We’re positioning the Free-Procurement Project as free “Purchase Order software” for a bunch of reasons that I won’t go into here but the free version of SpendMap actually includes all 12 modules, including requisitioning, receiving, supplier invoice approval, even inventory control and asset management.
If all you want to do is automate your Purchase Orders, that’s fine – just stick with the Purchasing Module. The functionality is compartmentalized, so you don’t need to use all features/modules if you don’t want to.
But if you’re up for it, you can use SpendMap to automate everything from initial requisition all the way through to the approval of the supplier’s invoice and integration with your Accounts Payable system. This is commonly referred to as “req-to-check” or “purchase-to-pay” (P2P for short).
If you intend to branch out into these other optional areas, however, you should be prepared to present a business case to decision makers and other departments that will be affected, such as the folks in Accounts Payable, department managers who will be approving orders online, perhaps even end-user staff members (requisitioners).
To help you get started building a business case, here’s a list of how e-procurement software can improve your business results at each step of the procurement process…
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The Free-Procurement Project 