Increase Business Value with an Agile Procure-to-Pay Process

by gfcpartners | Apr 8, 2022 | Manufacturing & Distribution

Manufacturers and distributors are always looking for ways to reduce spending and streamline efficiency. Taking a closer look at your procure-to-pay process and adding automation might be just the thing you need. Sure, it’s usually more sophisticated than simple automation tactics, but with modern systems, the built-in business intelligence, machine learning, and configurable workflows can harness the power of technology for your business.

Minimize delays, improve cashflow, do more with less staff, and increase the value of your business. Download this solution brief for manufacturers and distributors on Automating Procure-to-Pay with Acumatica.

Procurement is a Sophisticated Process

We agree: a lot goes into purchasing. It’s not just a quick email or phone call to get the materials your business needs.  How do you handle all these procurement details now? After asking “what are my needs?  What materials do we need to be successful?” there comes:

• Creating an official purchase requisition with detailed material needs
• Management review of purchase request
• Negotiating purchasing terms and contracts
• Getting vendor quotes. Do they fit your needs?
• Budget approval. Getting the budget approved, which can take multiple emails and calls
• Then once approved, ordering the supplies
• Receiving, storing, and organizing the supplies ordered
• Matching the invoice to the purchase order and receiving report, making sure there are no missing items or errors
• Paying the invoice
• Maintaining organized and accurate records so you have the history at your fingertips.

And more, depending on your business. There are a lot of moving parts and pieces.  It’s not a simple task.  To be efficient, you need a system that is organized, collaborative, and reliable.  A system that can keep this process running smoothly and can eliminate complexity.

Which system should I choose?

Manufacturers and distributors can reduce costs and increase profits by squeezing inefficiencies out of every stage of the procure-to-pay routine. If your company is looking for a way to get started with automating the process, here are some things to consider when choosing the right system to fit your business.

Is the Process Automation Complete? There’s a lot of software to choose from, but the software should easily include all the steps involved in the process.  From initiating orders and collecting supplier quotes to the receiving process.

Vendor management is key. Make sure the system includes steps for vendor bidding.  You will get the best price when you include multiple vendors in your bidding process, but to save time, sometimes staff will cut corners and only include vendors they are familiar with.   By automating this step, you can gather more bids in less time—and end up with the best possible deal for your company.

Streamline the approval process. Making this process easy for an ever-increasing mobile workforce will eliminate delays, thus increasing productivity. Make sure that with your new system you can configure workflows to automatically alert each of your decision-makers when their approval is needed.

Solid audit trail. As your business grows, you need easy access into your financial controls. Who initiated that $10,000 purchase? What was its purpose? Who approved it? Who received the goods?  You don’t want to scramble when auditors and shareholders are asking these questions.  Or worse, having to dig out paper trails of information.  Have all your information at your fingertips in one complete system.

Integration with other departments and systems. Your purchase requisition software is only good when it’s a complete picture. Make sure other departments such as service, sales, shipping, receiving, warehousing, and even your management team can see status of procurements on their dashboards, aiding them in their decision-making capabilities.

Acumatica for Procure-to-Pay Automation

Our choice for the procure-to-pay process is Acumatica’s 12-step automation process because it is built on modern technology and flexible for all your business needs.

“With Acumatica, we can double the size of the business without doubling the space and the people because we have power in the information. We can work more logically, provide better service, and save millions in labor by not having to double the staff size.”  BEN LEINSTER, CEO AFF|GROUP

Acumatica includes all the tools manufacturers and distributors need on one single platform; it’s designed for businesses looking to streamline their procure-to-pay process and provides all the necessary visibility into your purchasing functions so you can make smarter decisions. Here is a detailed look at what Acumatica built for distributors.

Phase 1:   Preparation

1. Item Definition
2. Supplier Management
3. Replenishment Setup

Phase 2: Procurement

1. Purchase requisitions
2. Purchase Orders
3. Receipt of Goods and Put Away

Phase 3:  Payment

4.  AP Invoice Automation
5.  AP Bill Creation
6.  AP Payment Processing

Phase 4:  Process Improvement

7.  General Ledger
8.  Reporting & Analysis
9.  Related Processes

Learn more about Acumatica’s procure-to-pay automation process in this free solution brief download: Automate Procure-to-Pay with Acumatica