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Fertinitro BPM Transformation

Digital Transformation of Procurement and Bidding Processes at Fertinitro through BPM System (2008). Project developed as Project Lead - BPM at Kimetic, in collaboration with BekeSantos.

Role

Project Lead - BPM

Year

2008

Duration

4 months

Client

Fertinitro

🏢 Context & Business Challenge

The Market Opportunity

Fertinitro (Fertilizantes Nitrogenados de Venezuela), a state-owned company producing urea and ammonia for agricultural fertilizers, faced an operational crisis in 2008 within its Procurement and Bidding Department.

The petrochemical industry operates 24/7; any procurement delay directly impacts production and can cost $150K+ per day of unplanned downtime. The procurement function wasn't just broken. it was a business-critical risk.

The Strategic Vision

Design and implement a comprehensive BPM system to transform procurement operations:

  • Standardize the procurement process according to public regulations
  • Automate workflows and document generation
  • Digitize approvals, traceability, and audit trails
  • Provide real-time visibility for all stakeholders
  • Reduce cycle times and increase team capacity

Critical Constraint: Complete implementation in 4 months—including discovery, design, development, training, and full deployment.

👨🏼‍💻 My Role & Responsibilities

Project Lead - Business Process Management

As Project Lead, I applied a structured BPM methodology adapted from industry best practices but tailored to Fertinitro's specific context. The approach followed the classic BPM lifecycle: Discover → Analyze → Design → Implement → Monitor & Optimize.

However, given the 4-month timeline and the need for rapid stakeholder buy-in, I made several strategic adaptations:

  • Heavy emphasis on collaborative workshops rather than purely analyst-driven design
  • Iterative documentation approach with frequent validation cycles
  • Parallel workstreams to compress timeline
  • Focus on "quick wins" to build momentum and credibility early

My Guiding Principles

1. User-Centered Design

Process users (analysts, supervisors, committee members) were co-creators, not just subjects. I conducted 10+ individual interviews and facilitated 15+ collaborative workshops where users helped design the solution.

2. Evidence-Based Design

Every design choice was backed by data from the current process or user research. No "best practice" was adopted without validating it fit Fertinitro's specific context.

3. Pragmatic Optimization

Perfect is the enemy of good. We optimized for the 80/20 rule—focusing on the changes that would deliver the most impact, not theoretical perfection.

  • Discovery & Analysis: Led on-site immersion, conducted 10+ stakeholder interviews, facilitated 15+ collaborative workshops
  • Process Architecture: Designed 5-stage workflow plus emergency fast-track, defined roles and SLAs
  • Documentation: Created 8-chapter BPM articulation with complete functional specifications
  • Stakeholder Management Managed relationships from operational analysts to C-level executives
  • Implementation Coordination: Coordinated technical development with BekeSantos, ensured quality and alignment
  • Change Management: Drove user adoption strategy, delivered role-based training
  • Project Leadership: Managed timeline, budget, deliverables, and expectations across 3 organizations

🧩 My Approach & Methodology

1. Discovery Through Immersion

The discovery phase was where I built the foundation for everything that followed. My goal wasn't just to understand what the process was supposed to be (the documented procedures), but what it actually was, including all the workarounds, exceptions, and informal practices that people had developed.

  • On-site immersion at the petrochemical complex
  • Shadowed each analyst for 2 full days to understand actual workflows
  • 40+ structured interviews across all stakeholder groups
  • Observed 3 live Bidding Committee meetings to understand decision dynamics
  • Analyzed 50+ real procurement cases to identify patterns

Key Discovery: The actual process differed 60% from documented procedures. Analysts had developed informal workarounds that kept operations running.

2. Change Management

I recognized early that technical excellence wouldn't matter if users rejected the system. So I invested heavily in change management:

  • Early involvement: Key users participated in design from Day 1
  • Transparent communication: Weekly newsletters, open office hours, Q&A sessions
  • Champion network: Identified and empowered 6 "super users" as internal advocates
  • Iterative feedback: Multiple rounds of user testing and refinement
  • Comprehensive training: Role-based training sessions, job aids, ongoing support

3. Evidence-Based Design

Every design decision was backed by data, not assumptions:

  • Identified that 70-80% of bidding document content was repetitive across procurements
  • Discovered 15+ services being procured repeatedly (cranes, inspections) that could be consolidated
  • Mapped the 5 critical process stages with specific roles and SLA requirements
  • Designed emergency fast-track workflow for critical situations (equipment failures, safety)

3. Parallel Workstreams for Speed

The aggressive 4-month timeline required strategic overlapping:

  • Discovery (Weeks 1-4) + Design (Weeks 3-8) ran in parallel
  • Development (Weeks 7-14) started before design was 100% complete
  • Training (Weeks 13-14) conducted during UAT phase

Key enabler: Clear separation of responsibilities. I owned the "what" and "why," BekeSantos owned the technical "how."

Conclusion

The Fertinitro BPM implementation stands as one of the most impactful projects of my career. In just 4 months, we transformed a procurement department from a bottleneck into an enabler, delivering measurable improvements in cycle time, capacity, and user satisfaction.

But beyond the metrics, what makes me most proud is the lasting impact. The system I designed was still running smoothly years later, continuing to deliver value. The documentation I created became a template for other Pequiven subsidiaries as well as for other impactful Kimetic projects. The users I trained became evangelists for process excellence.

The Fertinitro project wasn't just about implementing a BPM system. It was about transforming how an organization works, building capability that would last long after my engagement ended. That's the kind of impact I strive for in every project.

Useful Links:

- Product documentation authored: Articulación BPM (written by me 🙂)

Case study by Rolando Fernández | Product Owner & Senior Frontend Developer at RunMyProcess

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