Businesses dealing with any sort of commodity require a proper purchase to pay software to deal with transactions. The entire idea of this system is to help business owners receive appropriate products from suitable suppliers. And even get the correct prices for such deals, but causing a sharp reduction in manual tasks.
So, this Purchase To Pay, also known as Procure To Pay, is an essential software system for every business company. Let’s check how this system works:
What Do You Mean By Purchase To Pay?
‘Purchase To Pay’ refers to the integrated system that can fully automate transactional processes of the products and services. It is an interesting concept which is highly beneficial for any business company. As you can see, the system got its name as it handles all the required acquisition aspects right from goods purchasing to payments.
Why do businesses require this software? Well, if you are a company looking to increase company efficiency and savings while boosting sales, you need this system.
How Does Purchase To Pay Work?
As already highlighted, purchase to pay starts with the good purchasing process. It proceeds through procurement and finally leads to payments made to the vendor. Here is a basic layout as to how the ‘Procure To Pay’ system works:
Identifying Your Requirements
The first step of the P2P software is to identify the exact requirements of your business. It is one with the help of cross-functional stakeholders. Once the software identifies the needs correctly, allocated teams determine the high-level specification, terms of reference, and statement of work.
Creating Requisitions
Once identification is made, the software will prepare a formal purchase requisition. It is vital that a requester fills out and submit the requisition form, maintaining all the required administrative norms.
Requisition Approval
The purchase requisition would require appropriate approval from the designated departments. Approvers can select to either reject or approve the requisition, thereby validating the budget for the purchase.
If the authorities approve the requisition, then the creation of the respective PO or purchase orders starts.
Approving Purchase Orders
Again, you need appropriate approval for the purchase orders to ensure legitimacy as well as accuracy. Once approved, the system dispatches these POs to the vendors. Even the vendors can either accept or reject or even negotiate the purchase order. Once done, the system activates a legally binding contract.
Good Receipt & Supplier Performance
Once the service/product reaches the buyer, he can inspect whether the delivered goods match the contract terms. Only then, the buyer approves or rejects the receipt of the goods. Also, based on the data obtained, the system will evaluate the performance of the supplier.
Vendor Payments
Finally, if present in the purchase order, vendor invoice, and goods receipt, one can thoroughly check for any discrepancies. However, for no discrepancies, the buyer would approve the invoice and proceed with the vendor payment.
Overall,
Typically, any P2P system works in this manner, as mentioned in the above section. However, depending on the software, you can modify the steps as per your business requirements.
But in any case, it is essential to understand the entire working principle of the system to get maximum benefits. And if you aim to improve all your company’s purchasing processes, select your P2P software carefully.