BlogProduct News / Procurement

Introducing Procurement Hub

Helping designers stay on top of their deadlines, payments and deliveries.
Programa
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 This spreadsheet is almost always out of date the minute we send it to the client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. Tasks: The Building Blocks of Effortless Studio Management
  2. Phases: Your Project's Roadmap to Success
  3. The Magic of Combining Tasks and Phases
  4. Getting Started is a Breeze
  5. Interior Design Software For Professional Interior Designers
    1. Programa Interior Design Software: A Comprehensive Project Management and Collaboration Solution for Architects and Interior Designers
    2. User-friendly Interface and Tools for Seamless Project Management
    3. From Contributing Editor, Andrew Mitchell, director of MR. MITCHELL, Interior designer and founder of The Design Coach.
    4. <strong>Why is managing a budget important?</strong>
    5. <strong>Why can getting a budget be so difficult?</strong>
  6. Interior Design & Architecture Software For Professional Interior Designers & Architects
  7. Setting Clear Expectations and Boundaries
  8. Professionalism in Operations and Contracts
  9. Managing Finances and Discounting
  10. Handling Product Purchasing and Trade Pricing
  11. Protecting Relationships
  12. Keep it Professional
  13. Design Fees & Discounting
  14. Product Purchasing & Trade Pricing
  15. Key Benefits:
  16. What is Transparency?
    1. 1. Design Fees
    2. 2. Margins on Product
    3. 3. Managing Budgets and Timelines
  17. What are the benefits?
  18. Getting Started
  19. Schedules: Organized and Up-to-Date Project Tracking
    1. Benefits:
  20. Pinboards: Visual Inspiration and Design Curation
  21. Canva Sharing: Collaborative and Seamless Presentation Integration
  22. Invoices: Simplified Financial Management and Transparency
  23. Client Dashboard Controls: Complete Access Management at Your Fingertips
    1. How the Client Dashboard Transforms Your Workflow
    2. Benefits of the Update
  24. What is a Spec Sheet?
  25. The Power of Programa
  26. Flexible Design Features
  27. Ease of Use
  28. Cost Savings
  29. Increased Productivity
  30. How to Connect with Your Ideal Clients
  31. Choosing the Right Marketing Channels
  32. How to Differentiate Yourself
  33. Leveraging Relationships to Stand Out
    1. What’s New?
    2. Why Change?
    3. Key Enhancements
    4. What is an Interior Design Quotation?
    5. Key Components of an Interior Design Quotation
    6. Interior Design Quotation Format and Free Template
    7. How Do You Create an Interior Design Quotation Quickly & Easily?
    8. Beyond the Proposal: Invoicing with Programa
    9. Start Your Project Proposals with Programa
      1. Task Management
      2. Phases
      3. Dynamic Views
      4. Prepare your Studio
      5. Key Changes
      6. Detailed Steps for Current Studio WIP Users
      7. Future Releases
      8. Support
      9. Getting Started with Shared Invoices
      10. Real-World Applications for Designers and Architects
      11. Key Benefits of the Shared Invoices Update
      12. Why Winning Work Matters for Interior Designers
      13. The Benefits of CRM Software for Interior Designers
      14. Using Project Management Tools as a CRM
      15. Outcome
    10. 30 August 2024
    11. 27 August 2024
    12. 22 August 2024
    13. 21 August 2024
    14. 20 August 2024
    15. 19 August 2024
    16. 16 August 2024
    17. 15 August 2024
    18. Challenges Faced by Designers in Procurement
    19. How designers can use Procurement Hub
    20. Built by and for designers

Related articles

Reading: Introducing Procurement Hub, Helping designers stay on top of their deadlines, payments and deliveries.
Try Programa for free with a 7 day trial

Try Programa for free with a 7 day trial

Join the world’s best studios

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.