Efficient Procurement Process Flow, as a function, is an unavoidable aspect of all business associations. To operate and help the expansion and optimization of performance, organizations acquire different goods and services from external suppliers. If organizations expect to harness the power of globalization, they have to work with the best local suppliers at the most ideal price. When procurement can enable an organization to accomplish its tactical as well as strategic goals, it is doing it right!
Definition of Procurement Process
The procurement process flow is the skeletal framework that displays how procurement and buying occur or are taken care of within an organization. Generally, a procurement process flow aims to improve and analyze business practices.
Without a detailed comprehension of the procurement process within an organization, it gets hard to develop a much-needed hierarchy of purchasing and approving.
Why is procurement process necessary?
Procurement represents spending an organization’s revenue on acquiring products and services. It directly affects the cost savings objective. One of the studies revealed that 54% of the surveyed experts recognized cost savings as procurement’s key focus area. Besides, 66% of mid-sized organizations, 65% of large organizations, and 55% of small organizations were mandated to figure out how to spend from an enterprise-level and for that, a successful procurement system was the only solution to reap higher profits
Why is periodic assessment of procurement process necessary?
By gradually evaluating supplier performance, organizations enhance strategies for performance improvement. An effective procurement process likewise empowers organizations to build long-term relationships with their suppliers. Thus, by concentrating on supplier relationship management, the synergies created between the two parties bringing about high propositions that give maximum value for both the supplier and the purchaser.
A well-implemented procurement process empowers an organization’s higher visibility into stakeholder performance. More transparency assists organizations with authorizing higher compliance in terms of costs, quality of goods/services, and so forth.
How can an efficient procurement process help?
Given the present situation of worldwide political and economic instability, changing trade laws, etc., implementing a well-defined procurement system can assist organizations to manage their supply chain and related danger. By managing risks, for example, operational risk, contract risks, financial risk, etc., a procurement procedure prevents supply chain disruptions that concern profitability.
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A successful procurement process guarantees higher process efficiency at each phase of a procurement cycle in an association, which thus shortens sourcing cycle times.
Procurement is something beyond purchasing goods and services for an organization. An effective procurement process includes an in-depth understanding of requirements by all business units, distinguishing the right supplier for meeting those requirements, periodically assessing supplier performance, and negotiating contracts that can give the most elevated value at minimum cost.
8 Steps of an Efficient Procurement Process
A department requests services/goods by submitting a purchase requisition. Generally, this request may be made through email, phone, or even hand-written via fax or post. With eProcurement software, the requester can peruse the list of items available from pre-approved vendors, or, whenever authorized to do as such, submit a request to purchase from a new vendor.
The request is sent to the procurement department, the manager, or another authorized party for approval. Previously, this stage gave the first potential roadblock in the procurement cycle, as managing endorsements from a disparate and decentralized assortment of sources meant some smaller requests may be put on the back burner or even become lost despite a general sense of the cracks altogether.
With a cutting-edge software solution, all requests are sent to the best possible parties automatically, with essential contextual information that can assist management to decide how best to use the terms set up with preferred vendors for the best value on each buy. The approving party can likewise reject a request, either denying the request outright or missing information, requesting clarification, and so forth.
The approved request is utilized to create a purchase order. Generally, the purchaser is liable for sending a budget request to the accounting department so they can confirm funds are accessible to cover the purchase. This process is extraordinarily improved with buying limits, clear roles, and authorization hierarchies built into a fully integrated eProcurement suite.
Once they’ve gotten approval and purchase order, the buyer sends the purchase order to the pre-approved favored supplier. If they’re buying goods and services the organization hasn’t purchased previously or needs to find a new supplier, they can send requests for quotation (RFQs) to vendors, who would then be able to be assessed and, once approved, sent the purchase order. Previously, this point in the process was another potential bottleneck, since a purchaser probably won’t know preferred suppliers for a given product or service, or submit multiple requests to an established supplier. A centralized, completely transparent procurement process flow dodges these potential headaches by eliminating confusion and automatically giving fundamental information to the parties who need it.
The best vendor is chosen and the order sent.
The goods and services are received. For physical goods, the packing slip is checked against the purchase order to guarantee everything requested was received, and if not, what things may need to be reordered, received later, or refunded.
The invoice is sent to the accounting department, which cross-checks the invoice against the packing and purchase order to verify the proper payment. Software utilizing automatic a few way matching makes for simple invoice approval, and guarantees payments are quick and accurate.
When payment has been processed, the purchaser records the finished transaction for the company’s financial records. With eProcurement software, the transaction is recorded automatically and accessible for review at any time. Having this data in a centralized database makes reporting, and audit trails more straightforward to manage.
Unleash the Power of Automation in Efficient Procurement Strategy
A structured procurement strategy will rock the boat and highlight new methodologies that deliver cost savings and process efficiencies. Utilizing process automation tools to execute the strategy and monitor its progress will yield noteworthy long-term benefits. They automate complex procurement processes while proactively limiting dangers and errors.
Some of the important benefits of automating your procurement process are:
Expenses can be reduced by having structured supplier relationships, by utilizing system improvements, and utilizing volume to decrease external spend while improving quality. E-procurement dispenses paperwork, errors and rework.
Visibility of spend
Centralized tracking of transactions empowers full reporting on requisitions, orders processes, items purchased, and payments made. E-procurement advantages reach out to ensuring compliance with existing and established contracts.
Internal clients can get the items they need from a catalog of approved items through an on-line demand and ordering system.
Formal workflows and standardized approval processes guarantee that the right level of authorization is forced to every transaction and that spend is coordinated to draw off existing contracts.
Compliance with the policy is improved as clients can rapidly find products and services from preferred suppliers and can’t create maverick purchases.
Efficient Procurement has begun its way towards turning into a long-term strategic function of an association better than before. Thus, the goal of this article has been to assist organizations to design a well-structured and compelling procurement process.
While organizations have differing procurement needs and different procurement processes in place, the steps highlighted in this article can be customized to an organization’s particular requirements.