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

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

An excellent place to begin is with business process automation (BPA). With BPA, you could simplify monotonous and laborious tasks, ease the stress on your team members, and enhance your workflows by developing productivity and boosting precision.

There are a variety of tasks and business units that can make use of BPA. Among of the most common adopters are Accounts Payable units who can use BPA to automate payroll, invoicing, and purchase order processing.

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

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

What is Purchase Order Automation?

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

Via automation, purchase requests can be generated in a few clicks from pre-formatted templates, and transmitting functionality can deliver authorizations directly to the supply chain vendor once the approval workflow is finished.

This removes the need for human intervention, paper filing systems, and makes the process simpler and more manageable.

The Purchase Order Process

Though the purchase order process may differ slightly from company to company, the following provides a good example of a conventional, hand-operated purchase order system.

Step 1: The first step is purchase order creation.

Step 2: Then another team member will assess and approve/reject the purchase order.

Step 3: After that, the purchase order must be routed to the contractor.

Step 4: Once finished, the company will then obtain its service or product.

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

Step 6: The invoice must be reviewed and confirmed, and payment is released to the merchant.

Step 7: Then the final step of the purchasing procedure is to archive the associated documents to create an audit trail.

This might not seem like a lot of steps, but in order for this procedure to go smoothly, all participants from your AP team members, to sales reps, suppliers, and executives, must all provide correct, prompt responses. Several organizations can testify that this is easier said than done.

There are numerous benefits to automating these steps, which we will review in the next chapter.

The Advantages of an Automated Purchase Order Process

There are a number of advantages to adopting purchase order automation solutions for your company. These include:

• Lower Costs

• Time Saved from Hand-Operated Tasks

• Real-Time Operational Visibility

• A Faster, More Streamlined Purchasing Method

• Lessened Human Error

• Better Human Resource Utilization

So, now that we’ve covered what purchase order automation is, the aspects of the procedure that could be automated, and the benefits of purchase order software, let’s now go over two of our preferred automation solutions, Microsoft SharePoint and OpenText.

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 material.

Regardless, with the integration of Microsoft PowerApps Power Automate, you can quickly modify SharePoint’s functionality to incorporate automation to several of your AP processes.

Pros

• Superb UX/UI

• Minimal learning curve for new users

• Metadata search improves searchability

Cons

• No integrated data capture or imaging capability

• Weak at meeting compliance guidelines in some industries

• SharePoint Online is not designed to handle Enterprise ECM needs

OpenText Overview

OpenText is also an ECM solution but provides advanced add-ons that empower firms to automate tasks, augment organizational functions, and lower the risk associated with governance and intellectual property.

Pros

• A superior choice for compliance-heavy organizations

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

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

Cons

• Complex UX/UI

• Typically requires expert optimization to ensure it fulfills organizational requirements

• Can be pricey for enterprise functionality and add-ons

SharePoint & OpenText Pricing & Features Diagram

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

The reality is hand-operated workflows in your accounting framework basically slow your organization down, cause logjams and process headaches, and ultimately hurt your development and scalability.

Longer than necessary billing cycles can also result in increased costs associated with purchase order and invoice processing, limit your insight and control, and can add strain to your supplier partnerships.

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

We collaborate with Microsoft Dynamics, SAP, Netsuite, Oracle, as well as ERP and ECM solutions like those we’ve discussed in this post and also Oracle, Xerox, MFiles, and much more.

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

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