It’s not very often I choose to blog about a specific customer solution, but after considering how effective the solution has proven to be and how happy it made a customer, I felt like I really had no choice but to share it with the SYSPRO community.
So let me wind back a bit … a few months ago, one of our customer contacts asked me to attend a conference call to talk about the business spending issues. Nothing odd like maxing out credit cards on shoes and bags – but just to discuss the fact that their business struggles with the administration involved in controlling spend. My immediate thought was that it sounded like a job for SYSPRO Requisitions, easy call I thought.
It transpired that they do have two fairly substantial problems:
Process bottlenecks
The first problem was that they have to administer up to twenty non-ERP user spending requests using only one SYSPRO operator to key in the all requests. This bottlenecks the process as the operator struggles to keep all purchase orders in SYSPRO, to efficiently authorize or decline spend, and to keep a log of who authorized which spend. They also have no process for reminding people when they haven’t responded to someone’s spending request.
Prompt expenses approval
The second problem was that they also required a solution that would enable the company’s directors to be anywhere in the world and simply respond to an email to approve or reject somebodies spending request … on their mobile phone…with the caveat that they didn’t want to have to log in to any system or search for any extra data that would enable them to make a decision.
“Wow.” I said when I first heard the requirement, “that would be an awesome solution wouldn’t it?”
We went away and considered the requirements. What we realized very quickly was that with the introduction of the Espresso Requisition Entry Application our customer could provide their employees SYSPRO Espresso access via their desktop browser or via the Espresso Application, and completely remove the reliance on a single SYSPRO administration function to key in all of their requisitions into SYSPRO. That solves the first problem.
The director’s request was a little bit more taxing, but again we soon realized we didn’t need to bespoke anything we simply needed to utilize SYSPRO Workflow. We quickly built a SYSPRO Workflow that allowed SYSPRO Requisitions to be emailed to the decision maker in an email, in a format that would allow them to accept or reject the Requisition. The ERP Workflow was designed to email the requisition authorizer every twelve hours until the request was approved or denied.
Espresso drastically reduces request time
Twenty users can now utilize SYSPRO Espresso via their Internet browser or the Espresso App, for requisition entry whatever the day and time. This is supported by an automated emailing solution that allows key decision makers to respond to spend request emails without needing any formal training.
This solution brought down the request to purchase time from days to hours and now gives the business complete control over its spend with complete traceability throughout the process.
Using technology to improve the efficiency of your organization shouldn’t be limited to machinery or equipment – business processes and software can have a significantly positive impact on your costs and competitiveness.
Contact your local SYSPRO office for more information on whether this type of Espresso and Workflow solution would be useful for you.
