoitteena on aina ollut löytää ratkaisut, jotka auttavat asiakasta hyödyntämään järjestelmää omassa toiminnassaan. Minulle hyödyllisimpiä kehityskohteita ovat olleet paranneltu tilausseuranta raportointiosiossa ja muuntotaulukot, jotka laskevat määriä sekä yksikköhintoja puolestani. Koen, että AirFaas on ottanut kehitysideani todesta ja järjestelmä kehittyy jatkuvasti, hän jatkaa.
ValueSource Partners’ team members are top procurement professionals with extensive experience in different industries, technologies and their varying procurement and investment processes. One of these professionals is Satu Penttilä, who is satisfied with the help provided by AirFaas.
– I have a long experience in procurement and have previously worked with several ERP systems, but AirFaas is a different solution with a different way of working. The reason for this difference is the interactivity features of AirFaas and the purpose for which it was originally built – the system was developed from the needs of procurement and the interactivity extends all the way to suppliers, Penttilä states.
Penttilä has used AirFaas e.g., in managing large parts lists, minimum order quantities and batch sizes. By adding all suppliers to AirFaas and creating price lists between the suppliers and the customer company, all information can be found in the same place.
– In AirFaas, I mostly make purchase orders, confirm the order lines as sent and analyze the data generated from these transactions in the AirFaas reporting section. Order tracking helps me stay up to date on the status of received and incoming shipments, while the information on sent order lines is very useful from a reporting point of view, Penttilä says.
AirFaas is a versatile procurement software with many different features. Investments have been made in implementation and support, which can be seen as personal support for those using the system. In order for AirFaas to remain relevant to procurement professionals, improvements are made largely based on feedback.
– I received the AirFaas training and quickly got used to the system. We worked closely with AirFaas’s contact person to define the areas where the system could be developed to support our usage. I also learned some shortcuts to make daily routines easier and now I feel like I’ve always used AirFaas, Penttilä smiles.
– Main goal for AirFaas has always been to find solutions that help the customer utilize the system in their own operations. The most useful development items for me have been the improved Order Tracking in the reporting section and conversion tables that calculate quantities and unit prices for me. I feel that AirFaas has taken my development ideas into reality and the system is constantly developing, she continues.
Living in Finland has more than enough perks and privileges, and shared maternity, paternity, and parental allowance is certainly one of them. As a family, you get a large portion of your previous year’s salary paid by the government for about 12 months. In fact, recent government changes in policy mean that the system of how families share this time away from the workplace is even more flexible. But are these changes being taken advantage of by parents, and is the job of raising a child becoming more equal in the early years thanks to such policy changes?
As this was our first child deciding how to share this time was tricky. As an ideal, and from the position of equality we thought about sharing it 50/50, but for convenience and practicality, this didn’t feel like it was our best option. In the end, we opted for a roughly 75/25 split, with my paternity leave beginning when our daughter was 7½ months old. But why, when given the opportunity to share 50/50 did we choose to go towards the cultural norm?
In hindsight, I think it was simply the case that when we had to make a difficult decision, and we weren’t too sure of the best solution we found safety in defaulting to a norm. After all, when we initially made this decision, we had no experience of being parents, if I made the decision again today I’d probably make it differently. Furthermore, we’re probably not the biggest risk takers in the first place, but with children, I feel that most of us tend to play it safe the first time around.
I love my job, but I love my daughter more, and I’ve been really looking forward to spending more time with her. I feel like I’ve missed out a bit in the last 7 ½ months but luckily, I work from home most days. Plus, I had an initial 3-week paternity leave when she was born in February, and a 4-week summer holiday in July (more perks of Finland). This ensured that I could both support my partner, and we could have enough quality time together as a family.
After my paternity leave is done in January, we may opt to put our child into daycare part-time but knowing if she’s ready for such a big step is proving to be stressful. Although academic research suggests that children so young don’t need such a high level of socialization for development, it is also believed that if separation anxiety is handled correctly sending a young child to daycare won’t necessarily have a negative impact. But as with most choices you make as a parent they should be based on a deep knowledge of your own child, and not solely on a generalization.
In an ideal world, I would stay at home to look after our daughter, but my career is only just getting started after a decision to re-educate that took 6 years of hard work. For this reason, I feel like this could be a decision that future employers would view negatively, thinking that someone who chooses family over work is not a good hire. Of course, on a personal level, this is a choice I am more than willing to take, and I am mindful that women normally are the ones making this sacrifice.
Due to women staying at home to watch children there’ve been many publicized negative consequences to careers, especially as careers have historically been put on hold only a few years after beginning. This has contributed to inequality and caused discrepancies such as the gender pay gap, lower pensions, a disproportionately low number of women in management positions, and the cementing of outdated gender roles with women as the caretakers and men as the breadwinners. Moreover, the idea that caring for children and taking overall responsibility for the home (including all the meta work that these tasks entail) isn’t work at all seems ill-informed at best.
When I recently discussed the option of not only taking a 3-month leave but an extended one it was suggested that in a society such as Finland it would be likely that future employers would see this as a positive. Initially, I thought this sounded like great news, but I wondered if the same logic is applied to women, or if this is a case of male privilege.
Ultimately, I will make a judgment call with my partner in the best interests of our child. What do you think? How did you and your partner split your shared maternity, paternity, and parental allowance, and why did you decide such? Does policy to support this kind of equality act as a catalyst or do we still lean on cultural norms? Do stay-at-home dads get preferential treatment when returning to the workplace when compared to stay-at-home mums?
In our most recent update, we focused our efforts on a total rebuild of the warehouse module. We have also added the ability to create and distribute landed costs to receipts and define standard costs to products. All this data is fed into the warehouse reporting section where you can view and export data on warehouse and bin product quantities, the landed cost unit averages and totals, and the standard cost per unit and total amount.
You can still conduct all the old processes including completing warehouse bin transfers including 3rd party approvals, it’s just that now everything is a little better!
Add and distribute various types of landed costs between the lines and individual units in a receipt. You can create a new product and define it as a landed cost, for example, freight, taxes, import and export duties, insurance, payment processing and handling fees, exchange rates, and storage fees. In the receipt, you can add the landed cost and distribute it among the lines, and then from the reporting section view and download data on landed costs.
Add a standard cost to a product in the product section and define the date that this cost comes into effect. You can then utilize warehouse reporting to view and export data on the stock in a warehouse bin based on the standard pricing from the given date.
View and export data for a specific warehouse and bin starting from a chosen date. You can view and export data based on product, revision, quantity, warehouse, bin, data group, and category, and view the landed cost average price, landed cost average total price, standard cost, and standard cost total quantity.
Customer purchase order reference numbers, or supplier sales order reference numbers that you add to your sales and purchase orders will now automatically follow into sales and purchase invoice forms.
The currency is now displayed more clearly on quote and order forms.
We moved the position of the AirFaas order ID to be beneath the Purchase Order number and the Sales Order number. This is to ensure your suppliers and customers can more easily see the correct order number when viewing a PDF and working with you.
Parts defined as default parts or revisions now have increased visibility and are filterable in warehouse bins.
All calendars in AirFaas, including personal user calendars, and the pop-up windows used for selecting dates throughout the system now include week numbers.
Nikolai Sourcing opened its first office in Beijing in the 90s. Since then globalization has meant that obtaining product information and collecting data has become more fragmented and requires increased effort.
Buyers have less time and responsibility issues are important, so help is needed, commercial director Rauli Ratasvuori from Nikolai Sourcing says.
Nikolai Sourcing procures goods, such as commercial products, industrial components, and engineering work from Asia. As an operator aiming for long-term customer relationships, they must deliver on their customer promises of reliability, locality, responsibility, and transparency.
Because of the time difference, it is important that all the procurement data is centralized. For example, I need to be able to get information without waking up someone in China. With a centralized solution, we can guarantee continuity even in those situations where the responsible person changes. With this idea in mind, we set out to compare several procurement software that were light and easy to use, Ratasvuori sums up.
Ratasvuori says that with AirFaas, they can scale their operations quickly and at a low cost. They feel that AirFaas saves time during typical business processes like tendering and invoicing. Nikolai Sourcing operates globally, and there were different methods of operation in different cultures. Now their objective is to have a single solution with a standardized way of working between the different offices.
Of course, there is always more to learn and use as AirFaas develops constantly. However, we have received support from AirFaas, and concrete improvements have been seen in our operations, Ratasvuori says.
In PaaS companies, AirFaas aims for transparency and efficiency.
We always define a set of best practice instructions for each individual customer use case and advise and guide you in maximizing the efficiency of your team using AirFaas. We give buyers a tool with which they can do their own work in a way that’s fast and straightforward. Then, management gets tools to analyze those transactions and quickly produce all needed reports. With AirFaas, we try to cut out unnecessary manual work steps, which gives the freedom to grow without investing in organizational growth, Robert Blomstedt, CEO of AirFaas says.
Ratasvuori recommends AirFaas to companies like them, for whom transparency and accountability are important.
As a procurement tool, AirFaas is functional and integrations with other systems are good. Different pieces are upgradeable and replaceable. The cooperation has also been nice, Ratasvuori says with a smile.
Do you do a lot of RFQs, take in offers and create offers for your own customers? Book a demo, we’ll show you how we make your working hours more efficient.
Ensimmäisen Pekingin toimipisteen Nikolai Sourcing perusti 90-luvulla. Globalisoitumisen myötä he ovat huomanneet, että tieto oli usein pirstaloitunutta ja datan kerääminen vaati tiettyjä ponnisteluita.
– Ostajilla on vähemmän aikaa ja vastuullisuuskysymykset ovat tärkeitä, joten apua tarvitaan, kaupallinen johtaja Rauli Ratasvuori Nikolai Sourcingilta sanoo.
Nikolai Sourcing hankkii Aasiasta mm. kaupan alan tuotteita, teollisuuden komponentteja ja insinöörityötä. Pitkiin asiakassuhteisiin tähtäävänä toimijana heidän tulee lunastaa asiakaslupauksensa luotettavuudesta, paikallisuudesta, vastuullisuudesta ja läpinäkyvyydestä.
– Jo pelkästään aikaerojen vuoksi on tärkeää, että tieto on keskitettyä. Esimerkiksi minulla pitää olla mahdollisuus saada tietoa ilman, että herätän jonkun Kiinassa. Keskitetyn tiedon myötä pystymme takaamaan jatkuvuuden myös niissä tilanteissa, kun vastuuhenkilö vaihtuu. Tämän ajatuksen myötä lähdimme vertailemaan muutamia hankinnan ohjelmistoja, jotka ovat kevyitä ja helppokäyttöisiä, Ratasvuori summaa.
Ratasvuori kertoo, että AirFaasin myötä he pystyvät skaalaamaan toimintaansa nopeasti ja pienillä kustannuksilla. He kokevat, että AirFaas säästää aikaa mm. kilpailutuksissa ja laskutuksessa. Globaalisti toimivana yhtiöllä oli erilaisia toimintatapoja eri kulttuureissa, joita on pyritty yhdistämään saamalla yhteisiä työkaluja ja prosesseja eri toimistojen kesken.
– Toki aina on lisää opittavaa ja hyödynnettävää, kun AirFaas kehittyy koko ajan. Olemme kuitenkin saaneet tukea AirFaasin puolelta ja toiminnassamme on näkynyt konkreettisia parannuksia, Ratasvuori sanoo.
PaaS-yhtiöissä AirFaas tähtää selkeyteen ja työtunnin tehokkuuteen.
– Annamme mielellämme best practise-ohjeita, neuvomme ja opastamme AirFaasin käytön hyödyllisyyden maksimoinnissa. Annamme hankintaa tekeville yhtiöille työkalun, jolla pystyy tekemään oman työn mahdollisimman nopeasti ja selkeästi, mutta myös raportoimaan johtotasolla helposti. AirFaasin myötä useita työvaiheita voi tippua pois, mikä antaa vapauden kasvaa ilman suurta organisaation kasvua, AirFaasin toimitusjohtaja Robert Blomstedt kertoo.
Ratasvuori suosittelee AirFaasia heidän kaltaisilleen yrityksille, joille toiminnan läpinäkyväksi tekeminen ja vastuullisuus on tärkeää.
– Hankintatyökaluna AirFaas on toimiva ja integraatiot muihin järjestelmiin hyvät. Palaset ovat päivitettävissä ja vaihdettavissa. Myös yhteistyö on ollut mukavaa, Ratasvuori toteaa hymyillen.Teettekö paljon tarjouskyselyitä, tarjousten sisäänottoa ja muodostat tarjouksia omille asiakkaillesi? Varaa demo, näytämme sinulle, miten tehostamme työtuntiasi.
An RFQ is a process where a customer requests a quotation from specific suppliers. A customer can be a company or public entity and the supplier can be a producer or contractor. Furthermore, the RFQ line items to be quoted can be either goods, services, or a mixture of both.
Ultimately the customer’s decision-making process is based on the information submitted in the quote for price, payment terms, delivery terms, delivery time, quality requirements, and other such minimum qualifying criteria.
The customer can include information in the RFQ of their preferred requirements, but the supplier can choose to quote whichever terms they want. However, a supplier is more likely to have their quote approved if they meet the terms offered by the customer.
It’s common to use templates which can be in the format of word documents, excel forms, and PDFs. Attachments and other supporting documents can be in a variety of forms depending on the software used to create them, for example, technical drawings made in CAD software submitted in DWG format.
Some companies have RFQ submission forms integrated into their website or use 3rd part portal systems that allow the supplier to log in to submit their quote. Still, to this day, the most common mechanism for communication between customers and suppliers is email, with the most typical format being an excel form with general and product-specific information. Supporting files are added to the email as attachments, and the email body contains an appropriate, professional introduction and a brief explanation of the RFQ.
Sending professional-looking documentation as a customer or supplier is always a good idea, as is having a standardized way of working. This will not only benefit your team but will also improve the efficiency of working with the same partners in the future. Often this pre-business, strategic data process can be overlooked meaning that a company has no evidence to demonstrate why certain decisions were made. Do you have a dedicated set of tools and a standardized way of working with RFQs and quotes?
At AirFaas we work extremely closely with our users to understand the features we should develop that will not only solve their own personal pain points, but that will also support current and future users. Simultaneously, we have a roadmap that stretches into the distant future that aspires to build a world-leading procurement solution that can be used (and afforded) by small and medium-sized enterprises and multi-national corporations alike.
If your business is being a local partner and expert in purchasing goods on behalf of a customer you need a way to monitor the value of the purchases you conduct, and bill the customer based on a negotiated commission rate. Now AirFaas streamlines this process by giving you the tools to create a service or commission order between the customer company and your company.
You can define multiple commission tiers, and transparently share the necessary data with your customer. You will also have insight into cumulative totals for the calendar year and have the ability to analyze all the data in the AirFaas reporting section.
Use the main search function and navigate to a customer or suppliers company page in AirFaas. Scroll to the bottom of the page and now you can set a default VAT percentage that is automated to invoicing.
When creating an invoice there is the automation of the invoice due date based on the payment terms selected.
A pop-up window will inform you if any of the above-stated fields do not match the default setting defined behind a company.
As companies digitalize more and more processes it’s important to utilize the productivity savings available by integrating the other systems they use. We have recently developed accounts receivable integrations for both Procounter and Smart accounts.
We noticed that in the shipment and receipts page actions there were a lot of buttons for various processes, some thought there were too many buttons! We have therefore created a new menu that contains all the PDF and Excel files that can be created in this section of AirFaas. For the sake of a peaceful and harmonized system, we also added this PDF and Excel section to all other sections of AirFaas.
You can now easily convert currencies in AirFaas orders and invoices using an API from the European Central Bank (ECB). The data provided is based on the previous day’s exchange rate.
We have edited and removed some column headings in the order table to ensure the most important data is visible without having to scroll horizontally.
We have added the ability to define both loading and discharge destinations. This data will appear in order-related documentation.
Teimme minijulkaisun valmiiksi juuri parahulteisesti ennen lomien alkua! Älä huoli jos et ehdi niistä nauttimaan vielä lomia edeltävinä päivinä. Uudet toiminnot odottavat sinua myös lomien jälkeen!
Olemme parantaneet tilausnäkymien tietoja ja samoin raportoinnissa. Lisäksi olemme tehneet korjauksia ja parannuksia siellä ja täällä. Lue alla koko lista julkaisun sisällöstä.
A mini release before the Finnish holiday season comes into full force? Why not! Some of you won’t even get the chance to use the feature improvements and enjoy the fixes – but rest assured that when you return to work you will be able to continue the good times when logging into AirFaas.
We’ve tweaked the data visible in the orders and reporting section to display received amounts, and tied up a few loose ends to ensure that the new quotations section is on point. But that’s not all, read all the developments below.
From the order page, you can now see received amounts when pushing the shipment data button in the lines section of the page.
Batch prices are now available to view in quote PDF forms. If you have received or submitted a quote for different batch sizes the price data is visible on its own page in the quote PDF.
To ensure that sales and purchasing reporting give users a definitive insight into the data they are analyzing we have added the received and unreceived line amounts along with the line number used in the original order.
The linked items section can be found at the bottom of each process page and contains data and links to all associated and linked processes. Linked shipments and receipts now show both the shipment and delivery date.