The A-Z of Purchase to Pay

A

Accounts Payable Automation
The semi or fully automated management of accounts payable administration by automated processing of invoices.

Aggregator
Provides bill payers a single point of contact for the reception of bills from multiple senders.

AP
Accounts Payable.

AR
Accounts receivable.

B

BC
i. Business Consultant
ii. Business Continuity (Disaster Recovery)
iii. Business Case.

BCP
Business Continuity Plan.

BPR
Business Process Re-engineering.

B2B context
Business-to-business context, the market between business providers and consumers.

BPO
Business Process Outsourcer (ing): Term used to identify an organisation whose primary function is to handle business processing as a contracted outsourced partner.

C

CAS
Cash Accounting System.

Change Request
Buying Department Information: used for commitment control (obsolete system).

COE
Centre of Excellence / Expertise.

CSF
Critical Success Factor.

CSR
Corporate Social Responsibility.

D

Dynamic Discounting
Is a process which allows buyers and sellers of commercial goods and services to dynamically change the payment terms, usually on a sliding scale depending on payment terms, using a technology provider.

DMS
Document Management System.

DPO
Document Process Outsource.

E

EDI
Electronic Data Interchange. Developed in the 1960s using an early principle of sending and receiving messages entirely electronically. A pre-curser to internet based "e-invoicing", EDI is used predominantly by large companies with large volumes of commercial traffic.

Electronic Commerce
Transfer of data in an electronic format.

Electronic Invoice Presentment and Payment (EIPP)
Order process where an eProcurement System is used to place the order and the Integrated/Embedded procurement card is used for payment. The transfer of data/financial information through Electronic Invoice Presentment (EIP) and payment made electronically. This combination constitutes detailed invoice level information in an electronic format. The transition from manually processed paper cheques to electronic invoices and electronic payments.

Electronic Invoice Process
Invoice process where receipt, reconciliation and match are all electronic.

eProcurement
eProcurement applications deliver on-line Procurement services.  Key features include: electronic catalogues, punch out to suppliers’ websites for dynamic products, recurring requisitions, easy to use web access, workflow routings, electronic orders dispatched over the internet to suppliers, line item reporting capability.  eProcurement provides a single standard platform to conduct business with suppliers.

eProcurement Order Process
Order process where an eProcurement System is used to place the order.

EPOS - Electronic Point of Sale.

ERP
Enterprise Resource Planning.  An Enterprise Resource Planning solution offers multiple modules that support major business processes: Production Planning, Finance, Sales, Human Resources, and Purchasing.  ERPs can be expensive to implement (Oracle, SAP) and develop.

ERP Order Process
Order process where an ERP is used to place the order.

F

FAO
Finance & Accounting (F&A) Outsourcing.

FP & A
Financial Planning & Analysis.

Factoring
Is a financial transaction whereby a business sells its accounts receivable (i.e., invoices) to a third party (called a factor) at a discount. Often referred to as a way of providing Supply Chain Finance

G

GBS
Global Business Services.

GSS
Global Shared Services.

I

Indirect Goods
Goods and services typically required to operate a Government Department or Agency (GDA), often with little strategic value (also MRO).

Interface
Simple data transfer between two systems.

Integrated/Embedded Procurement Card
Order process where an eprocurement system is used to place the order and the integrated/embedded procurement card is used for payment.

Integration
Two way, real-time data transfer between two systems.

Invoice
A demand from a supplier for payment detailing the goods or services provided their respective costs and the VAT due.

K

KPI
Key Performance Indicator (measure used in evaluating a supplier or service).

KPO
Knowledge Process Outsourcing.

M

Manual Order Process
Order process where all steps are conducted manually.

Matching
The activity of comparing purchase orders, receipts, and invoices to ensure compliance. 

Maverick Spend
(Over)Spend committed with a non-contracted supplier where a contract exists for the goods services required.

MI
Management Information; purchasing data gathered by systems transformed into meaningful information by reporting applications.

MRO
Maintenance, Repair and Operations (also indirect goods).

O

OCR
Optical Character Recognition. A scanning process which translates detail contained within a paper format to an electronic image.

P

Paper Invoice Process
Invoice process where all steps are conducted manually.

Procurement
The purchasing cycle from identification of requirement through to payment.

Providers
The technology and consultancy companies who provide eProcurement software solutions and services.

Punch-Out
A method by which a buyer interacts with a supplier’s website and retrieves requisition content into a purchasing application for submission to internal processes.

Purchase Order (PO)
A legally binding document issued to a supplier for provision of goods or services.

Purchase-to-Pay
The combined ordering-delivering-invoicing-payment process as part of the end-to-end trade process, from the buyers’ perspective.

PO
Procurement Officer.

POC
Point of Contact.

R

Receipt
A document that quantifies the product or service received.
                                                                                                              

Reconciliation
An accounting process used to compare two sets of records to ensure the figures are in agreement and are accurate.
Reconciliation is the key process used to determine whether the money leaving an account matches the amount spent, ensuring that the two values are balanced at the end of the recording period.

Requisition
The initial document listing the goods or services required.

Reverse Factoring

Where traditional factoring uses an invoice as the underlying asset for financing, Reverse Factoring brings the qualified invoice into play. And instead of dealing with the supplier’s receivables from many ‘unknown’ buyers, Reverse Factoring deals with the payables of one known buyer.

ROI
Return on Investment.  Often refers to the benefits achieved through use of the system over time minus the total cost of implementation and use.

RFC
Request for Change.

RFP

Request for Proposal. A request made, often as part of a bidding process for the procurement of goods or services.

RPO
Recruitment Process Outsourcing.

S

SME
Small and  Medium sized Enterprise

SaaS
Software as a Service. The provision of technology solutions in the cloud, reducing the need for hardware

SAP
Systems, Applications and Products in Data Processing (SAP) is a business application and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solution.

SDM
Service Delivery Model.

SLA
Service Level Agreement.

SRM
Supplier Relationship Management: the SAP module which acts as the non-merchandise procurement buying system.

Supply–chain finance (SCF)
Is a form of receivables financing using technology solutions that provide working capital to suppliers and/or buyers within any part of a supply chain and that is typically arranged on the credit risk of a large corporate within that supply chain. Increasingly dynamic discounting is also seen as a a driver for SCF

T

Three Way Match Process
Invoice process where an order, receipt and invoice are matched before payment is made to a supplier.

Two Way Match Process
Invoice process where an order is matched against an invoice before payment is made to a supplier.

U

UAT
User acceptance Testing.  A process during implementation when users test that the system handles the business process as required.

V

VFM
Value for Money.  The principle underpinning all Public Sector purchasing activity.

W

Workflow
The application by the eProcurement system or purchase-to-pay process based on business rules.  Workflow defines the routing of data from one part of the procurement process to the next based on set rules.

Wide Area Network
a communications network over a large geographical area (see LAN).

X

XML
eXtensible Mark-up Language – a meta or syntax language describing the data format of documents when they are transmitted electronically.