Case studies
Pan-European Purchase-To-Pay Programme
SECTOR
Pharmaceuticals
SPECIALISM
Procurement
FOCUS
Technology adoption to drive visibility, governance, and efficiencies.
OVERVIEW
This global pharmaceutical organisation was experiencing significant problems due to outdated, under-developed, and siloed business systems which resulted in limited spend visibility, low levels of supplier management, time-consuming manual processes, missed opportunities to achieve value for money, and loss of productivity.
A new ERP programme comprising Manufacturing, Logistics, Finance, Financial Planning & Analysis, and Purchase To Pay (P2P) was initiated spanning 14 countries and all company departments in those territories.
Our key remit was to operate as Business Process Owner for the P2P Work Stream, responsible for defining, designing, configuring, and implementing an end-to-end Requisition-To-Pay solution for the European organisation.
Core objectives included achieving an integrated ERP environment, populating the system with high quality data, comprehensive data analytics and reporting capabilities, high levels of governance and spend under active management, and increasing financial performance by reducing internal and external operating costs.
VISIBILTY
We selected, formed, led, and managed the P2P Work Stream team comprising in-house staff from staff from Procurement, Finance, Accounts Payable and, once appointed, the technical resources from the Systems Integrator.
Transactions data (£170M annual Capex and Opex expenditures; 7,000 suppliers) were extracted from existing systems, compiled, and analysed to create a clear understanding of the company's third party spend and supplier base, the quality of data and content in existing Purchase Orders, current ways of working, and the effects of inefficient administration on departmental productivity.
VALUE
All countries launched on schedule in accordance with agreed timescales and key milestones, with full system functionality and data access for all users.
PO-Invoice 'First Time Match and Pay' errors reduced by more than 30% in the first month alone and were key to reducing the significant waste of manual time and effort in Accounts Payable and operational support roles when resolving PO-invoice mismatches.
The size of the supplier base was reduced by 70%, from 7,000 to 2,100.
When combined with the implementation of other transactions management platforms (separate scopes of work) spend visibility increased to close to 100% and spend under Procurement management to 90%.
Achieved a work stream budget surplus of 30%.
>30%
Reduction in PO-Invoice matching errors
70%
Supplier rationalisation
30%
Under-spend versus budget
EFFECTIVENESS
We led the formal enquiry, negotiation, and selection of Systems Integrator services including onshore / near shore / offshore resources, hourly and daily charges, and expenses to suit the requirements of the overall ERP programme and its multiple Work Streams, and managed the SI and their system configuration architects for the P2P Work Stream.
This complex project required extensive activities and outputs which included :
A staggered project programme at the country level to achieve the most efficient use of team resources across repetitive activities.
Best practice P2P workflows, system inputs and outputs, roles and responsibilities, financial authorisation matrices to ensure that the new solution would be fit for purpose.
Identifying existing and future system users and licencing requirements.
A hierarchical Procurement Categorisation structure which would become central to new workflows, spend management, and detailed reporting.
Data cleansing, completion, and validation ready for import.
New Master Data records for all frequently purchased goods and services to ensure consist and high-quality data entry.
Criteria for classifying suppliers as dormant and excluding them from data import.
Preferred suppliers for specific goods and services to ensure spend funnelling, adherence to negotiated pricing, and lock-in savings.
A solution to the conflicting requirements for local languages and single business language in all P2P documents across the region.
Robust governance and change control to minimise unnecessary scope creep.
A system blueprint which approved by the ERP programme SteerCo.
Configuration of the new system.
Importing of master data.
Rigorous test scripts (hundreds) and rectifying errors prior to implementation.
Comprehensive training to more than 200 licenced users and 600 business operations staff prior to their use of the new system to ensure high levels of understanding and compliance with Procurement policies and P2P Standard Operating Procedures.
Comprehensive supplier communications including expectations, business drivers, actions to be completed, and key milestone dates.
Go-live of the new system including providing hypercare to each country and its users to assist with the rapid adoption of the new platform and ways of working.