SharePoint vs OpenText: The Ultimate Purchase Order Automation Software in Riverside

Considering today’s competitive landscape, companies of varying sizes must find ways to boost efficiency and productivity, while reducing expenses wherever appropriate.

A great place to start is with business process automation (BPA). Via BPA, you could expedite tedious and time-consuming workflows, reduce the stress on your staff, and enhance your processes by developing efficiency and boosting accuracy.

There are a number of tasks and business fields that could benefit from BPA. Some of the most common adopters are Accounts Payable units who can utilize BPA to automate purchase order processing, payroll, and invoicing.

In this post, we’ll focus on purchase order automation - how it operates, why automation is a perfect fit for this area, and evaluate a couple of our favorite PO process automation platforms: Microsoft SharePoint and OpenText.

To begin, let’s talk about what purchase order automation is and how it works.

What is Purchase Order Automation?

Automated purchase order solutions employ business software armed with artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and robotic process automation (RPA) technology to automate the purchase order process.

Through automation, purchase requests can be created in a few seconds using pre-formatted layouts, and routing functionality can deliver approvals directly to the supply chain contractor when the approval process is complete.

This eliminates any need for physical involvement, document filing systems, and makes the process simpler and more controllable.

The Purchase Order Process

While the purchase order process might differ from one company to the next, the following provides a great example of a conventional, hand-operated purchase order system.

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

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

Step 3: Following that, the purchase order should be forwarded to the contractor.

Step 4: Once filled, the business will then acquire its product or service.

Step 5: The organization will then get the vendor invoice.

Step 6: The invoice should be examined and authorized, and payment is issued to the vendor.

Step 7: Then the final step of the purchasing process is to file the associated files to generate an audit trail.

This may not seem like a lot of steps, but to make this process to go smoothly, all participants from your AP personnel, to sales agents, merchants, and executives, must all deliver correct, timely responses. Several businesses can testify that this is grueling.

There are many benefits to automating this procedure, which we will explore in the next chapter.

The Advantages of an Automated Purchase Order Process

There are a number of advantages to utilizing purchase order automation tools for your organization. These include:

• Cost Savings

• Time Saved from Manual Tasks

• Real-Time Insight Into Activities

• A Quicker, More Optimized Purchasing Procedure

• Decreased Physical Error

• Greater Human Resource Utilization

Now that we have covered what purchase order automation entails, the aspects of the process that could be automated, and the gains of purchase order tools, let us now go over a couple of our favorite automation tools, Microsoft SharePoint and OpenText.

SharePoint vs OpenText

SharePoint Overview

SharePoint is an enterprise content management software (ECM) that in its base form, is a tool for handling, collaborating on, and sharing material.

However, with the inclusion of Microsoft PowerApps Power Automate, you can easily modify SharePoint’s features to include automation to several of your AP procedures.

Pros

• Superb UX/UI

• Short learning curve for new users

• Metadata search aid searchability

Cons

• No native information imaging or capture capability

• Weak at following compliance guidelines in some industries

• SharePoint Online not equipped to meet Corporate ECM requirements

OpenText Overview

OpenText is an ECM tool as well, but provides powerful add-ons that enable businesses to automate processes, augment business activities, and decrease the risk associated with management and intellectual property.

Pros

• A better choice 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

• Complicated UX/UI

• Typically requires specialist optimization to ensure it satisfies organizational needs

• Can get costly for corporate features and add-ons

SharePoint & OpenText Pricing & Features Table

How Wave Can Assist You in Implementing Purchase Order Automation in Riverside

The reality is by-hand workflows in your accounting system simply slow your company down, cause hindrances and process issues, and sooner or later hurt your development and adaptability.

Extended payment cycles can also result in increased costs associated with purchase order and invoice processing, impede your transparency and control, and can disrupt your vendor partnerships.

At Wave, we can aid you in optimizing your accounts payable (AP) processes completely, including data entry, purchase orders, procurement, invoicing, payments, approval process, and even file storage solutions.

We work with Netsuite, Microsoft Dynamics, SAP, Oracle, in addition to ERP and ECM solutions like those we have examined in this post and also Xerox, MFiles, Oracle, and more.

We can assist you in implementing your AP automation software on-premises, in the cloud, or in a hybrid model contingent on your business regulations, budget, and compliance requirements.

To discover more, connect with us today for a free consultation.