Objectives

The primary objective is to appoint a qualified service provider to deliver ongoing professional support, maintenance, and advisory services for South African Airways’ IBM Planning Analytics (TM1) environment. The engagement aims to ensure a stable, secure, scalable, and fully supported Enterprise Performance Management platform that meets current and future financial planning, reporting, and executive decision-making requirements.

Scope of Work

The successful bidder will provide specialist resources to manage the TM1 ecosystem, encompassing system administration, development, enhancement, troubleshooting, and strategic advisory services. Support will align with SAA’s operational demands, covering critical business processes such as financial budgeting, forecasting, management and statutory reporting, cost centre tracking, and performance analysis. Resources may be deployed according to SAA’s scheduling and operational requirements.

Technical Requirements

• Industry Experience: Minimum five years of proven implementation and support experience in IBM Planning Analytics/TM1, with demonstrated projects within the airline or aviation sector.
• Documentation & Verification: Submission of a valid IBM partner letter, client reference letters detailing past budgeting/forecasting/reporting work (last five years), and certified resource qualifications.
• Mobilisation Methodology: A detailed proposal outlining support frameworks, response protocols, and mobilisation capabilities tailored to TM1 environments.
• Evaluation Threshold: Bidders must achieve a minimum qualifying score of 75% across all technical and functionality assessments to proceed to pricing evaluation.
• Compliance: Adherence to SAA’s General Conditions of Contract, submission of valid tax clearance documentation, and completion of all standard bidding returnable forms.

Skills Requirements

• Senior IBM Planning Analytics Solution Architect (Grade K6): Must hold relevant IBM/TM1 certifications and possess extensive experience designing, deploying, and optimising TM1 architectures, particularly within aviation or complex financial operations.
• Senior IBM Planning Analytics Functional Consultant (Grade K5): Must be certified in TM1 functional modules and demonstrate hands-on expertise in financial planning, budgeting, forecasting, and regulatory reporting workflows.
• Core Competencies: Both roles require verifiable aviation industry exposure, strong analytical and problem-solving capabilities, and the ability to translate business requirements into robust, scalable TM1 solutions. All submitted CVs must explicitly confirm mandatory certifications, years of experience, and sector-specific project history.

Key Terminology & Service Notes

IBM Planning Analytics (TM1): An advanced Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) platform that merges relational database technology with multi-dimensional data structures. It enables real-time financial consolidation, scenario modelling, predictive forecasting, and interactive dashboards for executive decision-making.

B-BBEE (Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment): A South African preferential procurement framework that awards additional evaluation points to enterprises owned by historically disadvantaged groups, particularly black women, to promote economic transformation and equitable market participation.

K5/K6 Designations: Internal competency and seniority classifications used by SAA to benchmark consultant experience, certification levels, technical delivery capacity, and alignment with organisational grading structures.