SAP Business One Automation of Purchase Orders for the Consumer Products Industry

In this article, we highlight an operational challenge one of our customers faced, and share details into how our Versago portal for SAP Business One can help to solve these common challenges.

Business Challenge: Improving order cycle time for multi-level purchasing approvals

As brands grow, business process optimization plays an increasingly important role in maximizing business efficiency and profitability. Purchase Requisitions can become increasingly complex with multi-level approvals. The process to obtain all approvals can vary depending on the amount, the item, or the person that placed the order and include different people for approvals along the way. From the time purchase requests are placed to the time that each stakeholder has reviewed and approved them, a lot could go astray. What if an approver is on vacation? What if a request sits unread in a physical or email Inbox? These are only a couple of ways in which the process breaks down. Then what happens? Delays, confusion, and excessive and time-consuming communications to try to figure out the status of a purchase order. Or maybe it doesn’t get figured out and the business impact is felt downstream in the form of materials, supplies, and inventory shortages.

Versago Solution: Advanced Purchase Order Approval Workflow Within SAP B1

The Versago portal enabled our client to configure a solution where users in different roles can easily and securely submit, review, update, and approve purchase requests incorporating varying approval processing steps and rules. With Versago, the purchase request is entered into a simple and secure form accessible to 160 employees that can place a request at any time. Based on the authorization rules, when a request is entered the approval process can take from 1 to 4 approvals depending on the requester, amount, item, or service. Approvers are notified via email or text message one at a time and have the ability to review, update, and approve the requests on any device via the portal. When the request is fully approved, Versago’s process automation module, BizWeaver, creates either a purchase request or a purchase order in SAP Business One. This eliminates the need for double-entry and manual work on the purchasing team.

Digital Transformation in Sync with SAP Business One

Third Wave worked with the client to shape smooth employee journeys on any device, making it easy for the purchasing team to speed up purchase order cycle time and goods receipts. The final solution consists of two simple entry forms for initiating and approving requests, and two reports for reviewing incoming and historical requests. Plus, the Bizweaver connector workflows automatically send an email to the next approver and update SAP Business One with the final purchase requests.

“The set up in Versago and Bizweaver was straightforward. We probably spent more time rethinking through our process to make sure we had accounted for everything.”

A case of ROI in under a month

The client estimated the hard cost of this process to be about $32,000 per month! That’s $50 per order times 650 orders per month. Also, delays were inherent to the process at a cost of about $1000 per experiment.

“We more than paid for the Versago/ Bizweaver solution in the first month of use by removing the costs of the old process. We’ve centralized the purchase request process which is now completely on-line, reduced the time to place a purchase order, and we’re able to maintain a regimented process which helps us meet SOX requirements.”

Today, employees involved in the approval process receive purchase order requests on any device and can securely approve the orders with a click at any time.

The streamlined process reduced the costs of maintenance and administration in SAP Business One and helped the purchasing team improve their performance on cycle time while speeding up goods and receipts.

About Versago Platform

Versago is a web and mobile platform integrated with SAP Business One enabling the broader population of people and processes across a business’ ecosystem to leverage the power of SAP for every function supporting growth and operating efficiency.

Versago is easily configured to support multiple use-cases to grow your business. With its extensive library of pre-built functionality and workflows already integrated with SAP Business One, your business can be up and running in less than a day with no software development required.

Benefits of Versago & SAP Business One:
– People and Processes Always In-Sync with SAP Business One
– Simple User Experience, Low/ No Training
– One Configurable Platform vs. Multiple Apps
– Streamlined Processes with no SAP Manual Data-Entry Bottlenecks
– Paperless Processes
– Faster Customer <> Supplier Interactions
– Branded to Reflect Your Business
– Increased Customer Satisfaction with Digital Solutions

To learn more about Versago and start the journey towards modern operations management for business growth, schedule a custom demo with a SAP Business One expert today.