Abertis optimizes global procurement management with a custom Power Platform solution

Within the organization, the COC (Opex & Capex Committee) plays a key role: it is the body responsible for receiving, analyzing and approving all major procurement requests from various international business units. Efficient coordination of this process is essential to ensure procurement agility and the day-to-day operations of the department.

The need for a unified, reliable platform became a key factor in modernizing COC management and moving towards a more efficient model.

With this application, all Committee members can better understand the technical needs of a Business Unit located thousands of kilometres away, check whether that investment was planned, and approve it on the spot. All in a single piece of software.

Antonio Piazuelo Velasco Strategic Procurement Manager — Abertis

Specifically, before the project, Abertis faced a series of difficulties that limited visibility, coordination and traceability across the process:

• • Fragmented tools and data sources: Information for each request was scattered across different systems, making follow-up difficult and causing loss of relevant data.
  • Lack of visibility and traceability: There was no clear workflow or single historical record to identify bottlenecks or justify decisions during audits.
  • Dependency on email: Validations, document submissions and queries between the COC and business units were handled via email, with multiple parallel threads and no centralized control.
  • Need to digitize key processes: The reliance on disconnected manual tools limited responsiveness and integration with external information systems.

As a result, it was necessary to evolve towards a more structured, automated and governable model — one capable of supporting the group’s international growth.

​Itequia developed a custom Power Platform solution for Abertis, specifically designed to centralize COC operations, eliminate manual tasks, improve visibility and ensure complete traceability of each investment’s lifecycle.

As a result, the tool brings together critical information, automates key interactions through Power Automate, standardizes role-based operations and integrates with the corporate systems that hold strategic data.

The project followed an iterative approach, combining functional analysis, sessions with COC users and continuously validated high-fidelity prototypes. This groundwork allowed all stakeholders to align, reduced functional risks and ensured the final solution matched the real needs of the process.

In addition, Itequia developed multiple Power BI reports, allowing the COC to analyze investment status, compare historical trends, identify bottlenecks and obtain key process metrics.

Unified Architecture on Power Platform​

The application was built on Power Apps and other Power Platform components. To support this, the team incorporated a task orchestrator based on Power Automate. It guides each user according to their role — COC member, requester or area manager — and according to the actual status of each investment.

Furthermore, this orchestrator automates notifications, validations and approval process steps, reducing manual intervention and guaranteeing a consistent workflow across all business units. This approach enables unified, structured and easily scalable operations across the entire Abertis group.

Azure Databases and SharePoint Document Repository

Itequia deployed the solution across three separate environments — DEV, PRE and PRO — each with its own Azure SQL database, ensuring stable, secure operation with room to grow.

This approach makes it possible to isolate development from production, reducing risk; to run validations and testing without affecting the live environment; and to scale the solution as request volumes or COC needs increase.

Additionally, SharePoinnt Online centrally manages all procurement documentation — comparatives, annexes, supporting records and historical files — with dedicated libraries and a metadata model adapted to the full lifecycle of each purchase. This enables fast access to all documentation, simpler audits and centralized version control with no duplicates.

One-way Integration with Corporate Systems

Moreover, Itequia integrated the solution with the key systems in the procurement process, allowing the COC to work with consolidated, up-to-date information without switching between platforms:

• • GoSupply — supplier risk analysis
  • SAP — contractual information linked to investments
  • Sap ariba — bid reception and analysis
  • SAP/ARIBA financial comparison — consistency between internal data and business unit documentation

The integration does more than eliminate manual tasks — it enables decisions made with full context. Having all data in one place — financial scenarios from SAP and ARIBA, supplier risks, contracting milestones and operational documentation — reduces analysis time. As a result, discrepancies surface early and COC decision quality improves. This network of integrations is key to sustaining procurement governance at group scale.

Complete traceability of each request 

Specifically, the solution provides a clear, structured journey for each purchase, from creation to final decision. Every step is recorded:

• • Request creation with initial data
  • Information validation according to COC requirements
  • Structured Q&A between committee and business units, replacing email as the main channel
  • Centralized documentation with annexes and comparatives linked to each request
  • Risk, historical and financial data review integrated with external systems
  • Final decision: approval, rejection or request for additional information

System’s traceability also allows priorities to be reordered according to organizational urgency, ensuring informed decisions even when prior documentation needs to be reviewed.

Secure Access and Advanced Role Management

​Furthermore, the solution uses Single Sign-On with Microsoft 365 to remove friction and improve the user experience. All permissions are managed through Azure Active Directory, defining which profiles can create requests, validate information, review documentation or issue final decisions.

This model ensures compliance with Abertis’s security policies, consistent and auditable access, and granular control without the need to manage additional credentials.

Multi-device Access and Centralized Updates

The application is fully optimized for desktop and tablet, adapting to the working context of COC members and business managers.

Updates are applied centrally and in real time, making it possible to:

• • Evolve the tool without disrupting operations.
  • Incorporate new features quickly. 
  • Avoid manual deployments or local dependencies.

This significantly reduces the maintenance burden and shortens the time it takes to roll out changes.

​​A process designed to reduce risk and accelerate adoption

Finally, the project was developed using an iterative approach that combined agility with a strong functional focus. The key phases included:

• • Functional discovery sessions with COC members and business unit managers
  • High-fidelity navigable prototypes to validate real behavior before development
  • Agile iterations delivering incremental features for continuous feedback
  • Environment preparation, deployment strategy and user testing
  • Technical and functional documentation to ensure project continuity

Consequently, the solution not only addressed the initial challenges — it was naturally embedded into the committee’s day-to-day operations from day one.

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