An integrated invoice and purchase order software is the best approach for automating the purchasing process.
Don’t take our word for it.
Here is what our clients have achieved by implementing an invoice and purchase order software:
- Close books 20% faster in under 30 days
- Up to 40% reduction in time spent on processing invoices
- Increased compliance and never having to worry about paying unapproved invoices
Yet, most companies look at this as two individual processes. They look at purchase order automation and AP automation as separate processes and, hence, different software.
We argue that you should look at one system that helps you drive better transparency across the purchase order and invoicing process.
An integrated invoice and purchase order management software provides you with the following capabilities:
- Purchase orders and invoices in one single system so that you don’t have to worry about a 3-way and 2-way match process.
- Automatically route invoices to the appropriate stakeholder for review and approval.
- Complete visibility into cash flow – Easy way to see what is already invoiced and what is pending to be invoiced.
- Accurate coding of the invoices driven by pre-coding on the purchase order.
If you want to implement integrated invoice and purchase order software for your business, this article will help you identify the best invoice and purchase order software.
We will also talk about how a procurement system can help eliminate the manual processes for the AP (Accounts Payable) team.
What Is Invoice And Purchase Order Software?
Invoice and purchase order software is a digital tool that helps businesses streamline their purchasing and accounts payable process.
It provides a centralized platform for creating, managing, and tracking purchase orders and vendor invoices, eliminating the need for manual paperwork and reducing the chances of errors.
Invoice And Purchase Order Software Options For Growing Companies
Here is the list of top options for growing companies. We have focused on solutions that integrate with common accounting systems like QuickBooks, Xero, Oracle NetSuite, and Sage Intacct.
For small to medium-sized companies that are in the growth phase, consider the following options:
1. ProcureDesk
2. Procurify
3. Precoro
For small companies or if you are just getting started, consider the following options:
5. SpendWise
6. Tradogram
7. Zoho
If you are a large enterprise company, consider the following options:
8. Coupa
9. SAP Ariba
10. GEP
Note: ProcureDesk was built to provide an integrated purchase order and invoice system. You can read about it in detail below or schedule a demo to see how it could help your finance organization.
1. ProcureDesk
ProcureDesk provides an integrated purchasing and AP automation solution for growing companies.
While many companies provide limited purchasing and AP capabilities, we have implemented the best capabilities of the purchase order process and invoicing in one single system.
For example, Optical character reading (OCR) is generally not an available feature in this category. Still, ProcureDesk supports OCR because we believe that AP should not be spending time entering invoice data.
We work with 100+ vendors to support the punchout experience so that your employees can easily create purchase order requests without copying and pasting data from different websites.
Key Features
Purchase Order Software
A purchase order software system automates the manual purchase order request process and provides employees with an easy way to create and submit purchase order requests.
Purchase order software allows you to route the purchase request for approval to different stakeholders without manually emailing back and forth for approvals.
With purchase order software, employees can create purchase requests with ease.
Here is how ProcureDesk supports the purchase order software:
User defaults to support request creation
You don’t want your users to enter the same information repeatedly. With smart user defaults, you don’t have to worry about that.
When the user creates a purchase request, the system automatically assigns the commonly used fields like ship to information, department, and cost codes.
Here is an example of how user defaults work in ProcureDesk
Automatically Assign Accounting Codes
The biggest complaint from finance is that the employees don’t know what accounting codes to use. It could be a chart of accounts or other cost codes.
ProcureDesk solves this by automatically assigning the codes based on pre-setup criteria.
For example, if you always purchase office supplies from Amazon, you can automate that cost code assignment. Once you set up the criteria, the system automatically remembers them and assigns the correct chart of accounts.
Here is an example of how you can set up defaults by suppliers.
Budget Tracking
With budget tracking, you never have to worry about going over budget, and the best part is that you don’t have to wait until the month-end to see how you are doing compared to budget.
You can define budgets by department, location, and GL accounts with budget controls.
Here is how you can create a simple budget for the marketing department.
You can break down the budget into different functions within the marketing department—for example, advertising, Search engine marketing, etc.
Next, you can assign the budget to the respective department so that only the marketing department can use this budget.
Once you create the budget, employees can pick up the appropriate budget while creating a purchase order request.
ProcureDesk then checks the budget compliance in real-time and informs the user if they are over budget or not.
You can set up controls so that the system can guide the user. For example, you might be OK if the users go over by 5% in a month, or you just want to block the purchase if the budget is unavailable.
Once you define these rules, the system automatically guides the user on what to do next.
While approving the budget, the approvers have complete visibility into the budget and see how much budget is used and how much is available.
With budget visibility, approvers can approve with confidence.
Catalogs For A Better Purchasing Experience
Purchasing in personal life is as simple as going to Amazon.com, clicking a few buttons, and completing the purchase!
In contrast to purchasing in the corporate world, you have to look for items from different vendor websites and then paste that into an electronic request form.
With catalogs, you can provide your employees with an online shopping experience.
There are two types of catalogs:
Punchout
A punchout catalog connects the buyer to the vendor’s website.
The purchasing system (ProcureDesk) connects to your account, so you don’t need to create accounts for each user or share your username and passwords.
It is as simple as selecting the items you want to purchase, and then the system routes you back to ProcureDesk for approval of that request.
Here is an example of an integrated purchasing experience with Amazon.com
Once the request is approved, the purchase order is automatically placed with the vendor, eliminating the need for sending the purchase orders to the vendors.
Self-Hosted Catalogs
If a vendor doesn’t have a website, you can create the catalogs in ProcureDesk.
Reach out to your vendor and get a list of most commonly purchased items and their pricing.
Then load that information into ProcureDesk, and you have a catalog!
Here is an example of what a self-hosted catalog looks like:
The user can then easily select the item they need and add it to the shopping cart.
Purchase Approval Workflow
Catalogs make it easy to purchase, but you still need purchase approvals. With purchase approvals, managers can review the request before the employee purchases.
A configurable approval workflow process can help reduce the time spent on approvals.
If you are using emails for approvals, you can imagine the back-and-forth required to get a request approved.
With a purchase approval workflow, you can easily define a purchase order approval process and benefit from approval automation.
For example, a manager should approve all purchases, and the CFO must approve a request above $5,000.
Here is an example of how easily you can set up the workflow.
The system then automatically routes the request for approval to the appropriate stakeholders.
The approvers can approve the request via email, mobile app, or web application.
The system supports easy approval from emails so that approvers can approve without logging in to the system.
ProcureDesk also sends reminders to the managers so that nothing gets missed.
Purchase Order
After the purchase order request is approved, the purchasing software generates the purchase order and dispatches it to the vendor.
Purchase order creation can be automated, or you can have a buyer review the purchase order before sending it to the supplier.
You can then track the purchase order status, including vendor acknowledgment, delivery, and receipts.
Here is an example of a purchase order:
Create Invoice From Email and OCR
The biggest advantage of an integrated invoice and purchase order system is that you don’t have to import any purchase order information for invoice matching. It eliminates the manual task of uploading invoices.
All the relevant data is in a single palace.
The vendor sends the invoice after delivering the items on the purchase order.
If you have an email for supplier invoices, it is easy for a system like ProcureDesk to capture the invoices from the email.
You don’t need to download invoices to your computer and upload them in AP automation software like ProcureDesk.
ProcureDesk makes it easier to create invoices. The system reads the email and imports the invoice.
Once the invoice gets imported, the system extracts the relevant invoice data from the invoice document.
For example, the ProcureDesk extracts invoice date, amount, invoice number, and line-item details. With data extraction, you can avoid any manual data entry errors.
The invoice information is populated automatically for you so that the AP team doesn’t need to spend time processing the invoices.
If a purchase order number is available, the system matches the invoice to the purchase order and the relevant lines.
All the AP team has to do is submit the invoice matching.
Electronic Invoices
With email automation, you don’t have to worry about entering the invoice in the system, but what if you don’t have to enter any invoices?
That is what you can achieve with electronic invoicing.
Electronic invoices refer to the process where the supplier sends an electronic invoice directly to the buyer’s AP automation software.
There are different standards for electronic invoicing. The two most common ones are EDI and cXML standards.
Most of the large vendors can send electronic invoices.
Once the invoicing software receives the electronic invoice, the invoice gets matched with the purchase order and receipt.
If there is an issue, the invoice gets routed to the appropriate person for review.
Since you have integrated invoicing and purchase order software, there is no need to import purchase orders from another system.
When purchase orders and invoices are in a single system, the matching process is efficient and faster.
Here is an example of an invoice that the supplier electronically creates.
Auto-Coding Of Invoices
If an invoice gets matched against a purchase order, then the invoice is automatically coded based on the purchase order.
But if there is no purchase order, the AP team needs to figure out the correct coding of the invoices.
This can be a tedious process because the stakeholders who ordered the product or service will have a better idea of the accounting.
The AP team must continuously seek feedback from stakeholders, increasing the invoice processing time.
So instead of going back and forth for every invoice, you can instruct the system to automatically assign the account codes, location, departments, etc.
You can assign user-level defaults, supplier-level accounting defaults, or category-level defaults.
Once you have configured the defaults in the system, the invoicing software (ProcureDesk) automatically assigns the chart of accounts and other accounting codes to the invoice.
Here is an example of how you can set supplier-level defaults
3-Way Matching Of Invoices
The main feature of any integrated invoicing and purchase order software is matching an invoice with a purchase order without manual intervention.
Since the purchase order, receipt, and invoice is one single system, the matching process is very efficient, and you don’t have to worry about data imports from other systems.
ProcureDesp Automatically matches the incoming vendor invoice with the purchase order and receipt and then notifies the appropriate stakeholders for the next action.
Here are some of how the automated 3-matching helps streamline the invoice matching process:
- Automatically inform the respective stakeholders if there is no receipt in the system.
- Automatically route the invoice for further review in case of any invoice exception
- Send reminders to stakeholders who have not taken any action.
Integrated Reporting
With integrated reporting, all your spending information is available in one system.
You can track all open purchase orders, invoices, and the yet not invoiced amount.
Integrated invoice and purchase order reporting eliminates the guesswork and manual effort to reconcile data from multiple systems.
For example, an open order report shows your available balance at any time.
In the above screenshot, you can track the open balance amount and balance amount for each invoice.
Accruals are made easy with integrated spend reporting.
Here is an example of how you can track what invoices are received, but it is missing a receipt.
Inventory Management
If you want to manage inventory and track your consumables or supplies, ProcureDesk offers an easy way to track inventory. With ProcureDesk inventory management software, you can:
- Track all inventory purchases at one location.
- Easily track what is on hand and what is on order and waiting for replenishment.
- Track inventory usage by projects.
Pricing
ProcureDesk’s pricing plan is straightforward; you pay based on the number of users and the functionality you need in the system.
For example, if you are a small company, you can start with the AP automation package. The AP automation package provides integrated invoicing and purchase order options.
The AP automation package starts at $600/month.
This price includes implementation, setup, and training at no additional cost.
2. Procurify
Procurify is a complete spend management company that helps streamline the procurement process. The product helps finance and procurement professionals to control spending and get visibility into the cash flow.
The product supports both purchase order and invoicing capabilities and hence is a viable option to evaluate for your integrated invoicing and purchase order needs.
Here are the key features of the integrated purchasing and invoicing solution.
Key Features
Purchase Order Software
The key features of the purchase order include the following
- Ability to create a purchase order request and send it for approval.
- Convert a purchase order request into a purchase order.
- Automatically dispatch the purchase order to the supplier.
Procurify also supports catalogs so that the employees can easily create purchase requisitions.
The tool supports both punchouts and internal catalogs.
We have already covered this feature in the ProcureDesk section, so we will not rehash it here.
The key is to ensure that the purchase order software vendors support integration with your key vendors.
It is not clear from Procurify’s website how many vendors they support.
Budget Tracking
With budget tracking, you can create budgets and then track spending against the set budgets.
You can create a budget for each department with a specific start and end date.
The approvers can track the budget across different stages of the purchase. For example, pending approval, already approved and billed.
With granular budgets, the budget owners have complete visibility into spending, ensuring that the departments stay within the budget.
Purchase Order Approval
Procurify provides a configurable workflow that the finance or AP team can customize to meet the company’s needs.
The purchase approval setup includes setting up a purchase approval group.
A purchase group approval specifies the conditions for using the group. For example – an approval workflow only for the sales department.
After defining the group, you can add users to the group and their thresholds for approval.
If you have multiple groups that might overlap, you can set up the sequence of the approval workflows.
Procurify also supports approvals using the mobile app, making it easier to approve on the go.
Create Invoice From Email And OCR
At the time of the writing, we couldn’t find any reference to this feature on Procurify’s website.
However, you can always upload an invoice into Procurify and then match the invoice with the purchase order.
Electronic Invoices
At the time of the writing, we couldn’t find any reference to this feature on Procurify’s website.
Auto-Coding Of Invoices
At the time of the writing, we couldn’t find any reference on Procurify’s website that they support electronic invoices.
3-Way Matching Of Invoices
After the invoice gets imported, you can perform a 3-way match process.
Procurify 3-way match process checks for missing receipts for an invoice.
If a receipt is missing, you can notify the user of creating the missing receipt.
Once the receipt is created and matched, the invoice is approved for payment.
Integrated Reporting
Procurify provides standard reports that allow you to review spending by vendor, department, etc.
You can filter the reports and export the data for further analysis.
Here is a list of common reports that are available in Procurify.
- Orders by Vendor
- Orders by User
- Orders by Department
- Expenses by Department
Pricing
Procurify pricing package include three options:
- If you are a small company, the package starts at $1000/month.
- If you are a growing company, the pricing starts at $2,000/month.
- If you are an enterprise company, please reach out to the vendor.
3. Precoro
Precoro is a procurement software that helps companies control spending and save time by automating their entire purchase management process.
Though Precoro does have invoicing capabilities, its core focus is purchasing automation.
There are different modules that address the procurement needs across the board.
Key Features:
Here are the key features of the Precoro integrated purchasing and invoicing solution.
Purchase Order Software
Precoro offers purchasing automation.
It includes the ability for an electronic purchase requisition process.
After the manager approves the purchase request within the purchasing process, a buyer can convert the purchase request into a purchase order.
The system also supports creating a purchase order directly without an initial purchase request.
There is support for internal catalogs as well as external catalogs.
The external catalogs integration is only limited to Amazon punchout.
Precoro does have a unique approach to external catalogs.
Instead of logging in to your procurement system and then going to the Amazon site, you can directly start from the Amazon site and then move the information to the Precoro shopping cart.
Budget Tracking
Precoro offers a flexible budget management module that allows you to track budgets across departments, locations, etc.
You can also create project budgets and then have different lines under that budget.
A single budget can have multiple budget lines.
Employees can then assign the budget to purchase orders and invoices so that you can track spending in real-time.
Purchase Approvals
With configurable approval workflows, you can easily set up your approval routing.
The workflow engine is flexible and supports common workflows like location and departments.
You can also add custom fields in your approval routing.
If you want to set up named users for approval, it is pretty straightforward to set that up.
Create Invoice From Email And OCR
At the time of this writing, we don’t see a capability in Precoro to import invoices from email.
Electronic Invoices
At the time of writing this article, the Precor system doesn’t support electronic invoices with vendors.
Auto-Coding Of Invoices
At the time of writing this article, there was no mention of an auto-coding feature on Precoro’s website.
3-Way Matching Of Invoices
Precoro supports matching between invoices and purchase orders, but it doesn’t perform a 3-way match.
There is no way to match the invoice with what was received.
However, if the invoice quantity and price is more than what is on the purchase order, you can route the invoice for review and approval.
Once the invoice is approved, the system automatically updates the revised quantity price and quantity on the purchase order.
Integrated Reporting
Precoro supports flexible reporting.
You can create a report by purchase orders, invoices, and by using the requisition process.
You can export and combine data from different reports and then merge that to create an open order report.
Pricing
Precoro pricing plan starts from $39/user/month.
There is also an enterprise plan.
4. Procurement Express
Procurement Express is a comprehensive purchase order management tool designed to simplify and streamline procurement processes for businesses of various sizes. Its cloud-based platform offers an adaptable and automated approval system, ensuring efficient expense control. The software benefits finance teams and department heads, aiding in budget management and reducing manual workload.
Key Features
- Adaptable Approvals: Customizable approval chains and spending limits for efficient control over purchase orders.
- Custom Fields: Ability to tailor purchase orders to specific business needs, enhancing precision and professionalism.
- Accurate Spending Allocation: Facilitates splitting costs across departments or locations, aiding in budget management.
- Integration with QuickBooks Online: Streamlines financial management and data security.
- Insightful Purchasing Reports: Offers detailed reports for comprehensive spending analysis.
- Enhanced Budgeting: Unlimited, customizable budget creation for various departments and projects.
- Control User Permissions: Adaptable user-access settings to streamline procurement processes.
Pricing
Procurement Express offers several pricing plans, catering to different business sizes and needs:
- Basic Plan: $365 per month. Includes self-service setup, basic reporting, and management of up to $10k per month.
- Small Business Plan: $730 per month. Features include Sage 50 and Quickbooks integration, Amazon Punch-Outs, standard reporting, and management of up to $1M per month.
- Standard Plan: $1825 per month. Offers dedicated implementation, Sage 200 integration, management of up to 5 companies, and up to $10M per month.
- Enterprise Plan: Custom pricing. Includes account manager, NetSuite and Dynamics integration, unlimited companies, advanced reporting, and management of up to $50M per month.
5. SpendWise
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SpendWise is a user-friendly business spend management software widely utilized by diverse organizations for tracking, controlling, and analyzing spending. The platform is designed to automate and streamline purchasing processes, significantly saving time and money for businesses. It caters to the needs of various sectors and sizes, simplifying the management of purchase orders and spend tracking.
Key Features
- Purchase Requests: Create and submit purchase requests for approval.
- Purchase Orders: Generate purchase orders and dispatch them to vendors.
- Order Receipt: Track received items on purchase orders.
- 3-way Match: Monitor what has been billed by vendors.
- Custom User Roles: Assign and define system access and capabilities for different users.
- Spend Tracking: Keep track of expenditures by category, department, or project.
- Budgets: Set budgets and monitor spending against them.
Pricing
- Starting Price: $9 per user/month.
- Pricing Model: Per user.
- Free Trial: Available.
6. Tradogram
Tradogram is a cloud-based procurement management software designed to fully control the purchasing process for businesses. It’s utilized across various industries such as construction, education, IT, hospitality, healthcare, and more. Tradogram empowers managers to create custom requisition forms and purchase orders, ensuring an optimized procurement process with full spend control. It offers a streamlined solution for managing suppliers, maintaining budgets, and approving departmental spending.
Key Features
- AP Automation: Automated accounts payable processes.
- Approval Routing: Customizable approval workflows for purchases.
- Budget Tracking: Monitor and manage budgets effectively.
- Contract Management: Efficiently handle supplier contracts from request to renewal.
- Inventory Control: Manage stock levels and reorder points.
- Invoice Reconciliation: Align invoices with purchase orders and contracts.
- Order Management: Efficiently handle purchase orders and requisitions.
Pricing
- Basic Plan: Free – for 1 user and limited transactions per month.
- Premium Plan: Approx. $1,680 per year (Includes all Basic features, 1-19 users, unlimited transactions, multi-level budget tracking, requisition module, approvals routing, white-labeling, mobile apps).
- Enterprise Plan: Approx. $4,800 per year (Includes all Basic & Premium features, 20+ users, multiple companies, API integration, Punchout option, custom features and reporting).
7. Zoho
Zoho Creator Procurement is a comprehensive cloud-based management solution designed to streamline the entire procurement process. It offers a unified platform to manage requisitions, purchase orders, vendor contracts, and spending.
Key Features
- Simplified PRs: Customizable requisitions, automated routing, and swift approvals for a paperless process.
- Digitized POs: Efficient one-click purchase order creation, minimizing errors, and maintaining audit-friendly records.
- GRNs: Streamlining deliveries, validating goods, and promoting collaborative operations.
- Three-way matching: Ensuring accurate verification and fraud prevention by aligning POs, receipts, and invoices.
- Budget Management: Dynamic approvals and automated spend monitoring for informed financial control.
- Multilevel Approvals: Role-based approvals for streamlined purchasing decisions.
- Vendor Management: Evaluation and selection of vendors based on performance and ratings.
Pricing
- Standard Plan: $8 per user/month.
- Professional Plan: $20 per user/month.
- Enterprise Plan (Zoho Creator): $25 per user/month.
8. Coupa Procurement
Coupa Procurement is a cloud-based software that streamlines procurement processes, offering tools for contract and supplier oversight, inventory control, and purchase orders and requisitions. It’s part of the Coupa Business Spend Management platform and is designed to assist with Spend management, enhancing budget monitoring, and fraud prevention.
Key Features
- Source-to-Pay Process Management: Manages the entire process from spend analysis to sourcing, contracting, purchasing, invoicing, and payments.
- Supplier Collaboration: Facilitates engagement with suppliers, offering visibility to purchase orders, invoices, and payment status.
- Risk Mitigation: Includes comprehensive third-party risk management and continuous performance monitoring.
- Travel and Expense Management: Manages booking, expense reporting, and employee reimbursements.
- Supply Chain Optimization: Models the entire supply chain for consistent and repeatable processes.
- E-Invoicing and Payments: Simplifies the invoice process with electronic processing and a variety of payment methods.
- Analytics and Reporting: Provides real-time visibility and information management for tracking spend.
Pricing
Coupa doesn’t provide pricing on their website; please reach out to the vendor for a quote.
9. SAP Ariba
SAP Ariba Procurement is a comprehensive cloud-based procurement management solution designed for enterprises. It offers capabilities in guided buying, spot buy, supplier and catalog enablement, and integration with the Ariba Network, which connects over 4.6 million companies worldwide. The platform is suitable for large-scale operations and supports a wide range of languages, operating in over 190 countries.
Key Features
- Buying and Invoicing: Streamlines procurement processes, reducing manual tasks and errors.
- Supplier Management: Manages and monitors supplier performance and compliance.
- Contract Management: Facilitates efficient contract management processes.
- Supply Chain Collaboration: Enhances collaboration across the supply chain.
- Analytics and Reporting: Offers robust features for tracking and analyzing procurement data.
- Regulatory Compliance: Assists in adhering to regulatory compliance and mitigating risks.
- Interface Complexity: Offers a complex but comprehensive interface for procurement management.
Pricing
SAP Ariba doesn’t provide pricing on their website; please contact the vendor for a quote.
10. GEP
GEP SMART is an end-to-end unified procurement platform integrating finance and purchasing functions, providing process fluidity. Enterprises with over 500 employees primarily use it, and it offers a comprehensive set of features for procurement management.
Key Features
- Spend Analysis: Cleanses validates, classifies, and reports Spend data from various sources.
- Savings Tracking: Manages discrete savings projects or cost-reduction programs.
- Sourcing: Facilitates finding the right suppliers.
- Contract Management: Supports the authoring, aggregation, and collaboration on contracts.
- Supplier Management: Manages supplier information, relationships, and performance.
- Procure-to-Pay: Covers order-to-invoice and source-to-contract processes, including item search, invoice matching, and payment authorization
Pricing
GEP doesn’t provide pricing on their website; please reach out to the vendor for a quote.
Now Your Turn!
This article has covered 10 viable options for an integrated invoice and purchase order solution.
So, if you are struggling with keeping track of invoices and purchase orders, here is what to do next:
- Create a list of the top three use cases you need help with—for example, purchase approvals, invoice matching, and reporting.
- For each use case, list 2-3 key requirements.
- Schedule a demo with vendors and identify the best solution for you.
