The Challenge
This non-profit organization identified that their purchasing/procurement and banking transactions processes were outdated, slow and prone to user errors. Managers wanted to not only control costs by building process models – they wanted to reduce costs. Their purchasing policies were based on manual and time consuming approval procedures that incorporated paper-based requisitions, approval and invoicing forms. The existing system, with its opaque consolidation and tracking procedures, severely impaired purchase history visibility and reporting capabilities. For example, if you wanted to buy envelopes, you had to fill out requisition forms, find the right people to approve them, notify the procurement department to execute the purchase order and send invoices to financing. The organization’s payment transaction process was also in need of upgrading to allow for increased access by integrating to Microsoft Dynamics GP. With large volumes of contributions coming from many different donors, flexibility and scalability was also required to manage incoming cash, cheques and transfers.
Our Solution
Business process management (BPM) systems are designed to remove gaps and errors between person-to-system communications. The goal was to automate as many processes as possible to avoid covering the same ground twice. TGO recommended implementing a BPM tool called SEQUENCE Kinetics. SEQUENCE is a flexible and intuitive tool used to convert existing business processes into a graphical flow-chart based platform. The system employs predefined wizards and reusable elements to automate an organization’s daily operational tasks. On an infrastructure level, SEQUENCE connects ERPs, CRMs, finance systems, call centres, even home-grown applications — it becomes a natural extension of your everyday work life.
Benefits
With SEQUENCE Kinetics, the procurement and purchasing departments now have a tool that significantly reduces the time lag between when someone needs goods or services and when they receive those goods and services.
Additional Information
ROI
By using simple electronic forms integrated with Microsoft SharePoint and Outlook, end users no longer struggle with long paper trails and disjointed communications processes. Approval forms are now easy to find and can be filled out on the SEQUENCE web console, and are automatically forwarded to all required parties before ending up in the finance department’s inbox. Administrative costs decreased as well as user errors by implementing a transaction system that integrated into existing Microsoft Dynamics GP, SQL Server and SQL Reporting Services infrastructure. This enabled simultaneous multi-user access to documents and data, instant deposit summary and bank record reports, and simplified regulatory compliance all within a security enabled environment. Thanks to SEQUENCE’s flexibility and scalability, this organization is able to automate other process models on their own after TGO completed the implementation. SEQUENCE took half a day to install and three days to compile and configure workflows, networks and IT security.