The document summarizes the results of a survey conducted by Invu regarding the purchasing processes of medium sized businesses. Some of the key findings include: - 84% used manual or Excel/Word documents for their purchasing process - 50% used budgets proactively - 36% said their purchasing system was not easy to use - 70% considered their authority register simple but 50% did not document it - 78% could recognize approval signatures on invoices - 85% considered their chart of accounts well understood by approvers - 47% used a purchasing system based on MS Office or manual processes - 45% processed invoices manually - 83% did not regularly pay suppliers on time - 44% delayed management

1. Mind the Gap!
The deluded FD meets the CTO

2. Pay
History &
Catalog
Drives
Quote
Purchase
Order
Purchase
Order
Approval
Workflow
Purchase
Request(s)
Purchase
Request(s)
Receipt(s)Receipt(s)
Vendor
Invoice(s)
Place Deliver Send
Payment
3 Way Match
Match
or
Amend
Budget
Data
In our survey 84% of respondents reported that they used manual or Microsoft excel/word documents
as part of their purchasing process.

3. Budgets, Plans and Forecasts
Invu survey: 50% mid size businesses use budgets proactively.

4. Requisitions
Invu survey: 36% say their purchasing system is not easy to use

5. Authority
Invu survey: 70% of finance decision makers consider their authority register to be simple and well
understood and 50% of these did not document it.

6. Identity

7. Identity
Jennifer Smith
Invu survey: 78% of finance decision were confident that those processing invoices
could recognise approval signatures.

8. Coding
Invu survey: 85% of finance decision makers consider their chart of accounts
is well understood by invoice approvers.

9. Purchase Order: Approval
Invu survey: 47% of medium sized companies use a purchasing system based
on MS office or manual processes.

10. Receiving

11. Invoice Receipt
Invu survey: 45% of medium sized businesses process invoices manually

12. Invoice Approval & Coding
Invu survey: 83% of medium sized businesses did not regularly pay their suppliers on time.

13. Invoice Entry

14. Options for automating the process
E invoicing/EDI
• Data as Data
• Drives the process
• BUT needs Supplier participation
OCR Invoice Capture
• Extracts (most of the) data
• Drives the process
• No supplier change required
Barcode sticker / scanning
• Organizes data
• No capture of data
• Does not drive the process
Too hard….. Too easy…no reward!Just right!

15. Accruals
Invu survey: 44% of medium sized businesses delayed their management accounts to wait for
invoices they already had received to be processed.

16. Payment
Invu survey: 60% of medium sized businesses occasionally or frequently made
Duplicate payments to suppliers.

17. Concluding Remarks