1. Ariba K nowledge Nuggets
eProcurement Transformation — Getting Buy In from Your Organization
Change management continues to be one of the single hardest challenges that organizations face daily. As I
have heard and read it takes 21 days to learn a habit. So how can you ensure your users get in the “habit” of
following your procurement processes? Good question to begin with….do you have an established process
for purchasing?
For increased adoption and a good user experience, it is imperative that your end users understand the
organizational goals and initiatives and in return what that can mean to the company bottom line (and them!)
Ariba Customer Success can help you develop a Success Plan that puts your organizational goals into a
framework to track and report against. From there, you can begin to identify areas for increased usage and
adoption, spend/contract leakage, and drive more through your P2P/Buyer application.
Best Practice Suggestions:
• Develop a process and program for how purchasing will take place among your business
units/departments.
• Publish, teach and train end users on how to follow the process. Executive Sponsorship of process is
imperative.
• Design and implement an internal newsletter calling out pro-
curement success by individual, department, and or team. This
allows end users to see how their efforts aid the organization.
(Example Attached)
• Incentivize end users through individual or inter-departmental
awards. Competition can make mundane tasks fun and excit-
ing and ultimately enforce your published policies.
Best Practice P2P Tip of the Day from IOMA:
In today's world, AP and purchasing can no longer work in "silos." That is, the two departments need to collaborate
because they are the two components of the all-important procure-to-pay (P2P) process. And there are significant
cost savings that can be found if AP and purchasing work together.
One area that can benefit from this collaboration is noncompliant (maverick) spending, both indirect and direct. Non-
compliant indirect spending includes things like office supplies, computers and consulting services. Direct (contract)
noncompliant spending includes non-PO purchases, invoices coming in with no associated PO, or POs opened with
non-approved vendors.
Best-in-class companies manage the P2P process so that fewer purchases are made outside their purchasing proc-
ess. When someone tries to use a non-PO-type vendor, it should be visible within the system and a determination
can be made if the purchase is appropriate. For example, the vendor master file control process can be tweaked so
that purchasing gets alerted when non-PO-type vendors are being set up.
A little analysis can uncover noncompliant spending and the lost savings can be calculated. This lost savings can be
interpolated based on your total spending to come up with a total potential savings.
For more information go to: www.iofmonline.org

2. Best Practices for P Card Success
The best way to ensure success of your purchasing card (p-card) program is to have a formal and detailed policy and
procedures manual for cardholders and administrators. This will also help with control of the program because it spells
out what is—and is not—allowable in terms of p-card usage.
At a minimum, the manual should include:
• an explanation of why p-cards should be used (benefits);
• how cardholders can obtain a card and activate it;
• a cardholder agreement that spells out responsibilities and liabilities;
• the types of purchases that should go through the p-card;
• any specific vendors that should be paid via the p-card;
• any limits on the use of the p-card (types of transactions, size of purchases, monthly limits, etc.);
• receipt requirements, reconciliation procedures, and record retention policy; and
• what cardholders should do if their cards are lost or stolen;
The policy should be updated whenever a change is made or, at a minimum, once every year.
Adoption Best Practice Tip
Boost their skills.
Send staff to training to make them feel more a part of the organization—they’ll give back by working
faster and more efficiently. Also, cross-train every employees so that anyone can step in for anyone
else who is missing. One way to do this is through a job-sharing program.
Probably the most valuable aspect of motivating your staff is simply having employees who are more
satisfied with their work. And more satisfied employees means more productive employees.
Discuss training opportunities with your Customer Success Manager—Ariba University courses,
Customer Success Lunch & Learns, User Groups, etc.
AP Automation and Productivity
Automating your invoice processing operation increases efficiency because it reduces the “touch points” an invoice has
to go through on its way to payment. For example, you no longer have to route invoices by hand—electronic versions are
routed using Ariba automated workflow and passed thorough to the accounting system for payment.
With electronic invoicing, AP doesn’t even see the invoices coming in—they are automatically received, matched to POs,
and then paid. For non-PO invoices, the electronic bills are automatically routed to approvers. All AP sees are the
exceptions (and any invoices that do not come through the e-invoicing process).
A recent survey conducted by the Institute of Management and Administration (IOMA) found these productivity
improvements when going from a low level to a high level of AP automation:
• average number of PO payments per month per AP staff member: from 930 to 3,647;
• average number of non-PO payments per month per AP staff member: from 934 to 2,263; and
• average number of T&E expense report payments per month per AP staff member: from 450 to 1,335.