SharePoint vs OpenText: The Best Purchase Order Automation Tool in Pittsburgh

Considering the current competitive landscape, organizations of varying sizes must discover ways to enhance productivity and efficiency, while reducing expenses wherever appropriate.

A great place to start is with business process automation (BPA). With BPA, you could expedite monotonous and taxing tasks, ease the load on your colleagues, and upgrade your workflows by increasing productivity and boosting accuracy.

There are several tasks and business units that could make use of BPA. One of the most prevalent adopters are Accounts Payable units who can utilize BPA to automate invoicing, purchase order processing, and payroll.

In this post, we’re taking a closer look at purchase order automation - how it operates, why automation is a great fit for this area, and assess a couple of our favorite PO process automation platforms: Microsoft SharePoint and OpenText.

To start, let us discuss what purchase order automation is and how it performs.

What is Purchase Order Automation?

Automated purchase order tools utilize business software equipped with artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and robotic process automation (RPA) technology to automate the purchase order procedure.

Via automation, purchase requisitions can be produced in a few clicks from pre-formatted templates, and forwarding functionality can send approvals directly to the supply chain dealer once the approval workflow is finished.

This removes the need for human interference, paper filing processes, and makes the process faster and more efficient.

The Purchase Order Process

Though the purchase order process may differ slightly from one business to the next, the following provides a great example of a conventional, hand-operated purchase order process.

Step 1: The first step is to create a purchase order.

Step 2: Then another team member will evaluate and approve or reject the purchase order.

Step 3: After that, the purchase order must be forwarded to the vendor.

Step 4: Once completed, the business will then receive its product or service.

Step 5: The vendor invoice will thereafter be received by the firm.

Step 6: The invoice will need to be examined and approved, and payment is released to the vendor.

Step 7: The final step of the purchasing process is to file or archive the associated records to create an audit trail.

This might not seem like a lot of steps, but for this workflow to operate normally, all parties from your AP team members, to sales reps, suppliers, and supervisors, must all deliver precise, prompt responses. Many organizations can confirm that this is grueling.

There are several benefits to automating this procedure, which we will review in the next section.

The Benefits of an Automated Purchase Order System

There are several advantages to utilizing purchase order automation solutions for your organization. These include:

• Reduced Expenses

• Time Saved from Physical Tasks

• Real-Time Insight Into Activities

• A Quicker, More Efficient Purchasing Process

• Lessened Physical Error

• Better Utilization of Human Resources

Now that we’ve reviewed what purchase order automation is, the elements of the procedure that could be automated, and the gains of purchase order solutions, let’s now go over a couple of our favorite automation options, OpenText and Microsoft SharePoint.

SharePoint vs OpenText

SharePoint Overview

SharePoint is an enterprise content management platform (ECM) that in its base form, is a tool for managing, collaborating on, and sharing data.

However, with the inclusion of Microsoft PowerApps Power Automate, you can simply modify SharePoint’s functionality to enable automation to most of your AP processes.

Pros

• Superb user experience and user interface (UX/UI)

• Minimal learning curve for new users

• Metadata search enhances searchability

Cons

• No local data capture or imaging capability

• Struggles at meeting compliance guidelines in some sectors

• SharePoint Online is not designed to handle Enterprise ECM requirements

OpenText Overview

OpenText is an ECM tool as well, but offers advanced add-ons that enable organizations to automate tasks, improve business functions, and reduce the risk related to administration and intellectual property.

Pros

• A better alternative for business with a high level of compliance

• Powerful document management, classification, filtering, and access restrictions

• OpenText Documentum adds case and inventory management capabilities to its feature set.

Cons

• Intricate UX/UI

• Often requires expert optimization to ensure it satisfies business needs

• Can be expensive for corporate functionality and add-ons

SharePoint & OpenText Pricing & Features Table

How Wave Can Aid You in Implementing Purchase Order Automation in Pittsburgh

The reality is physical processes in your accounting system simply slow your company down, create logjams and process inefficiencies, and consequently hurt your progress and flexibility.

Longer than necessary billing cycles can also contribute to higher costs associated with purchase order management and invoice processing, impede your insight and control, and can add strain to your supplier relationships.

At Wave, we can assist you in streamlining your AP processes end-to-end, including purchase orders, procurement, data entry, invoicing, payments, approval process, and even document storage solutions.

We work closely with Netsuite, Microsoft Dynamics, SAP, Oracle, as well as ECM and ERP systems like the ones we have examined in this post and also Oracle, Xerox, MFiles, and much more.

We can help you deploy your AP automation solution locally, in the cloud, or in a hybrid framework based on your business rules, budget, and compliance requirements.

To discover more, reach out immediately for a free consultation.