Workflow Automation for Procurement

Procurement undertakes an important role in any business, no matter what industry you work in and how big your company is. It aims to get qualitative goods and services at the most equitable prices to provide your company with the supplies needed for its operating cycle. However, it transcends the simple acquisition of goods. It’s a complex process made of numerous steps from defying your needs to receiving delivery and analyzing the effectiveness of the deal. Building it effectively can significantly increase your company’s productivity.

What are the main steps of the procurement workflow?

Understanding the supply cycle is important in improving your procurement process. It can differ in companies depending on their specialization and size. However, here’s what the main steps of a typical supply workflow are:

1. Defying needs. Every acquisition starts with recognizing needs: what items the company lacks for its daily business activities, how much has to be ordered, and what vendors offer the most suitable terms.
2. Searching for vendor(s). Supply managers create a list of the relevant vendors who offer goods and services at the most attractive prices and select those who meet their item and budget demands.
3. contract negotiation. This is an important element in building relationships with your suppliers. Parties should agree on prices and other terms of the deal before making an order.
4. Purchase requisition. This phase of the process comprises receiving an approval for acquisition from the finance department. They need to affirm the requested quantity of goods and prices according to the current budget.
5. Purchase order release. Once everything is approved, supply managers issue a purchase order (PO) and send it to the vendor company. It must include all the details of the order: item description, their exact number, and information about delivery.
6. Invoice approval. Based on the PO, the vendor issues an invoice that should be properly checked by the supply team and/or finance department.
7. Payment processing. If the invoice matches with the PO and the contract terms and conditions earlier agreed, the accountant makes the transaction.
8. Receiving and checking the delivery. When getting the goods, the supply managers keep records of the delivery and check the quality and whether the number of the delivered goods correlates with the order. If anything doesn’t match, they contact the vendor(s) to resolve the issue(s).
9. Record and document maintenance. All information about the acquisition and confirming documentation should be properly kept.
10. Purchase analysis. This step is not obligatory but big companies with large supplies often analyze deals, their cost and the bottlenecks associated with the procurement process.

Automation benefit in procurement

As you can see, the procurement workflow includes many stages and requires a lot of paperwork to be done. Handling it all manually is too time-consuming and burdensome. Besides, human errors, delays, failures in the supply process affect the company's operating cycle and can significantly reduce its cash flow. That’s why choosing a procurement system is important.

With automation software, anyone can exclude unnecessary manual work and set up the supply cycle with efficiency. Employing automated procurement systems grants many advantages:

• Accuracy in documents and records. Decreasing manual data input reduces errors and inconsistencies.
• Increased procurement process speed. Automation speeds up document creation, contract and price approval, and record-keeping in purchasing operations. The faster the supply cycle goes, the shorter your operating and cash flow cycle is.
• Paperwork elimination. Going digital saves tons of paper and space. Plus, 24/7 access to your documents from any device is super useful.
• Saving time and costs. By using a procurement system, you can save hours of working time and reduce operating expenses.
• Better control over the purchasing lifecycle. An automation platform for procurement enables teams with effective real-time process tracking.

In other words, procurement automation enhances a company's overall productivity. Choosing the right solution is just another key to your business success.

Why use airSlate as an automated purchasing system

airSlate is a no-code, cloud-based automation platform for companies of all sizes that makes any business process a breeze. The following features make airSlate a perfect automated procurement system:

1. Flow library. Create your Flows from scratch or choose one of the ready-to-use Flow templates for managing contracts, invoicing, and other related processes.
2. No code Bots. airSlate uses RPA technology. Easily pre-fill documents, send forms and contracts to other parties, and configure notifications.
3. Integrations. airSlate offers both Integration and Automation Bots that connect your account with other business solutions, import/export data to and from CRM systems, databases, etc.
4. Legally-binding electronic signature. No need to buy extra tools for eSigning. Approve documents right from your airSlate account.

Procurement automation is too good and important to ignore. Modernize your business.