Purchase to Pay app template

Introduction

The Purchase-to-Pay app template gives process owners, business users and RPA teams the capacity to discover automation potential and to fast-track process improvement initiatives by monitoring KPIs in the Purchase-to-Pay process. It simplifies process analysis and monitoring for procurement and order-management stakeholders through predefined metrics (such as throughput times and on-time delivery rates) and dashboards tailored to business outcomes critical to the success of their respective departments. Multiple views on the end-to-end process are available, tailored to the needs of each stakeholder.

The Purchase-to-Pay process app turns raw process data from the source system into actionable and automatable insights. The integration with Automation Hub makes it possible to discover and prioritize activities that are the best automation candidates, to implement RPA and to monitor the outcomes in the Purchase-to-Pay process.

Purchase-to-Pay Process

Purchase-to-Pay is the process from a buyer’s perspective of buying, receiving, paying and accounting for goods. The process starts with a purchase request and ends with the payment of the invoice and includes all confirmation and checking steps in between. It is one of the core processes in an organization and is typically performed by multiple departments. Important artifacts of the Purchase-to-Pay process are purchase requisitions, purchase orders, receipt of the goods and the invoice.

Steps in the Purchase-to-Pay process

Purchase-to-Pay covers the following main processes in the procurement life cycle.

• Buying;
• Delivery;
• Payment.

Note that the Delivery and (parts of the) Payment processes are usually done in parallel.

See illustration below for an overview of the steps in a typical Purchase-to-Pay process.

Below is a description of the main steps in the Purchase-to-Pay process.

Process step	Description
Buying	The process starts with a buyer from the company who wants to buy some goods. The buyer requests the purchase, using a purchase requisition. Procurement is involved to get the best deal. This could mean negotiation for a new contract or adapting to an already available contract. Procurement converts the requisition to a purchase order and makes sure the missing information is filled where needed. Procurement approves the purchase order (PO), which is then sent to the vendor.
Delivery	The warehouse department (if available) waits for the goods to be received. When goods arrive, the inventory is checked and updated. The goods are received by the initial buyer, who accepts the goods.
Payment	The finance department awaits the invoice to be received. When the invoice arrives, it is administrated. The invoice is paid by accounts payable. Accounting administrates the payment.

Process insights

The above process describes an ideal scenario in which the buyer gets the goods of good quality in time with the best possible price. However, in many cases there will be differences and deviations to this.

A significant portion of the operating costs within a company is spent in managing the Purchase-to-Pay process. The greater the inefficiencies in the process, the greater the risk of a negative impact on the business’s cash flow. Managing a consistent Purchase-to-Pay process provides a reliable and healthy company.

Purchase-to-Pay activities impact operations throughout the organization such as inventory management and supply chain management. Optimizing the Purchase-to-Pay process eliminates inefficiencies and can lead to benefits throughout the entire organization.

With the Purchase-to-Pay process app you get more insight in the actual execution of the Purchase-to-Pay process, and detailed information to analyze the order statuses, the delivery of the goods and the invoices.