The complexity is gone and the insight improved
The approximately 1200 employees of the Provincie Noord-Brabant are committed to a beautiful, future-proof and sustainable region every day. "To perform their core tasks, most of them have to deal with purchase order or invoices from time to time," says Dirk Booltink, Coordinator of Administration at the province. Avelon Procure to Pay has made these processes considerably more efficient and simpler.
"In the order and invoice handling process, we previously ran into things that were not so user-friendly," Booltink outlines. "For example, booking an invoice or dealing with a purchase order had to be done directly in our SAP ECC system. That's quite inconvenient if you don't work in SAP on a daily basis."
"We also worked with PR's (purchase requisitions) that we collected and transferred to purchase orders", continues Booltink. According to the coordinator, this method led to ambiguities and inefficiencies. "You have to deal with different types of documents. We recorded some data in a PR, and others in the purchase order. But what is the truth? For the users, the approval process of a purchase order was also difficult to follow."
"The usability of SAP has improved tremendously."
Avelon P2P Suite
The desire to reduce complexity for users and improve insight and efficiency initiated the implementation of SAP S/4HANA and the Procure to Pay suite from Avelon. This is a modern, user-oriented solution for a simple, streamlined, compliant and audit-proof purchase order and invoice handling process in SAP.
"In the S/4HANA implementation project, there was already contact with Avelon," says Cees Vermond, Provincie North-Brabant team leader of the SAP service team. "After a few demos of the P2P suite and a reference visit to the province of Overijssel, we were quickly enthusiastic about this solution. Avelon also provides reports that you can use right out of the box. In the old situation, we had a lot of customization with very few standard reports and overviews."
"With Avelon procure to pay, we have a future-proof solution"
Due to dependencies within the large S/4HANA project, the implementation of the P2P suite took time, according to Booltink and
Vermond 'quite a long time'. "That was certainly not due to the solution, or to Avelon", emphasizes the team leader of the SAP service team. "We have always found the cooperation to be very pleasant. And even now, Avelon always thinks critically with us and support tickets are quickly picked up."
Fiori apps
According to Booltink, the results of the P2P implementation are impressive. "The complexity for the user has completely disappeared." Where they previously had to log into the SAP GUI, they now have a web page with 'tiles' (Fiori apps) for example for requesting a purchase order, approving a purchase order or approving invoices. Vermond: "And the system automatically enforces four eyes principles in the procurement process."
Purchase requisitions have also been dropped. Booltink: "A provisional purchase order is now created immediately, which shortens the processing time. After approval, the provisional purchase order is converted into a definitive purchase order, but it remains the same document. It is always clear where which information can be found, and what the status is of a purchase order or an invoice. This creates more insight into and control over the processes."
Chatbot
"With Avelon Purchase to Pay we have a future-proof solution", concludes Booltink. "It's also a solution that can always be improved as and when required. This can be done by introducing new Fiori apps, but also with a chatbot, for example. We're currently working on a proof of concept with Avelon for that."
"A chatbot can answer simple questions like 'what is the status of an invoice or purchase order?' that would otherwise be asked by phone," Vermond adds. "It's another way of making it easier for employees who only work with SAP occasionally. They can call on the chatbot 24/7. This allows the administration to focus more on the more complex tasks. As a province, we therefore see broad application possibilities for chatbots."
More information
For questions or information about the possibilities of the SAP Procure to Pay solutions and chatbots within your organization or for questions regarding SAP Workflow, Fiori, SAP Invoice Management (SIM) or SAP Master Data Governance (MDG) please contact Victor van den Hazelkamp.
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