What is Digital System Procurement?
System procurement is a term which references purchases made by an organization through a digital application. Amazon eProcurement for example. Various organizations use a digital system procurement tool to regulate their purchase process of goods and services.
Globally, local, regional and federal governments are shown to be traditionally the largest procurers of goods and services. Many of them now utilize digital system procurement tools that have enhanced both process integrity and transparency for all involved.
A key element of using digital system procurement tools are that they help protect against fraud, which is far more common when everyone uses traditional paper-based systems. When processed digitally, digital system procurement tools provide a record of all the actions, this allows actions on the system to be audited internally or externally, as needed. Access to elements of the system is governed through passwords to regulate access between various levels of use and need.
A typical digital system procurement tool has the ability to provide buyers with more extensive requisition, quotation, vendor, purchase order, and contract capabilities. What the system does certainly depends on the vendor. It can generate management reports that can contain more precise details of the relevant departments accountable for any procurement, the vendors used, quantities procured, total cost of procurement, receivables and payment methods, mode of delivery, and receiving and inspection reports. System procurement is meant to provide for more efficient buy/sale strategies by using digital technologies for processing purchase orders, purchase requisitions, goods received and invoicing. This is achieved by digital storage of supplier information, including relevant contracts and catalogs. Other business processes such as invoicing and payment, buying and tendering, and others are also stored as part of the procurement system. The ultimate goal for a digital system procurement tool is to permit the use of cost effective strategies through the advanced use of automation.
Most digital system procurement tools have an ability to track key performance indicators (KPI’s). Managers now have methods that measure the total procurement performance, including order processing, invoice accuracy, and order delivery times. As a general rule and standard operation; governments will have internal and external auditors who monitor and assess the effectiveness of the procurement systems against procurement acts and regulations that establish additional standards of measurement.
Government officials report a decrease in corruption and an increased ability to verify vendor reliability with the use of digital system procurement tools.
Effective system procurement does require access between peer to peer systems. These locations distribute application architecture so that it partitions tasks or workloads between peers. Peers are equally privileged, equipotent participants in the application. Traditionally, there are four types of P2P integrations areas where digital system procurement are integrated in real-time:
The most common digital system procurement tool integration is into core ERP/MRP environments focused on core financials and inventory. It is important to note that rarely are any financial integration vanilla, even in the case of standard ERP/MRP integration. This often forms the connectivity between front line buying and procurement activity and IT/ finance systems. Even in this area, typical fields that organizations map for integrations are often highly dependent on the specific ERP and business application packages with which they are integrating. The degree to which the underlying financial system is set up from a financial accounting, corporate governance and managerial accounting will dictate the level of ideal integration required for P2P activity.
The second type of digital system procurement tool is focused on procurement-related integrations into a range of toolsets. These may include vendor management systems, software monitoring/metering and licensing applications, travel and expense along with travel tools, contract management systems, supplier management applications and e-invoicing/accounts payable automation tools.
The third digital system procurement tools are to more generalized business applications outside of procurement but are relatively similar across industries. These include customer relationship management, human resources, specialized inventory, warehouse and logistics management, asset management, claims/warranty and other processes that affect most organizations.
The fourth digital system procurement tool is task or industry-specific, such as retail point-of-sale (POS) systems. While retailers and restaurants may each deal in inventory, sales and cash management, each one also has unique business aspects which require the system to account for factors such as gratuities, mark downs, and types of inventory adjustments. Another example is contract management and e-invoicing capabilities which are often required for specific environments such as oil and gas exploration. This is helpful to understand the nuances of an operation when a purchase order for a $200 million project might be boiled down to a lone line item: “Drill an offshore well.”
The most successful common digital system procurement tools are often those that are flexible. Functionality is key. Many users like the ability to control functions from purchasing to vendor management in one platform. Other end users like when the procurement process is kept simple but can be made smarter.
Today’s digital system procurement tools need to also generate actionable, data-driven insights for its users. This includes the purchasing-related data and the ability to distill the information into key insights. A key to keeping purchases from creeping out of hand is the ability to effectively capture, approve, and keep track of all the various requests. Vendor management is also a critical requirement for success with digital system procurement tools. The system has to be able to onboard, maintain, and manage a changing universe of vendors with on single platform. Integration is also an important element. The ability to connect your procurement cloud with other essential finance software systems is key to keep the system working for all stakeholders.
The most important element of any digital system procurement tool is to reduce purchase order processing time. In today’s rapidly growing business environment, purchasing has to be nimble and accurate to leverage business efficiencies and cut down on waste, duplication and ineffective use of resources.
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