Effortless control over purchases with procure-to-pay software

• Identify the need for goods or services.
• Create a purchase requisition and send it for approval.
• Convert the purchase requisition into a purchase order and send it for approval (if needed).
• Receive goods or services and create a receipt.
• Receive and match the invoice with the related PO.
• Approve and pay the invoice.
• Keep records for audit.

Source-to-pay (S2P) is a broader term that refers to the end-to-end procurement process, from strategic sourcing (supplier selection and negotiating contracts) to making payments. Procure-to-pay (P2P) refers to a specific part of the S2P process, namely requisitioning, ordering, receiving, and paying suppliers.

• Managing decentralized or global procurement operations.
• Limited visibility for stakeholders into procurement stages.
• Incomplete data entry.
• Fraudulent or duplicate invoices.
• Complex supplier relationships and poor vendor performance.
• Loss of procurement documents.
• Overspending and uncontrolled purchases.
• Demand forecasting and maintaining appropriate inventory levels.

When companies choose to adopt procurement-to-pay software, they can effectively tackle all of these challenges, but it’s important to make sure the system is integrated with existing tools and is easy to use.

3-way matching is the process of verifying a supplier invoice by comparing it with the related purchase order and the receipt. This step is important for confirming that the details in all three documents match before approving payment. 3-way matching is performed automatically in procurement-to-pay software.

Procure-to-pay software is a business tool that enables organizations to automate their procurement operations, from creating a purchase requisition to issuing payment. Usually, P2P software solutions streamline the order-to-invoice process, spend management, approval workflows, supplier relationships, and more.

Procure-to-pay software solutions encompass a broader range of procurement activities, including creating purchase requisitions, purchase order management, invoice processing, receiving required goods, and issuing payments. An accounts payable system focuses specifically on processing invoices and handling vendor payments.

Procure-to-pay solutions help businesses track purchases, streamline the creation and approval of purchase orders and other related documents, unlock savings, and keep records for audits. As a result, employees avoid problems like manual data entry errors, unauthorized purchases, maverick spending, and approval bottlenecks.

The benefits of a procure-to-pay solution include more efficient workflows for requesting and approving, better accuracy for procurement documents, complete visibility into all purchases and expenses, stronger supplier relationships, efficient contract management, and procurement compliance throughout the departments.

Businesses can get the best value from software that comes with multi-level approval workflows, expense control, inventory management, automatic 2- and 3-way matching, supplier relationship management, and easy-to-use templates for purchase requests, purchase orders, invoices, and receipts.

Procure-to-pay software provides users with a range of modules and features that allow users to easily complete the following steps in the system:

• Requisition: Employees create and submit purchase requisitions for needed items or services.
• Approval: The requisitions go through an approval workflow, where managers review and approve them.
• Purchase order: Once approved, procurement managers can convert purchase requisitions into purchase orders (POs) and send them to suppliers.
• Receiving: Upon delivery, the appointed users create receipts and verify them against the POs.
• Invoice matching: Supplier invoices are automatically matched with their POs and receipts to ensure accuracy.
• Payment: Approved invoices are processed for payment, completing the transaction.