Critical Analysis of the Supply Chain of

ROBI Axiata Limited

 Internship Report
On
Critical Analysis of the Supply Chain of ROBI Axiata Limited

Submitted To
Dr. Md. Mamun Habib
Associate Professor
BRAC Business School
BRAC University

Submitted By
Simum Tasnim
ID:14304069
BRAC Business School
BRAC University

Submission Date: 13 December, 2018

 Supervisors Certificate

This is to certify that the Internship Report on “Critical Analysis of the Supply Chain of ROBI
Axiata Limited” is done by Simum Tasnim as a mandatory fulfillment of the requirement of
Bachelors of Business Administration (BBA) degree from BRAC Business School, BRAC
University.

The report has been prepared under my guidance and is carried out successfully.

Dr. Md. Mamun Habib

Associate Professor
BRAC Business School
BRAC University
Date:
Letter of Transmittal

13th December, 2018

Dr. Md. Mamun Habib

Associate Professor
BRAC Business School
BRAC University

Subject: Submission of internship report on Critical Evaluation of the Supply Chain of ROBI
Axiata Limited.

Dear Sir,
It is with my greatest pleasure and joy today as I submit my final report upon the successful
completion of my internship program at ROBI Axiata limited for the course entitled
“BUS400_INTERNSHIP”. The report titled " Critical Evaluation of the Procurement
Procedure of ROBI Axiata Ltd." has engaged me through valuable experience and learning
opportunity which eventually has helped me suit the goal of this report.
I am presenting the report through my varied endeavors, determination, enlightening and
thorough investigation. Moreover, your association throughout the internship period has helped
me prepare the report flawlessly. I have strived to cover every little details with important fact
and figures to interpret the procurement process of the Supply Chain division. Finally, the
report contains my years of hard work, dedication and enthusiasm that I have accumulated
throughout my academic career.
Therefore, I express my sincerest appreciations to you for your kind cooperation, direction and
guidance for building up to this report.

Yours Sincerely,

...................................................
Simum Tasnim
ID: 14304069
BRAC Business School

i
Acknowledgement

First of all, I would like to thank the Almighty Allah for his marvelous blessings as I have
completed my Internship program at ROBI Axiata Limited. Besides, my heartiest gratitude
goes to every one of those who have motivated me to complete my internship program and
provided me with constant support till the end.

I would like to offer my profound respect to the honorable and respected faculty, Dr. Md.
Mamun Habib sir for his generous and gracious guidance throughout my internship period as
well as my academic career in BRAC Business School. Starting from deciding a topic to
developing the structure and offering valuable guidelines to finishing the last part, sir has
always been a constant support to me till the very end.

I would also like to prolong my gratitude to our Internship coordinator Mr. Md. Hasan Maksud
Chowdhury sir, Assistant Professor, BRAC University. His continuous supervision of the
entire internship period has helped me in many ways completing with building a feasible report.

Moreover, I want to thank my authoritative supervisor MR. Mir Ashiqur Rahman, General
Manager Procurement Sourcing, Supply Chain Management, ROBI Axiata Ltd. & Mr. Bharat
Chandra Das, Manager, Supply Chain Management ROBI Axiata Ltd. for their constant
guidance and supervision throughout my internship period. They have taught me valuable
corporate skills which I plan to leverage on my forthcoming career. Besides, I would like to
thank the entire procurement team as they took time out of their busy schedule to teach me the
core concept of the procurement process of ROBI Supply Chain department.

Finally, I feel privileged to have gained the continuous support, supervision and guidance of
my teachers, colleagues and friends throughout the internship period.

ii
Executive Summary

This report has been prepared to understand and evaluate the critical procurement process of
ROBI Axiata Ltd. Procurement process contributes to the development, quality, value creation
and profitability of the company. As for ROBI Axiata Ltd. procurement procedure contributes
to its growth by ensuring a predictable and sufficient supply of goods and services at best
achievable market prices and quality. The entire report is divided into few part. In the first
part, the report gives a brief introduction on the telecommunication sector of Bangladesh. The
Second part consists of literature review that contains related theories, models regarding supply
chain discussion. The later part contains company overview and its related information. The
next part encompasses my job responsibilities and my understanding of the sequence. The Fifth
part discusses in details how the entire procurement process of ROBI Axiata Limited functions.
In the next part the summarization of my key responsibilities are given. The next part discusses
about the major learning reflections. At the last part recommendation and implementation plans
are given.

iii
Table of Contents

1.Introduction ......................................................................................................................................... 1
1.1 Origin of the report ................................................................................................................. 2
1.1 Objective of the report ............................................................................................................ 2
1.2 Methodology ........................................................................................................................... 2
1.4 Scope ............................................................................................................................................. 3
1.5 Limitations .................................................................................................................................... 3
2.Company Overview .............................................................................................................................. 4
2.1 Shareholders.................................................................................................................................. 5
2.2 Structure of the Organization ....................................................................................................... 7
2.3 Principle & Purpose ...................................................................................................................... 8
3. Critical analysis of the supply chain of ROBI Axiata Limited. .............................................................. 9
3.1 Literature Review: ........................................................................................................................ 9
3.2 ROBI Axiata Limited’s Supply Chain: ........................................................................................... 11
3.3 Organogram of ROBI Supply Chain Division ............................................................................ 12
4. Procurement Procedure of ROBI Axiata Limited .............................................................................. 13
4.1 Types of Purchases...................................................................................................................... 18
4.2 Minor purchase flowchart .......................................................................................................... 20
5. Summary of Key Responsibilities ...................................................................................................... 21
6. Major Learning Reflection................................................................................................................. 22
7. Conclusion & Recommendation ....................................................................................................... 23
8. References ........................................................................................................................................ 24

iv
1.Introduction

The telecommunication industry is more competitive now a day than it was few years back.
The number of player in this industry has been reduced yet the rivalry is as rigid as it has been
before. The industry has seen major changes over the past few years. With the constant
improvement and introduction of new tech and overgrowing demand of social media the
cellular industry is going through rapid changes as it no longer depends on its primary aspect
that is communication. Rather it goes far and beyond with introduction of various new subsidies
such as mobile apps, streaming site, online shop, virtual reality and more on the way as we
speak. It has revolutionized the business while creating brand new sources of employment.
Moreover, the business has seen remarkable new windows.

ROBI Axiata Limited is one of the largest telecommunications operator in Bangladesh. The
company was incorporated in 1997 as AKTEL-the brand name. Then ‘AKTEL” was retitled to
ROBI and it was the beginning of ROBI Axiata Limited. On the November 16th, 2016 the
biggest merger in the history of Bangladesh also the mobile telecom sector took place as Airtel
Bangladesh merged with ROBI Axiata Limited.

In today's global marketplace, supply chain management is considered a significant

competitive advantage for any business. Any business that conducts an effective supply chain
gains greater rewards. Supply chain helps a business plan, schedule, and control the proper
flow of goods/services to help the company stay ahead of competition. ROBI Axiata limited is
no different when it comes to adoption of supply chain. The supply chain division helps the
company reduce cost while ensuring quality services to the end customers. One way the
company is achieving that is through their procurement process that takes place within the
organization.

The procurement process involves the delivery of goods/services in order to fulfill its business
model. The tasks involving the procurement process of ROBI Axiata limited includes
increasing standard of quality, conducting major or minor purchases, initiating purchase
requisitions and orders, inventory control and management, price negotiations and disposal or
recycling of products or services. Procurement process stops once the company has the
possession of the goods in the overall supply chain process.

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This report briefly discusses about the supply chain model of the company and the overall
procurement procedure in detail. It will showcase how this is helping the company gain
competitive advantage by reducing cost and increasing overall quality.

1.1 Origin of the report

The study has been conducted on the basis of the procurement procedure of ROBI Axiata
Limited. This report contributes towards the completion of the internship program as well as
the final requirement for obtaining the Bachelor of Business Administration degree from
BRAC University. After finishing all the required courses Including major & minor courses,
students are placed in various companies to gain a professional work experience eventually
helping them complete their undergraduate program at BRAC University. Students have to go
through rigorous selection process in the companies to get selected for an internship
opportunity. I was positioned as an intern for a 12-week internship program in the Network
Active Procurement team under Supply Chain & EPMO division of ROBI Axiata Limited. I
have actively participated in various ongoing projects by assisting the supervisors throughout
the 3 months’ intensive period.

1.1 Objective of the report

1) To gain basic understanding about the procurement procedure of the Telecom company.

2) To acquire an in-depth insight into the various and critical phases of the overall procurement
process.

3) To provide an analyses of the experiences, learnings and mechanisms of the procurement

process.

4) To relate theoretical work with practical work.

1.2 Methodology

Since the objective of this research is evaluating the critical Procurement Procedure at ROBI
Axiata ltd. so qualitative research was conducted. The research design that has been used for
data collection and analysis of this study was mainly exploratory in nature. In case of
exploratory or qualitative research deductive research design are used with the purpose of

Page 2 of 31
investigating many cases to induce general patterns of relationships The research data for this
study has been collected through both the primary and secondary sources.

Primary Source:

I. Interviews with experts to gain relevant information

II. Work observations

Secondary Source:

I. Company Website/ Intranet

II. Company Documents/Journals/Reports

1.4 Scope

ROBI Procurement procedure governs all Goods and/or Services supplies to ROBI Axiata
limited, regardless of whether those are Operating expenditure or Capital expenditure. This
procedure applies to all divisions and staffs of ROBI. This report gives an overview of how
procurement activities are completed through procedural steps and transactions by way of
truthfulness and integrity.

1.5 Limitations

There were some certain limitations faced for the build up to this report. Even though I have
received adequate co-operation from my supervisor and colleagues of ROBI Axiata Limited,
most of the documents, facts and figures were confidential. Hence, it was very difficult for me
to provide detailed information on the overall procurement process as an intern of ROBI Axiata
Limited. Additionally, since Procurement is a core component of Supply Chain & EPMO
Division and it habitually deals with sensitive issues, maintaining confidentiality is part of the
job responsibility as well. Therefore, I had to exclude adequate amount of data from the report
before the final submission. Therefore, it has been a challenging task for me to create this report
amid such confidential issues.

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2.Company Overview

ROBI Axiata Limited is owned by Axiata Group an Asian Giant in the telecom industry. The
Axiata Company is based out of Malaysia.

ROBI is one of the county’s largest mobile network operator with an increasing number of
about 55 million subscribers by the end of November 2018. The company began its operation
back in 1997 as Telecom Malaysia international Bangladesh, “AKTEL”. After 13 years of
operating as AKTEL the company decided to rebrand itself to “ROBI”. Then the journey of
ROBI AXIATA Limited had begun. Most notably in the 16th of November, 2016 the company
merged with Airtel Bangladesh. Till today it is considered the biggest merger in the country
and the very first in the telecom sector of Bangladesh.

ROBI introduced GPRS and 3.5G services in Bangladesh before anyone else. Likewise, it is
also the first company to unveil 4.5G services in all the 64 districts of Bangladesh at the same
time. This amazing landmark was achieved on the very first day of the services launch
specifically 20th February 2018.

The company has introduced many digital services that are first of its kinds in this country. It
has invested enormously in bringing mobile financial services to the unbanked population
mainly residing in rural and countryside areas. The company has also invested on promoting
an online education platform named 10 Minute School. It offers broad study solutions such as
for JSC, SSC, HSC, university admission and university students in general. It is currently the
country’s largest online school with rewards from GSMA GLOMO award for best mobile
innovation for education and learning. ROBI among other accomplishments brought Free

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Facebook for everyone in this country ahead of everyone else. Other than this ROBI aims to
promote internet among the youth and empower the people through its various initiatives.

ROBI aims to be the best service provider in the telecom service industry. Therefore, it
continuously thrives to innovation and catering the needs of the customers. ROBI has the
widest network coverage in the marketplace with links to 385 operators across more than 140
countries of the world. Moreover, with its additional innovative Value Added Services (VAS)
it has enriched the experience of its users. The service includes services in many sector such as
education, entertainment, agriculture, health and many more. Among other services it offers E-
commerce services such as: online ticket purchase, bdtickets.com, online shopping platform,
ROBI shop, Vehicle tracker app, ROBI cloud services, Ad-reach a digital advertising platform,
free-lance app building platform, BD apps etc.

ROBI is always working to enrich digital life for everyone while building a sustainable digital
platform for all of its stakeholders.

2.1 Shareholders

Axiata
Axiata Group is a Malaysia based holding company with noteworthy presence in Malaysia,
Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Cambodia. Moreover, this telecom giant has operations
and investment in India, Singapore, Pakistan, Iran and Thailand. Axiata has its subsidiaries and
associates holding a subscriber base of over 120 million in Asia alone and also listed on
Malaysia stock exchange.

Page 5 of 31
Bharti Airtel Limited

Bharti Airtel Limited is one of the emerging telecom company with operations in more than 20
countries across Asia and Africa. Its headquarter is based out of New Delhi, India. Airtel is
ranked in the top four mobile service operator globally. It is an amazing stance and considering
the number of subscribers in India alone. It offers services such as 2G, 3G, 4G, wireless
services, E-commerce, fixed line service, high speed broadband, IP-TV, enterprise solutions
etc. Overall it has a customer base of 307 million worldwide.

NTT DOCOMO, INC

NTT DOCOMO Incorporation is a leading mobile communications company of the world. In

japan, it is the largest telecom operator. It serves around 5.5 million customers with addition
of 44 million people subscribing to FOMAtm, the world’s first 3G service provider in 2001. It
also offers leading and cutting edge mobile multimedia services such as I-Modemtm which is
worlds one of the most popular mobile Internet service. It is currently used by 48 million
people. In addition, the company has credit card and E-wallet functions.

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2.2 Structure of the Organization

Chief Executive Officer

Mehtab Uddin Ahmed

Chief Digital Services

Chief Financial Officer Chief Technology Officer Head of Human Reosurce Chief Supply Chain officer Chief Commercial Officer
Officer
Roni Thomme Medhat Al Husseiny Faisal Imtiaz Khan AKM Morshed Pradeep Shivastra
Shihab Ahmed

Head of Enterprise Head of Corporate

Head of IT
Business Strategy
Asif Naimur Rashid
Md. Adil Hossain Ruhul Amin

The latest organogram as of November 2018. The figure above portrays the hierarchy of ROBI
Axiata Limited. There are a total of Six divisions consisting of: Finance, Technology, Human
Resource, Supply Chain and Enterprise Program Management Office (EPMO), Digital
Services and Commercial. Each division is assigned under individual Chief Operating officers
who are under the lead of the Chief Executive Officer (CEO)/Managing Director Mr. Mehtab
Uddin. Below the various divisions, there are several departments which are controlled by Head
of the department, Vice Presidents (VPs), Executive Vice Presidents (EVPs). After the EVPs
there are General Managers in charge of more than one sub divisions. Managers, Assistant
Managers and specialists act as liaison between the VPs, employees and part timers such as
interns or contractual workers. Managers are directly assigned several tasks by the General
Managers. Finally, Specialists, Officers, Assistants, Junior Assistants hold the entry level
position and work with their respective, individual Managers and General Managers.

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2.3 Principle & Purpose

ROBI believes that the following three guiding principles are at the heart of the companies
purpose and meaning for existence.

Uncompromising
I Can, I Will
Integrity

Customer at the
Center

Uncompromising Integrity

ROBI Axiata Limited wants to ethically, lawfully, justly conduct its operations while correctly
ensuring equity and honesty. ROBI also plans to listen, seek and recognize all its stakeholders
and encourage open conversation with all its employees to have a better communication.
Furthermore, ROBI inclines to be passionate towards its beliefs while treating others with
dignity, poise and diversity. Besides, ROBI wants to be held accountable for its action towards
its all stakeholders and the community in general. In addition, ROBI wants to amend for its
mistakes and learn from them so that they can adhere to its code of conduct along with
protecting and upholding them.

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Customer at the Center

Customer is at the center of everything - a core philosophy maintained by ROBI. Delivering

the customers proper value, quality and satisfaction is at the heart of all employees. ROBI aims
to build a meaningful customer experience at every sphere of its process. Regardless of the
situation, ROBI always put emphasis on originality as its guiding course to providing such
dedicated services. ROBI also wishes to provide innovative solutions without getting
distracted. In every corner of its progression ROBI thrives to do better than its competitors in
achieving its goals.

I Can, I Will

The last principle that ROBI puts emphasize on is providing unrelenting determination to
creating the desired output by grasping and implementing opportunities at the right time. The
company aims to exceed its scope and thrive for excellence as they promise to do and deliver
desired outcomes without compromising morale. Finally, ROBI intends to tread towards the
extra steps necessary to ensure the success of its operations and make them fully achievable

3. Critical analysis of the supply chain of ROBI Axiata Limited.

3.1 Literature Review:

The supply chain itself is the set of links or network that joins together internal and external
suppliers with internal and external customers (Johnston & Clark, 2008). It is a set of activity
that basically transforms components or raw materials into product or services that is delivered
to the consumers or end customers.

For service organization such as in the telecommunication industry, supply chain is a vital
support function as it directly assists in its entire operational progress of the business. To
provide an explanation for the supply chain of a service industry, the following framework can
be discussed. It will also be used to compare and contrast with that of ROBI Axiata Limited.

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 Service supply chain (Sampson, 2000) (Sampson,
2000)

According to Yi Liu and Cheng, there are 3 types of structures of service supply chain. Firstly,
a serial service supply chain represents the chain, in which the process follows the fixed order
and the next entity can start working only after the previous one finishes. There is only one
input and one output. For example, logistics’ service. Parallel service supply chain, where the
entities can work simultaneously, and in the end their outputs are integrated and delivered to
the customer. For instance, the travel agency, which integrates the services of an airline
company, hotel and insurance and selling the ready travel package to the travelers.

Supply Chain Management in the cellular industry connects various constituents. For instance,
the component supplier, inbound logistics, manufacturing unit, work in process, finished goods
and outbound logistics to end customers. In the modern era the supply chain of telecom
operators need a reliable design and versatile tools to control its material flow. The objective
of an efficient supply chain management is to reduce inventory, lead time and related cost to
ensure reliable and timely delivery from the manufacturers to the end customers.

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3.2 ROBI Axiata Limited’s Supply Chain:

This is a sample structure of the ROBI Supply Chain. The overall model is very complex.
Therefore, the figure above portrays only one type of services. The ROBI supply chain
originates with sourcing of components. For instance, products like software, semiconductor
chips etc. Components supplied by components suppliers are later incorporated into telecom
equipment. It is then manufactured and supplied by equipment vendors after being purchased
by ROBI. Currently, the upsurge of telecom market is global. Therefore, the equipment
suppliers are both local and foreign at the same time. Then ROBI uses the equipment’s to build
new networks with service providers such as installation, infrastructure and logistics providers.
ROBI then delivers services to the end users that is the customers and charge them with the
services of billing software providers. In the course of provision of services to end user’s ROBI
takes services of equipment, infrastructure and logistics service as the providers of such
services maintains their existing network and works on providing relentless network. With the
introduction of new technologies and changes in service support for obsolete utilities or
components ROBI need to renew their network overtime.

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3.3 Organogram of ROBI Supply Chain Division

Network
Active General Manager Manager Intern
Procurement

Market Operations
Buyer

Collaboration
Supply Chain
Manangement
SCM & EPMO
Network Passive
EPMO
Procurement

User Department

I was an intern of Network active procurement division which is a sub division of Supply Chain
department under SCM & EPMO Division. Mr. Awal Ahmed is the Vice President of Supply
Chain department and also the head of all of its sub division. My Line Manager was Mr. Mir
Ashiqur Rahman the General Manager of Network Active and Passive Procurement team. He
assigned me to work with Mr. Bharat Chandra Das the manager of Network Active
Procurement team as my supervisor. I have worked along with him in most of the ongoing and
upcoming projects. Additionally, I have also worked with the collaboration management team
under the supervision of Mr. Amjad Hossain the manager of Collaboration Management team,
throughout my internship period.

Page 12 of 31
4. Procurement Procedure of ROBI Axiata Limited

Procurement of ROBI includes activities related to external sourcing or obtaining for use
through purchasing, leasing and rental goods or services and ownership rights. Procurement
process includes verification of actual requirements, development of specifications, supplier
market research, improvement and issuing of Request for quotations(RFQ), evaluating
proposals & bids, negotiating awards & contracts, Purchase order, Supplier Relationship
Management and warranty issues.

Need
Identification

Purchase
Requisition(PR)

Supplier Market
Analysis

Request for
quotation

Bid Evaluation

Negotiation

PA

Job Awarding &

Contract

Delivery of
Payment &
Contract Closeout

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Need Identification

Procurement process always starts when a need arises for a particular good / service. It is
necessary that all communication regarding the identified need is documented as a part of the
procurement process. User department always verifies the need by checking existing stock or
solution if it is believed that the identified need can be covered through existing inventory.
However, if the required item is out of stock or has not been purchased beforehand then the
following steps are maintained.

Purchase Requisition(PR)

Once the need of a particular good or service is identified, user department specifies the
identification and verification requirement in a written and specified manner. The assessment
includes description and scope of works or services in a clear order. It is a formal detailed
requisition for a particular need of goods or services to be purchased or issued by the requesting
personnel or User Department. A PR is registered in SAP software by attaching the PR Release
Request template duly filled in and need to be released following the assigned limit of
authority. Once the PR is raised and approved by the authority the next step of the process is
initiated.

Systems Application and Products (SAP)

SAP is one of the leading Enterprise Information and Management Package software. It is
commonly known as Systems Application and Products (SAP). It is a popular software that
can integrate multiple business process and function in one singular system or database. The
usage and its benefits are abundant in many ways. A company can easily keep trajectory of
ongoing operations, sales, production, financial, accounting and even more processes using
SAP. Now a day it is one of the world’s biggest enterprise software corporation. There are
various components of this software. Each component can be broken down into further units
of functionality. Normally this functions are versatile. All components are linked into a central
hub which connects various business operation of the company and all the related data is stored
into that hub. Furthermore, SAP links all the units of a business such as Finance, Sales,
Distribution, Materials Management, Warehouse Management etc. Respectively each modules

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serves as a functional area for one particular department. Therefore, all the department
combined functions in the SAP modules to form an entire business process.

In terms of ROBI all the phases from Purchase Requisition to completing Purchase Order is
conducted in SAP. Purchase Requisition is raised by the user department through SAP and then
passed on to the authorized person to permit approval. After that the assigned procurement
personnel is given order to issue purchase order. After the Purchase Order is issued through
SAP it follows the similar steps of authorization. Once the authorized personnel approve the
Purchase Order then the next step is commenced. The Purchase order is then downloaded in a
file format to pass on to the supplier of the specific service/good through e-mail or hard copy.

Supplier Market Analysis

After the release of PR, the designated procurement personnel shall check all the information
and documents attached with the PR for its accuracy and completeness. Upon checking and
confirmation, concerned Procurement person will form a Cross Functional Procurement Team
(CPT) that will prepare and sign off the Request for Quotation(RFQ) Planning & Strategy
document (if relevant) confirm specifications, scope of work, finalize RFQ bid documents. The
CPT team acts as the coordinator and the concerned personnel ensures all the procedural steps
are followed including preparation of final Bidder list. Moreover, the concerned personnel also
ensure that distribution of equal information flow to all bidders by maintaining a single point
of contact and time schedules. After stating the goods/services to be acquired by the CPT, it
performs supplier market analysis. The main purpose of this analysis is to classify qualified
bidders to secure a competitive bidding process before issuing Request for Quotation.

The prequalification of supplier is performed if the supplier is new or unknown to Roni. The
prequalification criteria for the suppliers are:

 Technically qualified solutions

 Legal documentation of the company
 Financial solidity of the company
 Valid references from similar services
 Qualified under ROBI Health Safety Security and Environment; HSSE requirements.

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Request for quotation (RFQ)

ROBI approaches to the supplier market through a RFQ to at least three potential bidders when
performing a competitive bidding process. Market operations buying department develop and
maintain RFQ templates for all types of bidding process. A contract template contains:

 Commercial provisions and requirement annexes

 Specifications
 Scope of work and services
 Support and maintenance
 Service level agreement
 ROBI’s supplier conduct principles
 Areas that will be taken care during evaluation process
 Supplier
 Relationship Declaration Form (SRDF)

Bid Evaluation

Once the supplier has submitted their bids for a specific service then the bids are evaluated by
authorized ROBI personnel. The bid is evaluated through two terms. One being the
Commercial Evaluation and the other being Technical evaluation.

Commercial evaluation is on the basis of the company’s rating in the market. The more standard
the company is in their overall service the more rating it will get in commercial evaluation. The
technical evaluation takes into account the technical aspect of the service providers goods or
services. A CPT team combines both commercial and technical evaluation criteria and
weightage as stated in the RFQ document. The highest rated bidder gets the opportunity to be
awarded for negotiation and further steps of the process.

Negotiation

After the participated bidder has been short listed in accordance with their degree of
compliance, the participants are asked to take part in the negotiation meetings where both the
company tries to leverage their demands and come to a common ground. ROBI aims to reduce
cost and unwanted charges while ensuring top quality from the service providers while the

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service provider wants to make profit while building a strong reputation alike. Therefore, the
negotiation takes place with concerned authorities from both parties and concludes with the
selection of the perfect service provider.

Procurement Approval

Once the service provider(s) is selected the next step is to prepare a Procurement approval
(PA). User Department after ensuring all technical requirements confirms equal and transparent
technical evaluation process. Later, the department requests budget from the finance
department. After evaluating the specifications, the finance team provides necessary budget to
the assigned user to prepare a PA for the authority to approve. A PA contains the background
of the project, award summary, Reason for awarding and negotiation outcomes, major terms
and condition and finally approval summary of all the concerned authority. Once the PA has
been raised the project can be initiated by the service provider.

Purchase Order

It is an authorized document dispatched to an outside supplier to supply certain goods and/or

services in a specified quantity, quality at specific price and at certain time and at specified
quantity, quality at specific price and at certain time and at specific place. When PO is accepted
by the supplier (or if the representing the acceptance of terms stated by the supplier in their
final and/or negotiated offers) the PO becomes a contract.

Job Awarding & Contract

Once the purchase order is launched, it is then passed on to the finance department to allocate
budget and provide payments as per previously agreed terms and conditions between the both
buyer and supplier. All contract documents and enclosure of the RFQ documents, submitted
proposals, quotations, evaluations, awarding documents and a copy of the final contract signed
by both parties is archived by the respective procurement team and contract management team
as appropriate. Contract management team develops and maintains a process that includes
contract addendum, amendment, extension, renewal and contract request check list to ensure
the contract compliance which has been accomplished by supply chain management.

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Delivery of Payment & Contract Closeout

After issuance of the purchase order and the payee cheque the service provider performs their
part of the deal. After the good or service is acquired it is then inspected by authorized
personnel of the company. Ensuring the overall completion of the project is an integral part of
the procurement team as well. There are cross functional procurement team known as CPT,
performs this function. The team ensure the overall process is performed efficiently and thus
ensuring quality service for all.

The delivery of payment is handled by concerned finance team and it is performed as per agreed
terms and conditions of the contract. Any contract related to procurement is always subject to
a formal closeout process that certifies the assessment of the supplier’s work and performance,
health safety security and environment state, completion of deliveries, rectification of defects,
and payment settlement. The process also records actual savings acquired and the overall
process’s contract expiry time.

4.1 Types of Purchases

ROBI deals with different types of purchase throughout the year. It varies in terms of monetary
value and the nature of the service. In terms of monetary value of a particular service there are
three types of purchase. They are as follows.

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 Simplified Competitive Comprehensive
Minor Purchase Process
Bidding Competitive Bidding
(Value less than BDT 0.15
(Value more than BDT 20 (Value more than BDT 20
million)
million) million)

User department will

User department User department must establish Cross
directly purchases contact SCM/MOB to Functional
from supplier perform. Procurement team
(CPT)

It takes advance CPT consists of 2

against approved Complete the RQF/bid person. One from
minor procurement document User department &
request other from SCM/MOB

Without taking
advance user can User Department A series of procedures
purchase directly by must contact untill the good/service
providing relevant SCM/MOB to perform. is purchased
documents

Financial compliance Completed RQF/bid

tracks & monitors on a document will be sent
monthly basis to minimum 3 bidders

Each of the purchase has a different way to deal with the transaction. In this report only the
minor purchase process is given below as the other two purchase contains confidential
information

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4.2 Minor purchase flowchart

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For values less than 0.15 million the minor purchase process is followed. In this type of
purchase User Department can directly purchase from a prevalent service provider.
Beforehand, the purchase is confirmed by the appropriate authority mostly the market
operations buying team. Upon confirmation of the purchases the documentation of Purchase
Order is registered in the SAP software system.

Particular assigned personnel quarterly reviews all Minor purchases and provides report to
assigned authority. If the purchases are quite frequent than the SCM authority will consider
preparing a frame of contract with the specific service provider. Contract management along
with the concerned personnel deals with the preparation of Frame of Contract.

Since the user directly deals with minor purchases so the responsibility of providing and
authorizing correct invoices falls on to their shoulders and they transfer it to the Finance
Division for payment. However, Validating and authorizing payments will have to be made by
different individuals.

5. Summary of Key Responsibilities

I have joined ROBI Axiata Limited as an intern of the Supply Chain & EPMO division on the
5th of September,2018 upon completion of the intensive selection process. First of all, I was
assigned to work with the network active procurement department. In the beginning I was given
a brief introduction of the overall supply chain division by my supervisor. Then I had to go
through the “Procurement Procedure” guideline. It is a guideline that provided the outline of
the procurement activities taking place at ROBI Axiata Limited. My first assignment was to
prepare a summary based on my understanding of the “Procurement Procedure Guideline”. It
gave me an idea on how procurement contributes to profitability, quality, development and
value creation of the company.

My major task was to prepare purchase order from purchase requisitions. I have processed a
record number of 200 Purchase order containing various ongoing projects. I had to keep contact
with the different cross functional procurement team and deal with the orders. The task required
was to input necessary details such as selection of purchase group and organization, select
delivery dates and time, input project details with major terms and conditions, assigning
salesperson and contact person details and finally attaching relevant documents such as

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business case, procurement approval, schedule of rate, preexisting contract and any additional
documents. Finally, when the purchase order is approved the next task was to provide the PA
to assigned vendor or service providers.

I have also worked with the collaboration management team for the preparation of contracts
and vendor database management. My responsibility was to prepare the contract in correct
formats and prepare them for the finalization process. After taking print outs my task was to
contact with the service providers to get their authorized approval. After the agreement from
the service provider my task was to get approval from all the assigned personnel of ROBI. I
had the privilege to take authorization from the CFO Mr. Roni Thomme while preparing one
of the contracts. Finally, when the contract was complete, I finished the deal by providing the
contract to the vendor and keeping track in the database.

Furthermore, I have also taken part in a competitive bidding and negotiation meeting for a
major project of the company. I have helped my supervisor with the preparation of potential
service provider database, schedule of rate for specific service and work zones, letter of award
and finally completed the project by preparing contract for the awarded suppliers.

6. Major Learning Reflection

The major learnings that I have acquired from my time at ROBI in addition to the functional
learnings of the importance of an excellent supply chain management & procurement process,
is the importance of being efficient and productive. For a dynamic Supply Chain like ROBI’s
the company is increasing its visibility and bottom line growth. The function is helping ROBI
to gain improved customer service delivery and reliability. Moreover, it is increasing the
company’s responsiveness, consistency, flexibility. The important fact is that it is helping the
company reduce cost while improving operational efficiency. Ultimately the company is
achieving better control of the business, proper collaboration with business partners, efficient
resource planning and last but not the least understanding the customers better. All of this has
been possible is because of the employees being efficient and productive.

One more learning that I have undertaken is the importance of emotional intelligence in the
workplace. Sometimes the workload can put an immense amount of pressure but it is important
to learn how to deal with the issue. It’s definitely vital that one must have the necessary soft

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and interpersonal skills to perform certain work but however the essential part is in what way
a person completes the work, connects with peers and reflects their personality through the
work. Implementing this will yield better long term returns. Emotional intelligence helps to be
aware of certain situations, learning how to control them, express correct emotions and handle
interpersonal relationships sensibly and compassionately. This little yet major skill will help
achieve corporate excellence nonetheless.

7. Conclusion & Recommendation

ROBI Axiata Limited continues to remain country’s leading telecom operator, as it

continuously provides innovative products and solutions for its customers. ROBI's obligation
towards empowering the youth and promoting Bangladesh and its culture throughout every
sphere is what distinguishes it from its competitors. The employees are constantly motivated
to gain even more to achieve more through productivity, integrity and respect.

Despite having a robust supply chain division the company is still lagging to reach the top.
During my internship I have faced many issues regarding facts and figures. The slightest of
mistakes can cause irreparable damage and even costs more to repair. Therefore, my suggestion
will be to help the employee train more efficiently. Many of the employees face problem
regarding software skills therefore it is mandatory to provide frequent training to the employees
to gain efficiency. In the procurement department the lesser the mistakes the bigger the
outcomes are. Therefore, the company should ensure overall training and take frequent test to
examine the overall status of the employees.

To conclude, it is important that the company understands the integrity of continuous

progression. It should never stay satisfied with just meet and greet but rather exceed the
expectations of the growing number. Only then the company can aspire to be the best in the
business.

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8. References

Jacobs, F. R. (2008). Operations and Supply Chain Management: The Core. New york:
McGraw-Hill Irwin.

Robert Johnston, G. C. (2008). Service Operations Management: Improving Service Delivery.

In G. Clark, Improving Service Delivery. Financial Times/Prentice Hall.

ROBI. (2018, Novemeber). Retrieved from Robi Axiata Limited:

https://www.robi.com.bd/corporate/about-us?lang=eng#RI6swOloV26TK8At.97

Sampson, S. E. (2000). Customer‐supplier duality and bidirectional supply chains in service

organizations. Emerald Insight.

Shkliar, K. (2013). Lean supply chain of service companies. Milan: IMIM.

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