Procure to Pay Improvement Project Underway

In response to campus feedback, Finance initiated the Procure to Pay (P2P) Improvements Project, with a focus on improved efficiency in business process and technology for P2P services. The project kicked off in January with academic representatives as well as Finance functional leads on the newly formed P2P Business Operations Work Group. The overarching goals of the P2P Improvements Project are to improve purchasing efficiencies, decrease overall processing time, and implement industry best practices while focusing on providing transparency and empowerment to campus business units.

The P2P Improvements Project will have far-reaching impacts to the University. The scope of this Project includes procurement, accounts payable and help desk processes. Planned changes will streamline the supplier onboarding and maintenance process with more transparency; increased clarity in processes and procedures; improved payment processing time; and improved transparency to the status of payments and purchases. Through the planned restructuring and redefining of Finance Customer Care, the new help desk will support campus with a central help desk for finance-related questions and system issues.

There are three major phases in the P2P Improvements Project established in January 2017. The Short Term phase (3-6 months) focuses on changes that streamline existing processes and infrastructure. The Medium (6-12 months) and Long Term (12-18 months) phases focus on rethinking and redesigning processes to implement more fundamental changes in operations. Expect additional communication regarding the changes in each phase along with training opportunities for those impacted by the changes.

The P2P Improvements Project has made significant progress to date. Some milestones that the project has reached include:

• The new Payment Request process simplifies entry of new suppliers and payments for certain types of transactions.
• The Standard IRS W9 form and the new Supplier/Payee Information form will replace the OHIO Sub-W9 form. Implementing the Supplier/Payee Information Form and IRS W9 form will make it easier for suppliers to get the necessary information back to supplier management in order to expedite purchases and payments processes. Since most suppliers will have the standard IRS W9 on file, eliminating the OHIO Sub-W9 will alleviate some of the confusion suppliers experienced in the past.
• A streamlined requisition workflow eliminates many back office approval steps resulting in faster processing times.

As the project continues to progress toward implementing these changes, the project team is planning more updates to P2P processes. This fall, the project will implement signature sub-delegation changes in tandem with the new Chart of Accounts. More information relating to the P2P Improvements Project, including training plans and job aids, will be published in the coming weeks in Compass and Business Matters.

Questions? Contact: Julie Allison at allison@ohio.edu.