SharePoint vs OpenText: The Best Purchase Order Automation Platform in Portland

Considering the current competitive landscape, businesses of all sizes must develop ways to boost efficiency and productivity, while cutting expenses wherever necessary.

One of the best places to begin is with business process automation (BPA). With BPA, you could streamline tedious and taxing processes, ease the burden for your team members, and improve your workflows by increasing productivity and boosting reliability.

There are a number of processes and business sectors that could benefit from BPA. One of the most common adopters are Accounts Payable units who can use BPA to automate purchase order processing, payroll, and invoicing.

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

To begin, let us discuss what purchase order automation is and how it functions.

What is Purchase Order Automation?

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

Through automation, purchase requisitions can be produced in a few clicks from pre-formatted layouts, and transmitting functionality can deliver approvals directly to the supply chain contractor when the approval process is complete.

This removes the need for human intervention, paper filing processes, and makes the operation smoother and more manageable.

The Purchase Order Process

While the purchase order process can look slightly different from organization to organization, the following provides a good example of a conventional, by-hand purchase order process.

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

Step 2: Then another colleague will assess and approve or reject the purchase order.

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

Step 4: Once filled, the firm will then receive its product or service.

Step 5: Then the company will receive the vendor invoice.

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

Step 7: The last step of the purchasing procedure is to file the relevant documents to generate an audit trail.

This may not seem like many steps, but in order for this process to go smoothly, all parties from your AP personnel, to sales agents, suppliers, and executives, must all provide correct, prompt responses. Most firms can testify that this is easier said than done.

There are numerous advantages to automating this procedure, which we will explore in the next section.

The Benefits of an Automated Purchase Order Process

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

• Lower Costs

• Time Saved from Manual Processes

• Real-Time Operational Visibility

• A Faster, More Streamlined Purchasing Process

• Lessened Physical Error

• Greater Utilization of Human Resources

So, now that we have established what purchase order automation is, the aspects of the operation that could be automated, and the benefits of purchase order software, let’s now talk about a couple of our favorite automation tools, OpenText and Microsoft SharePoint.

SharePoint vs OpenText

SharePoint Overview

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

Regardless, with the inclusion of Microsoft PowerApps Power Automate, you can quickly adapt SharePoint’s functionality to include automation to many of your AP processes.

Pros

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

• Minimal learning curve for new users

• Metadata search adds improved searchability

Cons

• No native data capture or imaging capability

• Struggles at fulfilling compliance guidelines in a few industries

• SharePoint Online not equipped to meet Corporate ECM needs

OpenText Overview

OpenText is similarly an ECM platform but includes advanced add-ons that allow organizations to automate processes, augment organizational functions, and decrease the risk associated with governance and intellectual property.

Pros

• A superior option for companies that must adhere to strict regulations

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

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

Cons

• Complicated UX/UI

• Typically requires professional configuration to ensure it fulfills organizational requirements

• Can be expensive for corporate capabilities and add-ons

SharePoint & OpenText Pricing & Features Diagram

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

The fact is that by-hand workflows in your accounting system just slow your company down, generate bottlenecks and process inefficiencies, and consequently hurt your progress and scalability.

Prolonged billing cycles can also lead to greater expenses associated with purchase order management and invoice processing, reduce your transparency and control, and can disrupt your merchant connections.

At Wave, we can help you to streamline your AP processes end-to-end, including data entry, purchase orders, procurement, invoicing, payments, approval process, and even document storage tools.

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

We can assist you in implementing your accounts payable automation software locally, in the cloud, or in a hybrid model contingent on your organizational regulations, budget, and compliance guidelines.

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