4 Benefits of Increased Visibility in the Procurement Workflow

A key trait of any high-performing procurement organization is visibility. These organizations give deeper views into spend, contracts, and sourcing. Greater visibility means enhanced information sharing, faster communication and better, more informed decisions for the entire organization.

Here are four key benefits that result from greater visibility in the procurement cycle:

Reduce time spent managing contract status communications.

Consider the communication issues tied to contract management. In many cases, stakeholders involved in the contracts process have a very limited view into contract details, especially if they aren’t directly associated with the contract. With the right process and tools, all stakeholders can be allowed to monitor the detailed progression of the contract as it moves through the workflow. In turn, it means the contract manager, has to spend less time communicating details to stakeholders, who are greatly more informed.

Clearly see others who are working the same projects to streamline workflow.

In most organizations, there are a number of stakeholders across multiple departments that need access to work-related documents associated with a particular project or grant. Such documents might include requisitions, purchase orders and invoices. When all potential stakeholders are able to access documents tied to the project or grant code, it enhances overall workflow efficiency.

Greater insight into budgets.

When invoices are submitted by suppliers, some employees might be unsure of what budget levels are available to pay for non-PO invoices. Giving employees have a clear view into the budgets available to pay for services, they are empowered to adjust the payment process when budgets might be insufficient. This empowers all employees and benefits the quarterly budgeting process.

Make quicker, more informed decisions.

This is the benefit that we all want to get to — information at your fingertips, eliminating guesswork. When managing the bid process, for example, buyers need to be able to generate enhanced macro-level, award summaries and comparison reports. When this process is sped up, so is the decision process.

While spend visibility continues to be a top goal among procurement professionals, visibility across the procurement workflow (upstream and downstream) can provide significant value to the entire organization.