Haringey Council P2P

Haringey Council - streamlined purchase-to-pay process

Haringey Council’s marketing and communications team implemented a fully automated purchase-to-pay system with the following key objectives:

Cut the time and cost of processing
Minimise the risk inherent in the disjointed, repetitive workflow of their old system
Minimise transactional time and costs for suppliers
Minimise transactional cost for SMEs in order to meet Government’s Procurement Policy
Ensure payment of undisputed invoices within 5-10 working days (Government’s prompt payment policy

The team added the Purchase-to-Pay module to their Panacea Software package to create a fully integrated and paperless process. The intuitive processes for suppliers and council officers saved 20 minutes of work per invoice when compared to the old system. Incorporating automated matching of invoices to orders, system-checks to prevent payment of unauthorised or incorrect invoices it interfaces with the Council’s finance system for payment of approved, undisputed invoices.

Headline achievements

Much simpler, online process for all parties
26.7 days’ admin work (80%) cut per month
Eliminated third-party processing fees for invoice scanning and matching
100% good excellent ratings from the team’s customers
Robust integrated checks prevent payment of unauthorised, disputed or incorrect invoices
Minimised transactional overhead, enabling SMEs to compete
Undisputed invoices paid within 5-10 working days
Accurate, instant reporting and year-end reconciliation

The new system delivered immediate and significant financial, service and operational benefits to the council and its suppliers. It has simplified the end-to-end purchase-to-pay process for the council and its suppliers, enabling the team to meet key government targets in relation to engaging SMEs and sole-traders who can deliver best value.

The process to manage invoice payments was cumbersome and costly and was a significant burden to our team and our suppliers, given the vast volume of transactions, often for low value orders, required to fulfil the range of services we manage. With this automated process on Panacea Software, which integrates fully with our workflow and our finance system, SAP, we have massively cut the time and cost of processing supplier invoices for our team, our colleagues in account payable and our suppliers. Our financial management and reporting is simpler and our year-end workload is much reduced.

— Vij Tailor, Operations Marketing Officer Haringey Council