This document summarizes the opportunities for robotic process automation (RPA) across the procurement lifecycle. It discusses how RPA can automate tasks in spend analytics, strategic sourcing, contract management, requisitioning, purchasing, and payments. A case study describes how one company automated purchase request to purchase order workflows using RPA, reducing full-time employees by 50% and achieving return on investment within one month. The document also outlines some challenges and best practices for RPA implementation, including establishing a center of excellence and taking a phased approach to standardization and industrialization.

1. Robotic Process Automation - Transforming
the Procurement Back and Middle Office
RPA Asia 2017, Singapore
Raghu Ram
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2. Deconstructing the procurement lifecycle
Potential areas for RPACopyright: Xchanging plc
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3. Spend Analytics
ü Time Saving
ü Minimal Error from human
intervention
ü FTE Savings à Larger margins
o Collect & Aggregate Spend data by
business units, category, country,
product etc.
o Calculate and display key
performance indicators for decision
making through automated
reporting
o Standardization of key metrics for
compliance and highlight potential
risk areas through various reports
Opportunities for Automation Key Benefits
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BOTability– Gather and analyze spend

4. Strategic Sourcing
ü Time Saving
ü Minimal Error from human
intervention
ü FTE Savings à Larger margins
ü Redeployment of staff to pursue
second level discussions with
vendors
o Creation of eRFx based on inputs
from analytics from the previous
hand-off
o Online distribution & receipt of
NDAs and other compliance
documentation as per defined
formats
o First level responses automatically
collected and categorized across
suppliers
o Generate list of shortlisted suppliers
based on pre-defined criteria and
scoring / ranking algorithms
Opportunities for Automation Key Benefits
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BOTability– Sourcing events, Evaluate responses, Supplier shortlist

5. Contract Management
ü Creating paperless procurement
environment
ü Increased volume of electronic
transactions
ü Staff redeployed to mission critical,
high touch activities
ü Tighter governance
o Creation of Statement of Work
based on key input variables e.g.
rate card definition, system uptime,
minimum training hours etc.
o Collect & store contracts based on
pre-determined criteria
o Prepare executive summary of
contracts with salient points for
consideration
o Automated reports against
contractual obligations
Opportunities for Automation Key Benefits
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BOTability– Contract finalization, SLA management

6. Requisitioning
ü Monitoring & Alert mechanism for
pending workflow processes
ü Redeployment of FTE to focus on
high-value PRs
o Automated PR approval workflow
management
o Air traffic control of Purchase
Requisition to Purchase Order
Opportunities for Automation Key Benefits
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BOTability– Create purchase request and workflow

7. Purchasing
ü Time Saving
ü Minimal Error from human
intervention
ü FTE Savings
ü Redeployment of FTE to focus on
high-value Purchase Order’s
o Automated creation of Purchase
Orders based on inputs from
Purchase Requisition
o Automated execution of Purchase
Order for low value transactions
Opportunities for Automation Key Benefits
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BOTability– Create purchase order for spot buys

8. Payments
ü Time Saving
ü Automated Data analysis and
reporting
ü FTE Savings
ü Redeployment of FTE to focus on
high-value POs
o Automated Invoice checking &
approval workflow processes
o Straight-Through-Processing (STP)
for low value invoices
o Automated data collection & input
into financials for subsequent spend
governance & forecasting
Opportunities for Automation Key Benefits
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BOTability– Invoice receipt, reconciliation & settlement

9. Opportunities for RPA exist at every hand-off’s
that occur across the procurement lifecycle
Source: Xchanging plc
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10. Expected levels of improvement across
procurement lifecycle
BOTabilityquotient
15 to
30%
30 to
60%
60 to
100%
Areas of Procurement
Verification
& Approval
Invoice
Processing
Supplier
Payments
Discrepancy
Resolution
PO
Processing
Supplier
Master
Mgmt
Automation of standardized
reporting & data management
Rule-based resolution of cases and post
issue analysis
Digital formats & OCR / Extraction engine
for faster processing
Increased accuracy and
consistency of PR/PO cycle
o Automated maintenance of multiple systems to
maintain a common supplier records across BUs
o Automated recognition of scanned content & digital
exception handling
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11. RPA pilot in automating
Purchase Request to Purchase Order –
case study in a large global MNC
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12. A: Business Process Engineering
BPE will ensure that:
••Process documentation is current and updated
••Enhance the knowledge and understanding of the current AS–
IS state of the processes
••It helps build a repository which will aid in the overall RPA
journey
Perform the following key activities:
••Standardization of processes to the extent possible
••Simplification of Processes
••Identifying Process Controls
••Identify opportunities for automation
••Deploying methodologies like Lean/Six Sigma as applicable
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13. B: Orchestration of Business process
o Technology Agnostic
o Select and implement the right BPM tool which is highly
configurable and can be shaped to meet the needs of the
procurement business e.g.:
Ø Unified Workflow
Ø OCR Extraction
Ø Queue Management
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14. C: Automation Plan / Timelines
RPA Solution Timelines
Assessment (2-4 weeks) Build (4-6 weeks) Transfer (1-2 weeks)
Automation Assessment
& Recommendations
Approved
RPA Roadmap
High-level Business
Process Analysis
Outliers and Exception
Rules
Data Dictionary & KPI
formulas / definitions
Infrastructure
Assessment
As-Is vs To-Be business
process analysis
Design
Development
Go Live
UAT Test Case
Creation &
Documentation
RPA Bot Development
Testing
Monitoring & Bug Fixes
Continuous Process
Improvement
Infrastructure
configuration
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15. OPEX Reduction
Ø Redeployed 80 out of 150 staff
Ø Reduced FTE costs by 50% from over $500K to $250K
Ø Build, Operate and Transfer within 2 months
Ø Return on Investment through RPA recognized within 1 month
There is immense opportunity to maximise
upside from RPA within procurement
$250,000
(per month)
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16. RPA is the natural progression from
manual to cognitive processing of tasks…
User logs into
platform to check
for orders
PO validation and
verification
Application of
custom pricing &
discounts based on
client contract
PO Approval
w/ additional
discounts if
applicable
PO issued, invoiced
(has errors)
Manual Process
Software pulls data
from system,
checks for new PO
PO downloaded
and pushed
automatically into
legacy system
Manual validation
based on customer
contract terms
Discounts
automatically
applied
Software uploads
PO to customer
system
Robotics Process Automation
Software pulls data
from system,
checks for new PO
PO downloaded
and pushed
automatically into
legacy system
Customer contract
processed with NLP
to extract terms and
match with order
Discounts
automatically
applied
Software uploads
PO to customer
system
Cognitive Process Automation

17. …however, we must be aware of some
key challenges & pitfalls
30%
24%
14%
9…
23%Too early to identify processes
Unclear about RPA offering
Cost+ licensing models not aligned to value
Determining best approach towards Center of Excellence
Identifying right processes
Challenges – Pre Implementation
Potential Failures – During Implementation
Undocumented, unverified or non-
standardized processes
Selecting the wrong process for
automation
Trying to do too much in one go
Siloed business lines
Internal cultural resistance
Selecting the wrong RPA software
Underestimating the degree of
difficulty
Lack of “culture of innovation”
Mentality of labour is cheap
Regulatory restrictions
Restrictive procurement processes

18. Adopt a 3-phased approach
Set up an RPA Centre of
Excellence
o Offer existing resources
training + add new
resources
o Create an RPA CoE
Industrialize
o Partner with software
product firm to build
industry specific
(example: Life Sciences,
Financial Services) bot
store tailored for your
company
Standardize
o Robotize top 5 money
leaking process
o Bundle existing processes
with RPA to implement zero
touch or minimal touch
processes

19. Thank You!
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