CE Alumnus talk on Database Management in Procurement

To expose the students to the state-of-the art in the construction industry, experts are invited to give lectures on the present and critical issues in the CE profession. Last March 4, 2015, the Civil Engineering Society, upon recommendation of Engr. Jason Ongpeng, organized a seminar entitled “Database Management in Procurement”, with the guest speaker being a Lasallian CE alumnus, Engr. Andrew Abrenica. Engr. Abrenica is presently the country lead of procurement for Accenture Philippines and has a long range of corporate experience in company procurement and goods sourcing, having worked in Bayantrade Inc. and Citibank N.A. for the past years. 

In his talk, he covered first the concepts about information interchange and the basics of data management in his company, to give the audience an idea of how these intermarry in a real life organization. He emphasized how an effective database management is key to developing successful savings opportunities through identifying the commodities a company spends on and how smart they buy these commodities, in terms of supplier pricing and priorities-based spending. After which, he discussed the scope and dynamics of his job as a procurement manager, how it eventually became his passion, and built a career around it. His work mainly deals with spend analysis, defined as “the process of aggregating, cleansing and analyzing corporate spending data, for the purposes of reducing costs, improving operational performance and ensuring compliance”. He explained how spend analysis is relevant to every company, specially the expanding ones, being in a competitive time for business.

Engr. Abrenica reiterated the importance of spend analysis in the construction industry, wherein procurement of construction supply and equipment is a vital financial aspect. Part of the success of a construction project is having the least amount of cost, while still having structural integrity and design requirements fit for the purpose of the structure. This is done by the contractors having a systematic procurement system with competent deals with suppliers. Rationalization may be one strategy for this. Ensuring the least price for a bulk of construction materials and equipment can lead the contractor to a competitive bid for the project that increases his chances in biddings.