The challenge
Procurement and payables operated differently across regions, with varied approval paths and inconsistent supplier data. This made it hard to understand total spend with a given supplier or to apply consistent controls.
A high volume of invoices was processed manually, which was slow and error prone and gave limited visibility into commitments and liabilities at any point in time.
Leadership wanted to standardize procure to pay on a modern platform to strengthen control, improve visibility into spend and reduce the manual effort in payables.
Technology landscape
Regional procurement and payables processes with differing approval structures and fragmented supplier master data.
Largely manual invoice handling with limited automation and reconciliation.
Finance and operational systems that needed accurate, consistent procurement and payables data.
Our approach
We designed standardized procure to pay processes and a consolidated supplier master, agreeing common approval structures that still respected genuine regional requirements.
We prioritized establishing the core procurement and payables flows on the new platform, then extended standardization across regions in waves.
We engaged procurement and finance teams in each region to validate the design and clean supplier data, building the trust needed to retire local variations.
Implementation
We implemented Oracle Financials Cloud procurement and payables with the standardized processes and consolidated supplier master, configuring automated invoice handling and matching to reduce manual steps.
We migrated supplier and open transaction data after thorough cleansing and reconciliation, validating results with regional teams before each cutover.
We integrated the platform with related finance and operational systems and trained users on the standardized processes, with support through the early weeks of each wave.
Outcomes
- Standardized processes and a consolidated supplier master improved visibility into total spend and made controls easier to apply consistently.
- Automated invoice handling reduced manual processing effort and the errors that came with it.
- Clearer, more current information on commitments and liabilities supported better cash and spend management.
- A common platform across regions simplified reporting and made further improvement easier to roll out.