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

In today’s competitive landscape, businesses of all shapes and sizes must find ways to increase productivity and efficiency, while lowering expenses wherever necessary.

A great place to start is with business process automation (BPA). With BPA, you could simplify repetitive and time-consuming tasks, ease the stress on your colleagues, and improve your workflows by increasing efficiency and amplifying accuracy.

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

In this post, we’ll focus on purchase order automation - how it functions, why automation is a perfect option for this area, and assess a couple of our favorite PO process automation platforms: Microsoft SharePoint and OpenText.

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

What is Purchase Order Automation?

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

Via automation, purchase requests can be produced in a few clicks from pre-formatted layouts, and forwarding functionality can send authorizations directly to the supply chain contractor when the approval workflow is complete.

This removes the need for human intervention, document filing processes, and makes the operation simpler and more efficient.

The Purchase Order Process

While the purchase order process can look slightly different from organization to organization, the following offers an excellent example of a typical, hand-operated purchase order process.

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

Step 2: Then another team member will assess and approve/reject the purchase order.

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

Step 4: Once completed, the business will then acquire its service or product.

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

Step 6: The invoice will need to be examined and authorized, and payment is issued to the merchant.

Step 7: The last step of the purchasing process is to file or archive the related records to provide an audit trail.

This may not seem like a lot of steps, but for this workflow to operate normally, all parties from your AP team members, to sales reps, suppliers, and executives, must all deliver precise, prompt responses. Several firms can testify that this is way harder than it sounds.

There are numerous advantages to automating this process, which we’ll review in the following section.

The Advantages of an Automated Purchase Order Process

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

• Lower Costs

• Time Saved from Hand-Operated Tasks

• Real-Time Insight Into Activities

• A Faster, More Optimized Purchasing Procedure

• Decreased Manual Error

• Improved Utilization of Human Resources

So, now that we’ve established what purchase order automation entails, the parts of the process that could be automated, and the benefits of purchase order solutions, let’s now go over two of our favorite automation options, OpenText and Microsoft SharePoint.

SharePoint vs OpenText

SharePoint Overview

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

Having said that, with the addition of Microsoft PowerApps Power Automate, you can easily modify SharePoint’s features to include automation to most of your AP processes.

Pros

• Superb UX/UI

• Short learning curve for new users

• Metadata search enhances searchability

Cons

• No integrated information capture or imaging functionality

• Weak at following compliance guidelines in a few sectors

• SharePoint Online not equipped to fulfill Enterprise ECM requirements

OpenText Overview

OpenText is an ECM tool as well, but provides advanced add-ons that enable organizations to automate workflows, improve organizational operations, and lower the risk related to governance and intellectual property.

Pros

• A superior alternative for compliance-heavy organizations

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

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

Cons

• Complicated UX/UI

• Often necessitates professional configuration to ensure it fulfills organizational needs

• Can be pricey for corporate capabilities and add-ons

SharePoint & OpenText Pricing & Features Diagram

How Wave Can Help You Implement Purchase Order Automation in Anaheim

The fact is that physical processes in your accounting framework basically slow your company down, generate hindrances and process issues, and ultimately hurt your development and flexibility.

Extended billing cycles can also contribute to greater costs associated with purchase order management and invoice processing, limit your transparency and control, and can add strain to your supplier relationships.

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

We work with Microsoft Dynamics, SAP, Netsuite, Oracle, and ECM and ERP solutions like those we’ve examined in this piece and also Oracle, Xerox, MFiles, and more.

We can help you deploy your AP automation solution on-site, in the cloud, or in a hybrid model depending on your organizational regulations, budget, and compliance requirements.

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