Automated purchase order confirmation in SAP®
Are you still typing away, or are you already using intelligent logging?
It’s something that every member of staff in purchasing management is familiar with from bitter experience: Order confirmations arrive in the purchasing department every day – by email, post, or fax. There can be a few, several, or hundreds each day – often including urgent deadlines.
Important purchase order confirmations must of course be processed promptly. This means that staff are required to enter the purchase order confirmations in the “purchasing system”. And this is where a process starts that consists of several manual steps and repeats itself daily. Whether it is copy and paste from the email into the system, or simply by typing from a paper document. In this respect, particular attention is paid to Incoterms (International Commercial Terms). This is because important information, such as delivery times, delivery locations and other conditions must be transferred manually and without errors. No matter how you manage the flood of order confirmations, it is always a time-consuming routine task that is also error-prone and tiring.
Advantages of automated purchase order and order confirmations in SAP
Don’t you think that this kind of work could be done more efficiently? We do too. EASY Order Confirmation for SAP® Solutions changes the situation significantly for the better. Enable incoming orders and purchase order confirmations to be logged and read automatically. Whether it is still on paper or by email, or in another digital format. With the intelligent logging of documents from EASY, you can rely on a solution that completes your Purchase-to-Pay process, makes it efficient, and integrates it 100% in SAP®.
- Accelerated process runtimes: The automatic assignment of order confirmations to ordering processes enables the subsequent automatic posting upon receipt of the invoice (with reference to the purchase order).
- Monitoring of Incoterms: Always maintain a reliable overview of all order confirmations and the associated Incoterms.
- Increase in process accuracy: Higher process quality and accuracy due to the elimination of logging errors that otherwise occur during the manual entry of purchase order confirmations.
- Superior process transparency: EASY Order Confirmation for SAP Solutions provides you with individually configurable dashboards for the regular monitoring of order confirmations through reports and evaluations.
- The environment in mind: Using EASY Order Confirmation eliminates the need for paper, folders and filing suites. You therefore save money on both materials and rented space.
- Improvement to the quality of downstream processes: EASY Order Confirmation allows you to interface the goods receipt and invoice receipt processes in SAP following the purchase order confirmation, creating an effective Procure-to-Pay process. Possible errors and sources of error can therefore be identified at an early stage.
The process steps of automated purchase order confirmation in SAP
Logging the order confirmation
Regardless of whether you still receive your purchase order confirmations on paper or in a digital format (PDF, XML, Office documents, etc.) – the intelligent document reader accurately captures all relevant elements and forwards them to the SAP system. Gone are the days of manual and sometimes incorrect input processes. This increases the process quality and relieves your employees of tedious routines surrounding the logging of order confirmations.
Validation of the purchase order confirmation
Identify inconsistencies and errors in purchase order confirmations with EASY Order Confirmation at an early stage. This saves you subsequent time-consuming extra work due to incomplete and/or incorrect deliveries of goods. EASY Order Confirmation validates the Incoterms of the digital order confirmation against the data of the original purchase order from the leading SAP ERP system. Delivery times, delivery locations and other conditions of a purchase order can be monitored and, if necessary, corrected in good time by validating the order confirmation.
Intuitive operation
The intuitive operability by the users is also a priority right from the very start. Thanks to the clearly arranged user interface, all authorised employees can access the visual target/actual comparison of the purchase order and order confirmation. The user interface, realised in SAP Fiori, shows the status of the purchase order confirmation in a familiar way using a coloured traffic light function. In the case of doubts or discrepancies, the person responsible can enter into direct communication with the supplier with just one click.
The electronic purchase order confirmation for a completely digital Purchase-to-Pay
Digital procurement processes are constantly evolving and link all the sub-processes in the logistics chain. However, the logging and digitalisation of order and/or purchase order confirmations is only one, albeit a central, sub-process. EASY Order Confirmation also ensures connectivity to upstream and downstream processes. This means you create the basis for a consistently digitalised Purchase-to-Pay process – and benefit from the following advantages:
The manual workload minimised
Manual changes to order/purchase order confirmations are potentially error-prone and should be reduced to the minimum. Due to the sophisticated AI and an almost one hundred percent recognition rate of the order confirmations, the intelligent document reader is the process accelerator in the P2P process. EASY Order Confirmation transfers all recognized document data to the leading SAP ERP systems in a structured way – quickly and without errors.
Seamless integration in SAP ERP
Thanks to the seamless integration in the SAP ERP system, EASY Order Confirmation ensures minimal administration. Integrated in the SAP authorization system, a granular management of roles and rights is available. The quick and secure linking of related processes is possible with little effort.
Shorter lead times
The integrated process control and the coupling of upstream and downstream process steps in the EASY solution enable you to reduce the processing times for order confirmations considerably. You can manage the correction of the purchase order confirmation directly in EASY Order Confirmation for SAP Solutions.
Form follows function
EASY Order Confirmation convinces purchasing management employees with its ease of use. The context-sensitive navigation from the order confirmation to other SAP business objects such as suppliers, purchase orders, contracts, etc. simplifies the daily work. EASY Order Confirmation offers more than just the straightforward handling of order confirmations.
Process transparency maximised
Transparent monitoring of Incoterms (delivery times, delivery locations and other conditions) for all purchase order confirmations. With EASY Order Confirmation you increase the overall process transparency as well. EASY Order Confirmation allows you to take the first step towards a seamless digital P2P process by rapidly linking other processes that either follow or are related to the procurement process.
Frequently asked questions about digital order confirmation in SAP
How long am I required to keep an order confirmation?
- Once an order confirmation is available, it is legally binding, and must be stored as a commercial letter for 6 years.
- For this purpose, we recommend EASY Archive as the appropriate archiving software.
With which SAP® ERP systems can integrations be completed?
- SAP® Fiori Launchpad (on-premises or SAP Cloud Platform) with SAP Fiori Libraries
- SAP® NetWeaver > 7.40 (patch level no more than 1 year old)
- SAP® Fiori Version > 1.52
Can EASY Order Confirmation for SAP® Solutions also be used on smartphones and tablets?
Yes, we support iOS and Android in current versions.
Does EASY Order Confirmation support other P2P applications?
- EASY Order Confirmation for SAP Solutions integrates seamlessly into the Purchase-to-Pay process. This enables a continuous process and document flow, from the purchase requisition, the request for quotation, the purchase order, the purchase order confirmation and the delivery through to the receipt of the invoice.
- EASY Order Confirmation harmonises perfectly with the other SAP-integrated solutions of EASY Delivery Notes for SAP® Solutions, EASY Invoice Management for SAP® Solutions and EASY Contract Management for SAP Solutions.
How does EASY Order Confirmation help me to keep track of my purchase order confirmations?
EASY Order Confirmation assigns order confirmations to existing procurement processes quickly and efficiently. Order confirmations are immediately compared with information on the initial purchase order (delivery quantity, delivery conditions, etc.). This means that those responsible always have a contextual overview of the purchase order and the supplier’s notification through the order confirmation.
Does EASY Order Confirmation handle order confirmations that do not match the content of the purchase order, such as announced partial deliveries?
Yes. In the case of an order confirmation that deviates from the order (contents, quantity, date, place, legal basis, etc.), the client, or the recipient of the order confirmation decides whether to accept it (possibly tacitly), or to formally adapt the purchase order, or to contact the supplier.
Why is an order confirmation important?
In the order confirmation the supplier confirms the details of the order. If appropriate, the supplier specifies the precise terms of their order to the customer. Whatever happens, with the order confirmation the supplier makes a binding commitment to the client.
In international trade, a supplier makes use of the Incoterms (International Commercial Terms) for this purpose. These have been issued by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC, Paris) since 1936. Therefore, the supplier describes the distribution of costs and obligations as well as the transfer of risk of the respective contractual partners.
Which Incoterms and fields does EASY Order Confirmation read?
- The name, address and contact details of the contractor and client
- Reference to the purchase order
- Information on the goods and/or service
- Quantity of the goods and/or scope of the service and unit of measurement
- Item number
- If applicable, supplier item number
- Description of the goods and/or type of service
- Remuneration (purchase price, fee)
- Terms of payment (method of payment, due date, early payment discount or other possible discounts)
- Date of delivery and / or service date
- Other delivery conditions (e.g. insurance, freight and packaging costs)
- Additional fields can be easily defined
How binding is an order confirmation?
When an order confirmation is issued, it is legally binding. It is considered a financial accounting document and serves the purpose of being able to trace a business transaction.
Is an order confirmation obligatory?
The order confirmation is a declaration of intent by the supplier to accept an order according to the conditions specified therein. It is not obligatory.
In which cases is an order confirmation necessary?
If a purchase order is changed, a purchase order is placed too late, or if a customer places an order without having received an offer beforehand, an order confirmation is required.
Resources
Discover useful white papers, webinar recordings, guides and checklists on procurement.
Whitepaper: Smart incoming invoice processing in SAP®
Learn in our whitepaper how to avoid stumbling blocks and optimize the incoming invoice process in a short time with digital incoming invoice processing in SAP® .
Webinar: The Paradox of Choice
Finding Meaningful Differentiation in a World of Technological Parity. As is the case with many digitization and process optimization initiatives, implementing an A/P automation solution is very rarely a ‘one-and-done’ event… far from it!
Whitepaper: The Purchase-to-Pay Process in SAP
Learn about the benefits of digital purchase-to-pay processes in SAP compared to traditional procurement in the whitepaper.
Amey first implemented SAP as its finance and resource management system, it invested in EASY Software’s SAP Packaged Services to capture and manage incoming Accounts Payable documents electronically.
To maximise the benefits of SAP, the Council simultaneously introduced EASY for SAP, on the recommendation of one of the IT contractors.
Bei Verkaufstransaktionen oder im Falle von Rechtsangelegenheiten ist es ein immenser Vorteil, wenn die Papiere nicht landesweit in den Forstbetrieben verteilt sind, sondern zentral vorliegen.
