The e-Procurement suites may differ on the basis of what they offer to the user. The main components of a typical e-Procurement suite are the follows-

1. Indent Management: This process is basically the first step involved in e-tendering. Indent creation or the creation of requisition is undertaken, followed by its evaluation and approval.
2. RFX Creation: RFX is a catch-all term for terms like Request For Proposal (RFP), Request For Information (RFI), Request For Bids (RFB) and Request For Quotes (RFQ). This step involves the creation of RFX and formulation of technical and commercial qualification criteria. The RFX is then published and the prospective bidders are invited.
3. Bid Submission: The interested bidders then register themselves on the e-Procurement portal and submit their bids which would give detailed account of their technical as well as commercial qualifications.
4. Bid Opening and Evaluation: Once the bids are successfully submitted, they are evaluated and the vendors are scrutinized. Thereafter, the shortlisted vendors are invited for e-Auction.
5. e-Auction: The e-Auction is then carried out for procuring the goods or services under consideration. E-Auction too can be of several types depending on the specific requirements.
6. Vendor Selection and Finalization: After the e-Auction, according to the requirement, one or more vendors are finalized and the Purchase Order issued. This step concludes the procurement process.
7. Vendor and Contract Management: This additional module is included to manage and catalog the vendors and to evaluate their services.

e-Procurement or electronic procurement refers to the process of purchase and sale of goods or services through electronic methods, primarily the Internet. It is an alternative to the manual process of procurement, and is certainly superior to the latter in many respects. Organizations are increasingly opting for e-Procurement platforms, realizing its potential to curb irregularities and unnecessary costs.
Supply Chain Management is vital for any business. Organizations invest a lot of resources in the process of procuring goods, services and raw materials. So, an efficient and stream lined procurement process is a huge advantage for businesses.
e-Procurement consists of Indent Management, RFX creation, e-Tendering, e-Auctioning, Vendor Management and Contract Management among other processes. An e-Procurement solution can automate the whole process, thus saving the organizations from the hassle and irregularities involved in manual procurement. e-Procurement portals are designed for users to register as a buyer or supplier, submit all the relevant documents online and take part in the tendering process that follows.

The manual procurement process has always been pestered by the inefficiency of the system, lack of transparency, less accessibility and unwarranted expenditures. e-Procurement platform can overcome all these shortcoming and thus prove to be a necessity for any business. The digitizing of the procurement process leads to simplified workflow. It also makes the process equally accessible for everyone.

The salient benefits of e-Procurement have been listed below:

1. e-Procurement leads to considerable reduction in the time involved in the procurement process.
2. A great deal of transparency results due to a successful implementation of such platform.
3. An e-Procurement platform can drastically increase the market reach for both buyers as well as suppliers.
4. e-Procurement can tackle the malpractice of cartel formation to a great extent.
5. It ensure safety of all the information being provided by users. This data safety is at times compromised in the manual procurement process.
6. Lastly, as e-Procurement platform reduces and simplifies the steps involved, it also leads to a significant cost cutting.