Building Your Business Case for P2P Automation

BUILDING YOUR
BUSINESS CASE
for P2P AUTOMATION
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AGENDA
• A Business Case – But Why?
• Business Case Must Haves
• Before You Dive In
• Be Sure to Include
• You’re Not Done!
• Final Thoughts
• About Tradeshift
Copyright © Casher Associates, Inc. 2013-2014

BEFORE WE BEGIN…
Jon Casher
Serial Entrepreneur
• Founded Casher Associates in 1976 to design and
develop custom financial systems and back office
automation
• Co-founded CM Associates, provider of financial
industry software products, in 1985
• Co-founded RECAP, an A/P Audit firm, in 1988
Current Focus – Industry Expert & Consultant:
• Finance, AP, AR and Procure-to-Pay organizations
• Providers of AP, AR and P2P automation products
and services
• Training, Certification

BEFORE WE BEGIN…
Poll Question
Have you ever done a major project within your department?
1. Never tried
2. Tried but never got started
3. Started but not completed
4. Started and completed
5. Something else…

BEFORE WE BEGIN…
Poll Question
Have you ever put together a business case?
1. Never tried
2. Tried but never got completed one
3. Yes but could not get it approved
4. Yes, got it approved but not implemented
5. Yes, got it approved and implemented

A BUSINESS CASE – BUT WHY?
Advice from an expert:
“If you don’t know where you’re going, you’ll
probably end up somewhere else.”
Attributed to Yogi Berra

Barriers to Automation
Top Reason
• No Business Case or Justification Prepared
Other Reasons
• No Project Sponsor
• Insufficient Resources – People, Money, Technology
• Excessive Implementation Time
Excuses
• Can’t Decide What to Do
• Difficulty Selecting a Solution Provider
• Reluctance to Change
• Risk Aversion

Some practical reasons…
Helps you:
• Overcome the barriers to automation
• Focus on what needs to be done
• Prioritize
• Justify what should be done
Makes it easier to get approval to proceed
Surveys show the average and median time from identifying the
need to getting approval is 9-11 months regardless of industry or
company size

BUSINESS CASE MUST HAVES
Sample Outline
1. An Executive Summary
2. Background of the Case:
• Current Situation
• Description of the Problem
3. Objective
4. Alternatives
5. Proposed Solutions:
• Benefits, Tangible
• Benefits, Intangible
• Costs, one-time
• Costs, Ongoing
6. Assumptions & Constraints
7. Dependencies &
Interdependencies
8. Return on Investment &
Payback
9. Risks
10. Implementation Plan:
• Resources
• Schedule
• Milestones
• Deliverables

BEFORE YOU DIVE IN
1. Assemble a Business Case Team
• Team Leader
• People from departments/organizations who will need
to be on the implementation team
• People from departments/organizations most impacted
• Solution provider personnel

BEFORE YOU DIVE IN
2. Prepare a Business Case Project Plan
• Schedule
• Deliverables
• Milestones
• Status Reporting

BEFORE YOU DIVE IN
3. Understand Your Approval Process
Parties involved in making decisions and their roles
Parties
Roles
• CEO/President
• Sponsor
• Chief Financial Officer (CFO)
• Champion
• Chief Information Officer (CIO)
• Decision Maker
• Controller
• Buying Influence
• Shared Services Manager
• Barrier
• Accounts Payable Manager
• Purchasing Manager
• Other

BEFORE YOU DIVE IN
4. Assess Where You Are
• Identify Stakeholders
• Determine Stakeholder Concerns and Needs
• Understand How Your Processes Work
• Identify and Develop Baseline Metrics

BEFORE YOU DIVE IN
5. Identify Where You Want & Need to
Be
• Identify Automation Alternatives
• Determine What Others are Doing
• Determine Senior Management Goals
• Develop Goals Consistent With Stakeholder and
Senior Management
• Select an Appropriate Automation Alternative

BEFORE YOU DIVE IN
6. Determine How to Get There
• Decide What to Do
• Get Preliminary Buy In
• Find Solution Providers
• Issue an RFP (to a few bidders)
• Evaluate Responses
• Select a Vendor

OUTLINE
1. An Executive Summary
2. Background of the Case:
• Current Situation
• Description of the Problem
3. Objective
4. Alternatives
5. Proposed Solutions:
• Benefits, Tangible
• Benefits, Intangible
• Costs, one-time
• Costs, Ongoing
6. Assumptions & Constraints
7. Dependencies & Interdependencies
8. Return on Investment & Payback
9. Risks
10. Implementation Plan:
• Resources
• Schedule
• Milestones
• Deliverables

BE SURE TO INCLUDE
1. Executive Summary
• Write this section last
• Have one topic corresponding to each
of the subsequent sections
• Include “headlines” and key points
• Keep it short – no more than 3 pages

BE SURE TO INCLUDE
2. Background
Current Situation
• Describe current operations,
organization(s) and processes
• May have been included in an
RFP
The Problem
Draw on:
• Informal surveys of staff, internal
customers and suppliers
• Automation you don’t have in
place that others are using
• Goals of senior management not
currently being met
• Issues identified in internal
audits, results of process
mapping

BE SURE TO INCLUDE
3. Objective
Current metrics and expected improvements to:
Cost and Effort
• Time to process various types of transactions
• # of people and skills needed
Input Quality
• # and % of transactions requiring exception processing
• # of rejects due to missing or inconsistent information
Input Timeliness
• # and % of transactions arriving at Purchasing or AP within X days
• # and amount of discounts lost due to late arrival
Process Quality
• # and amount impact of errors made in Purchasing/AP
Process Timeliness
• Cycle time from receipt of transaction to posting
Achieving Senior Management Goals and Objectives
Other Goals and Objectives

BE SURE TO INCLUDE
4. Alternatives
• Identify and briefly describe alternatives
that were considered
• Provide matrix showing how alternatives
do or do not achieve the objective or the
individual metrics

BE SURE TO INCLUDE
5. Proposed Solution
Describe proposed solution using information from the selected vendor.
Benefits – Tangible and Intangible:
• Present metrics for the current situation and expected changes based
on the proposed solution
• Include information about ongoing impact on:
- People and Processes within AP and Purchasing
- People and Processes in Company external to AP and Purchasing
- People and Processes of External Parties
- AP and Purchasing Productivity
- Cycle Time
- Cash Flow and Working Capital
- Controls
- Other
Costs: One-Time and Ongoing
• Draw on information from the selected vendor and expected changes to current
costs
• Be conservative

BE SURE TO INCLUDE
6. Assumptions and
Constraints
Draw on information:
• From RFP if you did an RFP
• From answers to questions asked of
bidders and their references
• From the selected vendor

BE SURE TO INCLUDE
7. Dependencies and Interdependencies
Draw on:
• Your team’s experience
• Issues raised by internal partners, customers,
suppliers and other parties who will be impacted
• The selected vendor’s experience

BE SURE TO INCLUDE
8. Return on Investment and Payback
Vendors have models to calculate the return on investment
and payback.
• Some may have provided such information within their
proposals.
Make sure the model accurately reflects your situation, cost
structure, etc.
Test the model by changing some of the assumptions
Be conservative in what you present in your business case

BE SURE TO INCLUDE
9. Risks
Project Risks
• Determine areas where the team may have to
be supplemented with training and/or specific
skills
• Identify actions that can or will be taken to
reduce such risks
Solution Risks
• Identify what might go wrong and possible
fallback
• Identify contingencies and/or alternatives
• Identify financial and compliance risks

BE SURE TO INCLUDE
10. Implementation Plan
Resources
People and technologies needed
Schedule
Include slack for unexpected issues, missing tasks, etc.
Milestones
Measurable meaningful milestones
Deliverables
Identify who is responsible and how to measure quality and completeness
Other
• Regular status reporting
• Document deviations from plan, changes to scope, key actions and key
decisions

YOU’RE NOT DONE!
Get the Approval
Validate key points and issues before putting everything in writing
Prepare a draft Business Case Report
Circulate to key people for comments and suggestions
Revise as appropriate
Prepare a short presentation
Get appropriate signoffs
Get going!

YOU’RE NOT DONE!
Go Live
You may need a temporary increase in staff
If possible, start with a pilot and work out the kinks:
• Look out for unexpected effects
• Expect to make adjustments, and Allocate resources to do so
Monitor Key Metrics and Performance Indicators
• Track before and after to see if expectations are met
• Measure against metrics used to build the business case
Do a post project review of lessons learned and what to do differently next time
Celebrate and reward success
After a few months, survey key customers and business partners and share results

YOU’RE NOT DONE!
Final Thoughts
Decide what’s best and appropriate for your Company, Purchasing and AP departments
Understand your company’s approval process
Understand the capabilities and limitations of your existing systems and people
Beware of icebergs and expect the unexpected
Be creative, flexible, adaptable and willing to change
Avoid overpromising
Set priorities, realistic expectations and measurable goals
Use people and technology wisely
Take appropriate risks

ABOUT TRADESHIFT
Amazing things happen when businesses connect
Tradeshift brings all companies, big and small, together to
transact, connect and collaborate with each other.
• Enterprises – Work more easily and productively with their
entire supply chain, anywhere in the world.
• Suppliers - Free electronic invoicing, faster payments and
predictable cash flow is only the beginning.
Over 500,000 suppliers in over 100 countries
5 million suppliers connected through platform partners such as
Intuit
Fastest growing B2B platform in the world today with more than
2000 suppliers joining every week

WHO WE WORK WITH
SBS
Some large suppliers on the Tradeshift Network:

TRADESHIFT’S OPEN PLATFORM
APPROACH
CloudScan®
(Paper)
Supplier
Management
TRADESHIFT PLATFORM
Document Transmission, Statuses, Messages, Integration, Security, API
Supplier
Buyer
Order
Management
Electronic
Invoicing
Business
Firewall
Collaborative
Workflow
Financial
Solutions
Build Your Own
App
Ability to expand functionality as needed

3 PRONGS OF SAVINGS
1. AP Automation
• Eliminate paper invoices, reduce invoice
approval cycle time, and improve visibility
and overall AP processes Business
Case
per
$1B
of
Spend
$600K
$3.5M+
2. Early Payment Discounts
Discount program management and dynamic
discounting, savings of $3-5M per billion of
spend.
3. Power of the Platform $3.6M
Rapid innovation through apps: Legal
compliance in mandate countries, supplier
information & risk management, tax
compliance, expense management, billing,
quick quotes, contract compliance, more…
Real-time supply chain information:
Minimizes currency risk, eliminates quarterly
AP
Automation
cost data lag, enables better cash plan and
business plan design.
Total
Business
Case
Additional Benefits
Apps
Early Pay
Discounts $7.1M+
$3M

Paper, PDF, Email, Fax
EDI, XML, e-invoice, PO Flip, Portal

CONTACT INFO
Jon Casher
www.casherassociates.com
jcasher@casherassociates.com
+1.617.527.3927
Vishal Patel
Tradeshift.com
vpa@tradeshift.com
+1.781.492.2525
@VishalP_

BUILDING YOUR
BUSINESS CASE for P2P
TRANSFORMATION
Thanks for joining us!
• Visit tradeshift.com/resources
• Slides and recording will be sent out afterwards

Building Your Business Case for P2P Automation

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