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

In today’s competitive marketplace, businesses of varying sizes must develop ways to enhance productivity and efficiency, while lowering expenses wherever possible.

A great place to start is with business process automation (BPA). Via BPA, you can streamline repetitive and laborious processes, reduce the load on your team members, and upgrade your workflows by increasing efficiency and raising reliability.

There are several processes and business sectors that can benefit from BPA. Some of the most prevalent adopters are Accounts Payable units who can utilize BPA to automate purchase order processing, payroll, and invoicing.

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

To start, let’s discuss what purchase order automation is and how it functions.

What is Purchase Order Automation?

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

With automation, purchase requisitions can be created in a few clicks from pre-formatted layouts, and transmitting functionality can deliver approvals directly to the supply chain vendor when the approval process is finished.

This eliminates any need for manual involvement, document filing processes, and makes the process smoother and more efficient.

The Purchase Order Process

Although the purchase order process may differ slightly from one company to the next, the following provides an excellent example of a conventional, physical purchase order process.

Step 1: The first step is creating a purchase order.

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

Step 3: Following that, the purchase order should be routed to the merchant.

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

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

Step 6: The invoice will need to be verified and confirmed, and payment is issued to the merchant.

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

This may not seem like a great deal of steps, but to make this procedure to run efficiently, all participants from your AP staff, to sales representatives, suppliers, and executives, must all deliver correct, prompt responses. Several organizations can attest that this is easier said than done.

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

The Advantages of an Automated Purchase Order Process

There are numerous advantages to adopting purchase order automation software for your company. These include:

• Lower Costs

• Time Saved from Hand-Operated Processes

• Real-Time Operational Visibility

• A Quicker, More Optimized Procurement Procedure

• Decreased Human Error

• Improved Utilization of Human Resources

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

SharePoint vs OpenText

SharePoint Overview

SharePoint is an enterprise content management platform (ECM) that, at its core, is a program for monitoring, collaborating on, and sharing content.

However, with the inclusion of Microsoft PowerApps Power Automate, you can simply customize SharePoint’s features to incorporate automation to most of your AP procedures.

Pros

• Superb user experience and interface

• Short learning curve for new users

• Metadata search aid searchability

Cons

• No native data imaging or capture functionality

• Struggles at following compliance standards in some industries

• SharePoint Online is not designed to handle Enterprise ECM requirements

OpenText Overview

OpenText is similarly an ECM platform but provides powerful add-ons that allow companies to automate workflows, enhance business functions, and lower the risk related to management and intellectual property.

Pros

• A superior option for compliance-heavy organizations

• Robust document classification, filtering, management, and access permissions

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

Cons

• Complex UX/UI

• Often demands specialist configuration to ensure it fulfills business requirements

• Can be pricey for corporate capabilities and add-ons

SharePoint & OpenText Pricing & Features Comparison

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

The fact is that by-hand processes in your accounting framework basically slow your organization down, generate logjams and process inefficiencies, and ultimately hurt your development and flexibility.

Extended payment cycles can also lead to greater expenses associated with purchase order and invoice processing, limit your transparency and control, and can add strain to your supplier partnerships.

At Wave, we can help you to streamline your accounts payable (AP) processes thoroughly, including data entry, purchase orders, procurement, invoicing, payments, approval process, and even file storage solutions.

We work closely with SAP, Netsuite, Microsoft Dynamics, Oracle, in addition to ECM and ERP systems like the ones we have mentioned in this piece and also Oracle, Xerox, MFiles, and many others.

We can assist you in implementing your AP automation tool on-premises, in the cloud, or in a hybrid model based on your organizational rules, budget, and compliance guidelines.

To learn more, contact us right now for a free consultation.