Goals and Objectives
Over the years, suppliers submitted their paper invoices to the finance department for payment processing. This has resulted in delayed payments, lost invoices, inefficient communication between the finance department, procurement department and the vendors.
We created a system (iSupplier system) to improve the supplier payment process where the supplier can submit their invoices online and can always view their payment status. The system was also linked to the procurement system where the invoices can be matched against the GRN and the PO.
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Project Team members
The team members comprised of Finance team led by myself and the accounts payable team, IT and procurement teams.
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Project Scope
The scope was to create a supplier payment portal to maintain and improve the relation with the suppliers. The system had to make life easier for the suppliers, finance and procurement departments.
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Challenges faced
The biggest challenge was to communicate to over 3000 suppliers and convince them to use. Even through many welcome the initiative, some suppliers who do not like to use technology were hesitant to accept it in the first place.
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My initiatives
I designed the system requirement to make it easy to use for the suppliers. I also ensured that the financial reporting and GL is not impacted. I led in the integration of the data flow from the iSupplier system to the GL.
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Project Outcome
The system was widely accepted by all the 3000 suppliers. It has significantly reduced the payment delays and supplier ageing.
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Lessons I learned
My main lesson from this was project was that I learnt relationship management with suppliers. They are a very important stakeholder and crucial to the success of the business.
