Selecting a purchase order cloud software is an important decision that shouldn’t be taken lightly. There is so much procurements software out there, each with its product features. Individually, they all have their advantages and weaknesses, some are designed for small to medium-sized enterprises, and some for large corporations. But in the end, it all boils down to what your enterprise needs.
So, before you make your choice, make sure what you’re going to select has the following product features.
1. Vendor Database
Without a vendor database, it will be much harder for you to locate and track information about your vendors. In essence, a vendor database allows you to track vendor payment, order histories, and service terms. Selecting the best supplier out of a long list is something you’ll need to consider carefully. Therefore, a vendor database is a top feature you must consider in your cloud purchase order software.
2. Automated Purchase Orders
Automation is a software feature that your employees will be particularly happy about. Instead of creating every purchase order from scratch, automation will allow them to automatically create the purchase orders after every condition is met. Recurring or automated purchase orders can lift a heavy load from your team, which will no longer have to oversee and authorize every purchase.
3. Status Tracking
This is another leading feature you’ll need to consider in your procurement software. PO status tracking will help a number of your teams — including service, production, and job teams to better plan their activities. In addition, your sales team will better communicate with your prospects and clients about when they expect to fulfill future orders.
4. Document Creation
The document creation is a must-have feature for your next cloud purchase order software. The procurement software must be able to create official documentation that enables seamless communications with your suppliers and track procurements – who ordered, oversaw, who approved, etc.
5. Purchase Approval and Requisition
Organizations need to ensure that their resources are not wasted. That is why purchase requisition is done, where managers decide to oversee and approve purchase requirements. An automated procurement software will have a formalized and optimized way of requisition approval that will help control costs as well. A superior cloud purchase order software has an automated requisition form that helps your employees quickly fill forms and save time.
Other Superior Purchase Order Software Features
Alongside the above, there are supplementary features that will signify a great purchase order software. Always select a purchase order software with the following features.
Data analytics
An automated procurement software allows you to keep track of your purchase order history, to help make better business decisions. When you track purchase orders, you track crucial information that is crucial for business success – such as how much time is taken to process purchase orders.
Vendor lead-time
The best way to select vendors is to determine their lead times. By tracking start times for purchase orders (when they were initiated) to when they were completed, you can identify a vendor’s average lead time. This is a crucial metric since a vendor with a low to average lead time will not meet many of your demands and may lead to delays or losses.
Blank purchase orders
Let’s say you want to keep repeated purchase orders. How will you do that? One of the PO features you need to consider and prioritize is the blank purchase orders. This is a document that authorizes any repeated purchases until specific conditions are met. For example, a blank PO can run until a certain amount has been reached.
Receiving management
Have the goods ordered been delivered in quality and quantity? What if your goods are late, in bad condition or not there at all? This is where you are lucky if your cloud purchase order software has received management functionality. This particular PO feature will enable you to put workflows in place and resolve any glaring issues.
Cloud Purchase Order Software – Streamlines Procure-to-Pay Processes
The purchase order software automates the procure-to-pay process by enabling you to do the following tasks with ease.
- Request – The software allows you to pick your desired item from your preferred vendors in a customized online catalog.
- Approve – Move the approval process forward with powerful approval routing. Streamline purchase workflow without chasing people or being chained to your office desk.
- Purchase – Orders would be processed faster if every step of procurement was paperless. This feature allows you to create and share purchase orders instantly.
- Receive – The purchasing software eliminates the tedious task of checking what you’re charged against what you’ve received. The purchase orders, order invoices, and order receipts are compared instantly, highlighting issues and saving you money.
- Accounts payable – The software eliminates the time wasted tracking down requesters and approvers for a supplier invoice. Using the automated three-way process reduces human error in the reconciliation process and automates sending authorized payments.
- Search and track – With cloud PO software, you’ll never have to worry about audits. Tracking purchases is easy when the full audit trail is kept for every order, giving you better visibility and spend management.
- Report – Quite often, businesses and organizations are required to create a budget report. With live budgetary forecasts, your sales team has the report they need. The software helps you create detailed spend analysis reports within seconds.
ProcurePort – Leading Partner for Cloud Purchase Order Software
Automating your purchase orders is the first step towards greater efficiency. With ProcurePort’s simple-to-use PO software, you will drastically reduce paperwork, eliminate bottlenecks and manage purchase tasks on the go. With ProcurePort, you can accelerate purchase processes and free up your sales staff for more value-added tasks.