Top Procurement Software Questions

Requisition and procurement automation continues to be a priority for enterprise organizations mainly for the substantial savings, visibility and controls it provides. Today we’re seeing midmarket organizations making procurement automation a top priority in their growth and strategic planning. Investing in and rolling out a new procurement automation is a big undertaking, no doubt! It typically includes research, evaluation and the review of multiple solutions before making decision. Part of this due diligence will most likely include a product demo to determine how a solution will address the company’s specific needs and goals. Interestingly, over the last 12 months, we’ve noticed a number of common questions that come up during these demos. Here are the top 10 questions—asked and answered—that arise during a requisition and procurement software demo.

1. Can I shop a vendor’s website and have those items populate a requisition?

Yes, using PunchOut. PunchOut is an industry-standard technology that provides a method for a purchasing agent to buy from suppliers’ websites from within the buyer’s own procurement application. With PunchOut, users can browse and shop a supplier’s catalog in real-time on the vendor’s website, populating their requisitions automatically, resulting in quick, error-free processing.

2. How difficult is it to create and manage internal catalogs?

Not difficult at all. It’s quick and easy to set up multiple guided buying catalogs to suit your organization’s needs. The software gives you total control over the process, allowing you to enter your own descriptions, pricing and photos. You can also import the data from a spreadsheet. You can have multiple separate catalogs for different office locations, different departments or vendors, or for various categories (like office supplies).

3. Can you restrict a user to only be able to see their own information?

Yes. The software provides extensive controls allowing you to hide fields, default values, restrict entry into fields, and more. You can prevent users from changing key information such as general ledger accounts or department. By individual user or user role, you determine whether a user can see only the transactions they are responsible for. Managers can be allowed to view all transactions for their departments and employees.

4. Can I see how a transaction will affect the budget?

Yes. Flexible budget control configurations ensure that your company’s rules and budget limits are enforced. You decide whether users can see the budget values or not, and you decide whether pre-encumbrances (dollars on an unapproved requisition) count towards the budget limit. The enforcement options are also flexible – you can prevent the entry of an over-budget transaction or elect to route the transaction through the approval process.

5. Does the approver receive a notification when items are pending approval?

Yes. The approver will receive an email detailing the items awaiting their review and approval, and can even perform that approval right from the email.

6. Can the approver get a reminder if they do not approve in a timely fashion?

Yes. If the approver fails to respond in the time you have specified, a reminder email is sent. If you prefer, or if the approval still does not respond, the requests will automatically be escalated to the next approver.

7. Can someone else approve in the place of the approver if they are out of the office?

Yes. If an approver will be away for a period of time, an alternate may be specified so your corporate workflow can continue without delays.

8. How do you set up the routing rules?

This is one question that is best answered by demonstration, and we always show our prospective customers how the routing process can be as simple or as intricate as needed to support their individual business processes. The routing rules are smart and flexible – routing different requests to different approvers based on the dollar amount or the vendor involved, for example.

9. Can I view the attachments that originate in the procurement software within my ERP or do I have to be logged into the procurement software?

The answer is a likely yes, but it does depend upon the ERP solution you are using. Paramount Workplace is tightly integrated with several leading ERP solutions, and many more provide the tools necessary to make this process work. We’re always happy to work with you and your ERP business partner to find a solution that works.

10. Can I see the status of a voucher or payment from within the procurement software?

Here’s another question whose answer will vary based on the ERP software you’re using, but again, it’s likely that the answer is yes.

Have questions of your own? We’ve got answers! Contact a member of our solutions team to see how we can help.