Generate purchase orders and import external purchase orders. Boost the efficiency in your purchasing processes and increase cost awareness in your organization with our solution for purchase order automation.
Take Control of Your PO process with Rillion’s PO software
Easy-to-use, fast setup, cloud-enabled. Gain better accuracy, speed, visibility, and control of your purchase order management with Rillion’s automated purchase order system.
We help you streamline your process with highly flexible, automated PO-approval workflows. Schedule a consultation to learn more about Rillion’s PO software today.
Watch the Demo
Rillion’s Buyer Solution
In this video you will learn how to create requisitions and purchase orders in Rillion Prime – and how the corresponding vendor invoices are matched to the POs upon arrival.
You will also see the online shop feature that can be set up in Rillion for your employees, in order to make it easier for staff to buy the right tools – at the right price – from the right vendor.
Automate Your Purchase Order Management with Rillion
The process for a purchase order is usually both long and complex, requiring a lot of back-and-forth communication between the buyer and seller, such as renegotiating or other changes to the order.
Due to the nature of this type of disorganized communication, information tends to get lost. Even when everything is in order it can still be difficult to keep track of important details. Emails, phone calls, and spreadsheets are not an efficient way to work.
Before the deployment of Rillion’s solution, invoices received as PDF files had to be printed, approved, and coded before being passed to our Accounts Payable department for manual filing – all of which was extremely time-consuming and labor-intensive.
Jeff MacPherson | Financial Analyst, Canadian North Airlines
What is Purchase Order Automation?
Purchase order automation refers to the process of using electronic tools, systems, and PO software to digitize and streamline the entire purchase order process.
Instead of having to rely on manual processes you rely on a solid purchase order software system that automates each step, speeding up the process and increasing accuracy and visibility.
Using Automated Purchase Order Software
Users create a purchase requisition that is put into an automated approval workflow based on your rules. Once approved a purchase order is generated, and the order is sent to the supplier for fullfillment. Employees choose products and services from approved suppliers, at designated prices.
Using the purchase order management system, the incoming vendor invoice is automatically matched against the corresponding (internal or external) PO at the header or line level according to predefined business rules and tolerances.
Any invoices matching within approved tolerances are sent directly to the ERP or accounting system for recording. If any information is missing or incorrect, the system sends all the information necessary to clear the exception to the designated approver.
One invoice can contain items from multiple purchase orders, and one purchase order can be matched to multiple invoices, whether they have been delivered in part or in full:
- Match at the header or line level
- Match internal or external purchase orders with hundreds of lines
- Exceptions are sent to approvers to validate with one-click approval on mobile or desktop
- Provides a complete audit trail, including messages
Benefits of an Automated Purchase Order System
Better visibility
With the reporting features of purchase order solutions, you get improved visibility. You see what employees are spending on and who they are spending it with. Our purchase order solutions allow you to secure better deals with your suppliers or alert you when you should consider alternative suppliers to work with.
You get a better understanding and visibility into indirect spending in the organization. Rillion’s purchase order management system lets you search through all documents in the system to view the status of orders, invoices and payments.
Streamlined indirect procurement process
A purchase order management system has functionalities including:
- Who’ll be able set up business rules dictating which employee has the ability to request products and services for different departments
- Who’s got the authority to approve requisitions and convert them into purchase orders
- Who has the ability to see and process invoices
- Who has the ability to make budget adjustments
Reduces the potential of human error
Manual tasks are prone to human error. Handwriting may be illegible and misinterpreted, or fields may be unintentionally left blank. Simple mistakes can cause long, unnecessary delays in the purchase order process.
Flexibility
Purchase order management systems allow you to create rules and permissions on a fundamental level to restrict purchasing to certain thresholds, suppliers, or items. Create blanket POs and route them automatically for approval. The purchase order system ensures compliance and gives you control over your organization’s indirect spending.
Save time
With all your vendors gathered in one centralized location in a purchase order management system, users won’t have to spend time digging for the required information. The requisition can be put together, clicked, and sent to the approval person in a fraction of the time using a purchase order system compared to manual purchase order management. The approval person can then review the requisition and immediately sign off on it so it becomes an electronic PO, or deny it and include a comment on how it can be amended. The PO is then sent to the vendor.
The purchase automation takes place in real-time. Compare it to traditional paper forms where the order needs to be faxed, mailed, or scanned to create a digital form before forwarding it to the supplier.
There’s a lot of time to be saved using Rillion’s purchase order software. It’s also easier to find the record of all actions taken due to the audit trail the purchase order software generates, so no more time is lost trying to track down missing orders or documents.
Why an Online Purchase Order System is a Competitive Necessity
As your business grows, spending and purchasing grows with it – and not keeping track of it could spell major disaster for you and your company further down the line.
An online purchase order system allows you to digitally create and submit purchase orders, track them, and pay all your invoices from one centralized location. This makes it easier to see who’s spending what and where, and how well your company is sticking to your budget.
While investing in PO software is an expense, it’s an investment that will pay for itself many times over by boosting productivity and streamlining your PO-processes.
Control Indirect Spend and Reduce Maverick Purchases with Rillion
Purchase orders generated by Rillion’s automated purchase solutions are automatically delivered to vendors after they have been approved.
Both internal purchase orders generated by Rillion’s PO software and external purchase orders are located in one place—taking advantage of reporting and PO matching.
Users in Rillion’s online purchase order system can select from a long list of search criteria that can be used to generate custom reports.
Tracking supplier performance, commodity purchases, matching statistics, vendor spend, etc. can all be facilitated in the reporting system. All reports provide a summary result set that can be drilled into for specific details and actual images:
- Employees purchase goods and services within a set budget
- Purchases can be limited to preferred and properly approved suppliers
- Generate better information for price and contract negotiations
What is a purchasing order?
A purchasing order, or “purchase order”, is a document issued by a buyer to a supplier which includes information regarding products or services, quantities and agreed upon prices for the products or services that are ordered. Purchase orders often contain a large amount of data which is why many businesses opt for electronic tools, systems or software to digitize and streamline the entire purchase order process.
How to process a purchasing order?
Purchase orders can be processed manually or by purchase order software. To avoid manual errors many businesses opt for a system that creates and processes purchase orders digitally.
How to set up a purchase order system?
A purchase order system can be stand alone software or it can be part of the functionality in an ERP or accounting system. In either case administrators need to define and create vendors to be processed by the system. They may want to add contract terms, price lists and other conditions that may affect the purchasing process.
How does a purchasing order system work?
It differs from system to system, but very basic functionality includes the possibility for a user to place an order, the automatic sending of the order to a designated supplier and the supplier confirmation of that order. A more sophisticated system may also have an automated approval workflow for purchase orders (approve before the order is placed) and a connection with the invoice processing system to enable automated PO matching.
What is the purpose of a purchase order system?
- To minimize errors and confusions regarding the order
- To reduce manual tasks when creating and sending the order
- To enable automated PO matching to supplier invoices
- To get a quick and easy overview of the buying process including orders, costs, purchasing policy compliance, and supplier behavior
What is the purchase order process?
The purchase order process (PO process) refers to the tasks related to creating and placing an order with a supplier. You create a document (paper or digital) containing information about which products/services, the quantity, and at what price you would like to buy. It also includes the transmission of this information to the vendor as well as the confirmation to the buyer.
