SharePoint vs OpenText: The Best Purchase Order Automation Software in

Considering the current competitive landscape, firms of all shapes and sizes must develop ways to enhance efficiency and productivity, while lowering expenses wherever possible.

A great place to begin is with business process automation (BPA). Through BPA, you could streamline tedious and taxing tasks, reduce the burden for your colleagues, and enhance your system by increasing productivity and boosting reliability.

There are a variety of tasks and business fields that could benefit from BPA. One of the most frequent adopters are Accounts Payable departments who can use BPA to automate purchase order processing, payroll, and invoicing.

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

To start, let us discuss what purchase order automation is and how it performs.

What is Purchase Order Automation?

Automated purchase order tools employ 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 requests can be produced in a matter of seconds using pre-formatted layouts, and transmitting functionality can deliver authorizations directly to the supply chain vendor when the approval workflow is done.

This eliminates the need for human intervention, record filing systems, and makes the operation faster and more efficient.

The Purchase Order Process

Though the purchase order process can differ slightly from one company to the next, the following offers an excellent example of a conventional, by-hand purchase order system.

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

Step 2: Then another staff member will evaluate and approve or reject the purchase order.

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

Step 4: Once completed, the firm will then obtain its product or service.

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

Step 6: The invoice should be reviewed and authorized, and payment is released to the vendor.

Step 7: The final step of the purchasing process is to file the related files to create an audit trail.

This may not seem like a lot of steps, but for this workflow to operate normally, all parties from your AP personnel, to sales representatives, suppliers, and managers, must all provide accurate, timely responses. Most businesses can testify that this is grueling.

There are numerous advantages to automating this procedure, which we’ll explore in the next chapter.

The Benefits of an Automated Purchase Order Process

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

• Lower Costs

• Time Saved from Manual Processes

• Real-Time Operational Visibility

• A Faster, More Efficient Purchasing Method

• Reduced Physical Error

• Improved Utilization of Human Resources

Now that we’ve reviewed what purchase order automation is, the aspects of the procedure that can be automated, and the advantages of purchase order tools, let us now talk about two of our preferred automation solutions, OpenText and Microsoft SharePoint.

SharePoint vs OpenText

SharePoint Overview

SharePoint is an enterprise content management solution (ECM) that, at its core, is a tool for handling, collaborating on, and distributing data.

However, with the inclusion of Microsoft PowerApps Power Automate, you can easily adapt SharePoint’s functionality to include automation to several of your AP processes.

Pros

• Superb user experience and interface

• Minimal learning curve for new users

• Metadata search improves searchability

Cons

• No native information imaging or capture capability

• Weak at fulfilling compliance requirements in a few sectors

• SharePoint Online not equipped to handle Enterprise ECM needs

OpenText Overview

OpenText is also an ECM solution but offers advanced add-ons that empower organizations to automate processes, augment business activities, and reduce the risk connected to governance and intellectual property.

Pros

• A superior choice for business with a high level of compliance

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

• OpenText Documentum expands its features with case and inventory management functionality.

Cons

• Complex UX/UI

• Often requires professional configuration to ensure it fulfills business needs

• Can get costly for enterprise functionality and add-ons

SharePoint & OpenText Pricing & Features Analysis

How Wave Can Assist You in Implementing Purchase Order Automation in

The truth is hand-operated workflows in your accounting system just slow your business down, create logjams and process headaches, and consequently hurt your growth and adaptability.

Extended payment cycles can also lead to higher costs associated with purchase order management and invoice processing, reduce your transparency and control, and can damage your supplier partnerships.

At Wave, we can assist you in streamlining your accounts payable (AP) processes end-to-end, including purchase orders, procurement, data entry, approval process, invoicing, payments, and even document storage platforms.

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

We can assist you in implementing your accounts payable automation solution on-premises, in the cloud, or in a hybrid concept depending on your business regulations, budget, and compliance guidelines.

To learn more, reach out right now for a free consultation.