Are you looking for a purchase order software compatible with Sage Intacct? You are in the right place. This perfectly fits a different range of industries with a unique range of services!

Sage Intacct offers great accounting capabilities and opportunities for digital transformation but lacks an intuitive interface regarding Purchase order functionality, which may cause issues to finance team efficiency.

If your non-accounting users refuse to use Sage Intacct for purchasing, using an intuitive purchasing system that is integrated with Sage Intacct could be a better option.

In this article, we will show you how you use a purchasing system like ProcureDesk.

Whether you are a startup or a medium business, to improve your employees’ user experience, transactional data entry, spend process, financial management, and supplier management and ensure that your accounting process is intact.

What Is Purchase Order Software For Sage Intacct?

A purchase order software for Intacct refers to a third-party purchase order system that integrates with Sage Intacct bringing real-time visibility to your entire process and payable automation. Purchasing software and its wide range and suite of dashboards allow you to automate the entire purchase management process so that your team does not spend endless hours requesting and generating purchase orders for your payment platforms. Not to mention, it helps you skip repetitive tasks by using one single platform!

Sage Intacct offers a purchase order module and a financial solution that allows you to create purchase orders that work best if you limit purchase orders within budget compliance. Aside from that, it also offers you customized control that fits your financial reporting preferences for application management. However, creating more than 20 purchase orders per month could be tedious, especially when purchasing from many vendors and having a complex purchase approval process. It can also bring risk to duplication of invoices or even threaten purchasing efficiency and your budget management.

A bolt-on purchase order system allows you to mitigate all these issues and keep using the rest of the processes in Sage Intact. In later sections, we will cover thoughtful processes for automating purchasing management workflows so your team can make better purchase decisions.

Reasons to Use Purchase Order Software Compatible With Sage Intacct

Here are the top reasons why you should use a purchase order software that is compatible with Sage Intacct to help you improve processes for purchase orders and your approval flows:

Better Experience

Sage Intacct’s purchasing process is straightforward and has customizable, role-based purchasing dashboards, preventing approval bottlenecks with the use of expense management tools.

However, manual data entry for approval routings or creating items for each entry process could be tedious and won’t support your business intelligence as a business owner. The approval time somehow takes too long.

It works when you purchase a limited set of items regularly; however, when you purchase different items (Let’s say from Amazon.com), creating items in advance for miscellaneous items is very difficult. Delays in approvals are the last thing you need.

That is where a system like ProcureDesk can help improve the purchasing experience by implementing catalogs and providing you with financial reports for simpler recordkeeping. By implementing catalogs, you can greatly improve the purchasing experience.

Moreover, you can use a mobile application to create purchase order requests. This is especially useful when you have a workforce in the field, mostly occupied with manual processes. That way, they don’t have to interrupt their day by creating a purchase order request. This also provides improved efficiency for your team.

Want to see if ProcureDesk is a good fit for you? Click here to See it in action!

No Additional Cost

Considering your chosen business type, you would need a license for your employees to access purchase orders in Sage Intacct. That means you are already fulfilling compliance with spend management to use Sage’s purchase order software.

So instead of investing in additional licenses, you can use an alternate purchasing solution to provide your employees with a better experience and tailored workflows for your business.

Keep Users Out Of The Accounting System

The additional benefit of using a bolt-on purchase order system is that you don’t have to worry about access control in Sage. Using this approach, you keep the users out of the accounting system and promote better asset management.

The purchase order software already has all the real-time information and multi-currency support needed to book the cost to the appropriate chart of accounts or dimensions. Aside from that, it also provides an impressive inventory management solution and flexible approval workflows.

You get the best of both worlds, a best-in-class purchasing process without needing employees in your accounting system.

Steps For Automating The Purchase Order Process

ProcureDesk is our system, and we have designed it to work seamlessly with Sage Intacct’s Accounts Payable. We will cover the process using ProcureDesk as an example, but we expect that any purchasing system should have these capabilities.

Context: You can read the details below or schedule a call with one of our product specialists, and we can walk you through how ProcureDesk can supercharge your entire procurement process and procurement integration.

Here is the step-by-step process for automating the purchasing process.

Automate The Purchase Requisition Process

The first step is to automate the purchase requisition process. A purchase requisition process allows employees to submit a request for what they need to purchase and other payment tasks.

The request is then sent for approval, and if approved, a purchase order is issued to the vendor.

A purchase order is best practice, but you might only sometimes need a purchase order. For example, purchasing by directly walking into a store.

The problem with purchase requisition is that it takes too much time for the employees. They have to fill in lengthy forms (online or paper), and then there is a back and forth-with the purchasing team on what they need.

ProureDesk solves this problem by making it easier to create purchase requests. It has inbuilt support for punchout catalogs that allows you to browse the vendor’s website and select what you need to purchase.

Here is how it works:

The employee first selects the vendor they want to purchase from. Let’s take the example of Amazon.

The system then navigates the employee to Amazon’s website, where the employee can choose what they want to purchase.

Let’s say we want to purchase a pack of batteries

Once the batteries are selected, the system prompts the user to get approval for purchase.

The system then automatically populates the selected items in the employee’s purchase request.

It is that simple.

No more copying the website URLs and posting notes for the buyers to decipher.

The next step is to get an approval for the purchase.

Approvals To Control Of Finances

ProcureDesk makes approval a breeze with its automated purchase approval workflows, giving you complete control of the process.

Purchasing or finance team can define the approval process upfront, and the system then uses those rules for routing the request for approval.

You can configure ProcureDesk to route purchase requests based on any of the following parameters:

• Amount of purchase.
• Department or cost center.
• Different approvers based on the amount.
• GL account-based approvals.

Here is how the user sees the approval process in their purchase request process.

Once the user is ready, the request is submitted for approval.

The approver has a couple of options for managing the approval process.

ProcureDesk supports the following options for approval:

• An approver can approve the request from the mobile application.
• An approver can log in to the system to approve the purchase request.
• An approver can approve the purchase directly from the email without the need to log in to the system.

Here is an example of how the approvals can be done using the mobile app:

Automate Purchase Order Generation

If you are using Sage to issue the purchase order, it involves manually emailing the purchase order to the vendor.

ProcureDesk automates the purchase order creation and dispatch process.

A purchase order can be automatically generated from an approved purchase requisition, or a buyer can convert an approved purchase request into a purchase order.

ProcureDesk has inbuilt purchase order templates that allow you to customize the look and feel of the purchase order.

Here is a sample purchase order template:

You can customize the purchase order template to add details like special comments for suppliers or add your standard terms and conditions to the purchase order.

The purchase order system then sends the purchase order to the vendor based on the vendor’s preferred method.

ProcureDesk supports the following methods for generating purchase orders:

• Electronic data interchange (EDI) – The system supports cXML as the preferred method for EDI purchasing transactions and other custom transactions.
• Email -For smaller vendors, the system can email the purchase order to a vendor.

Track Purchase Orders

Once you send a purchase order to a vendor, it seems to go into a black hole. The vendor would never acknowledge the order, and you assume that it will ship on time, but it doesn’t, and that is when the panic starts!

You can avoid all this by better tracking purchase orders. Here are the two ways ProcureDesk can help you with better order tracking:

Order Acknowledgment:

The order acknowledgment process allows a vendor to confirm receiving the purchase order.

The vendor can also provide an update on the requested date and whether they can meet it.

Sometimes, the product might be back-ordered, and the vendor doesn’t have an exact date when the product would be delivered. By updating the status, the vendor can let you know that the product can’t be delivered on time. This allows you to look for alternate sources of supply.

ASN (Advance Shipping Notice)

ASN allows the vendor to notify the buyer that the product has been shipped. The ASN contains the tracking number so that the product can be tracked.

ProcureDesk automatically tracks multiple carriers and updates you when the status changes. This allows you to keep track of the product while it is in transit.

Receive Purchase Orders

Once the purchase order is delivered, the vendor sends you the invoice. Usually, the vendor sends the invoice as soon as the product is shipped. So the chances are that the Accounts Payable (AP) will get the invoice before the product arrives.

This causes a challenge for the AP team because they don’t know if an invoice is ready to pay.

This is where a receipt can help. Once an employee receives the product, they should create a receipt so the AP knows it has been delivered.

They can then conduct a 3-way match to see if the invoice matches the purchase order and receipt.

ProcureDesk makes it easier to create the purchase receipt.

The purchase receipts can be created with the click of the button. Employees have three options to create a receipt:

• Using ProcureDesk’s mobile app that supports the ability to create receipts.
• Using the web app on a browser.
• By responding to the email the system sends when it receives an electronic invoice and a receipt is unavailable.

Having a receipt greatly helps with the Accounts payable process, including AP automation.

Integration with Sage Intacct

A purchase order software is useless if it doesn’t integrate seamlessly with Sage Intacct.

It doesn’t help the procurement and AP team productivity if they can manually create the purchase order and invoice data in Sage Intacct.

ProcureDesk is a certified Sage partner, so you can be assured that the system seamlessly integrates with Sage.

Here are some highlights of the integration:

• The system automatically pulls all the required master data needed for creating a purchase order. This includes a chart of accounts, suppliers, items, payment time, payment terms, etc.
• Additional cost elements/Dimensions can also be imported into ProcureDesk. Dimensions can be standard or custom dimensions.
• Once the purchase order is approved in ProcureDesk, it is automatically sent to Sage Intacct. There is no need to export or push a button to sync the data manually
• The master data is regularly synced with Sage Intacct to ensure that ProcureDesk always has the latest data.

How A Non-profit Organization Improved Its Purchasing Process With ProcureDesk

We recently started working with a nonprofit organization out of New York struggling with a manual purchase order process.

Based on our customer stories and their buying experience, they have 20 locations across the state, each ordering supplies to run the day-to-day operations.

They standardized the purchasing process a couple of years back, but the challenge was that the process was manual, which was not helpful with business efficiency.

Before ProcureDesk

Before implementing ProcureDesk, they struggled to get purchase requests approved on time and experience real-time integration.

• The field team would fill up a paper requisition form and get approval from Program Director to start processes for purchase requisitions
• Based on the purchase amount, the request must be routed to the Finance executive director or sometimes to the organization’s CEO.
• Since it was paper form, they had to continuously scan and re-scan the documents before they could be sent for approval. At that time, there was no efficient document filing, nor was there an auto-fill feature.
• After the request was approved, it was sent to a buyer for issuing a purchase order as and when needed.
• The buyer then went to Sage and issued the purchase order to the supplier.
• Challenges regarding the entire procure-to-pay cycle and business’ core financials.

Not only was the process long, but sometimes the purchase orders fell through the crack and were not issued at all, or the requester had no idea when it was issued and delivered, considering the lack of reporting tools.

It could take days to approve a purchase request, and the staff was frustrated with the delays in approvals.

After ProcureDesk

The finance and operations team implemented the Purchase order software to streamline the purchasing process.

The new process was simplified and tremendously reduced the approval cycle time. Here is the process with ProcureDesk:

• The field team uses the inbuilt catalogs to create the purchase request. They purchase a lot from Amazon.com, so we implemented a punchout process that allows them to pick up what they want to purchase.
• The system then identifies purchase approval requirements based on predefined transaction criteria. There is no need for requesters to know the approval process.
• The system then notifies the approver. The team loves the mobile application because it makes it easier to approve the purchase request.
• Once the purchase request is approved, the buyer reviews it and generates a purchase order.
• The system sends the purchase order to the vendor as instructed in the vendor contract, which is also sent to Sage Intacct. All this is automated, without the need for any manual intervention. Thus, decreasing chances for error and improving relationships and communication with vendors.

Results Achieved

As a result of implementing an automated purchase order management software with Sage Intacct Purchasing, the teams across departments saw the following results with complete visibility within 60 days of implementation:

• The approval procurement cycle was reduced by 43.7% on average.
• The number of dropped purchase orders was reduced to Zero because the system automatically converts approved purchase requests to purchase orders with its comprehensive features and extended functionalities.
• Decreased human errors and improved budget decisions
• Dashboards with endless customization options and endless routing rules options
• Streamlined processes for purchase orders, better-customized control, custom workflows, better monitoring of outstanding transactions, budget tracking, and expense tracking with additional features.
• As an additional bonus, the collaboration across departments implementing the automated purchase order management has improved cash flow planning and cash management. The system provides an accurate synopsis of what is committed, what is invoiced, and what is pending to be invoiced. Thus, giving better financial controls

And the best part is we provide customer training, follow-up customer service, and customer service availability for our users!

Benefits Of Purchase Order System For Sage Intacct

Streamlined Procurement Process

Using purchase order software compatible with Sage Intacct, you can streamline the entire procurement cycle, from requisition to payment, and even improve your costs of managing the procurement process. This integration ensures a smooth flow of information, eliminates manual data entry, and reduces errors or delays in the purchasing process. No doubt, the ProcureDesk app for requisition will help you experience a more efficient procurement process.

Faster Requisition Processing

With the purchase order software compatible with Sage Intacct, requisition processing is significantly expedited. Employees can create and submit requisitions electronically, eliminating the need for manual paperwork and reducing processing time. Automated approval workflows ensure timely reviews, faster decision-making, and quicker requisition fulfillment.

Enhanced Budget Control

The purchase order software compatible with Sage Intacct enables you to establish budgets before approval, ensuring better control over spending. You can set spending limits, track expenditures against budgets in real time, and prevent unnecessary expenses, helping you stay within budgetary constraints.

Efficient Catalog Management

The software’s catalog management feature lets you maintain a centralized database of products and services your suppliers offer. This streamlines the requisition process, as employees can easily search and select items from the catalog, ensuring accurate ordering and reducing the chances of errors or duplicate purchases.

Automated Expense Reports

Integrating purchase order software with Sage Intacct enables automated expense report generation. Employees can easily submit expense reports using a purchasing system, attach relevant receipts, and allocate expenses to specific projects or cost centers. This streamlines the expense reimbursement process, reduces manual data entry, and enhances accuracy.

High Employee Adoption

Purchase order software compatible with Sage Intacct offers a user-friendly interface and intuitive features, fostering high employee adoption rates. Employees can quickly adapt to the system, easily navigate the buying process, and efficiently utilize its functionalities. This promotes widespread acceptance and minimizes resistance to change.

Efficient Document Collaboration

The software facilitates seamless document collaboration among stakeholders involved in the purchasing process. Users can collaborate on purchase orders, invoices, and other document types in real time. This promotes effective communication, reduces delays in approvals caused by manual handovers, and ensures the accuracy and completeness of information.

Enhanced Efficiency Of Purchasing

The software improves the efficiency of purchasing activities by automating manual tasks, such as data entry, approval workflows, and document processing. It reduces the time and effort required to complete purchasing tasks, allowing employees to focus on more strategic activities. This results in faster turnaround times, reduced errors, and increased productivity.

Invoice Validation And Accuracy

The purchase order software offers invoice validation features that help ensure accuracy and prevent overbilling or payment errors. It compares invoices against purchase orders and contracts, verifies pricing, quantities, and discounts, and identifies discrepancies or anomalies. This streamlines the invoice reconciliation process and reduces the risk of financial loss due to erroneous payments.

Improved Compliance And Audit-Ready Reporting

The software enhances compliance with regulatory requirements and internal policies by enforcing standardized processes and maintaining a comprehensive audit trail. It tracks all purchasing activities, captures approval histories, and securely stores relevant documents. This enables easier audits, ensures transparency, and mitigates non-compliance risk.

Cost Savings Through Vendor Management

The software facilitates effective vendor management by consolidating vendor information, contact details, and performance metrics in one centralized system. This allows you to evaluate vendor performance, negotiate better terms, and identify cost-saving opportunities. Streamlining vendor management processes leads to optimized supplier relationships and potential cost reductions.

Enhanced Spend Visibility

Purchase order software compatible with Sage Intacct provides real-time spend visibility across the organization. You can track and analyze expenditures by category, department, or project, enabling better financial planning and decision-making. This visibility helps identify areas of excessive spending, implement cost control measures, and optimize budget allocation.

Insights Into Buying Behavior

The software provides valuable insights into buying behavior through comprehensive reporting and analytics. You can analyze historical purchasing data, identify trends, and make data-driven decisions to optimize procurement strategies. This understanding of buying behavior helps negotiate better deals with suppliers, forecast demand, and streamline inventory management.

The Bottomline

In conclusion, finding the right purchase order software compatible with Sage Intacct is essential for your business, especially if you aim to enhance your finance team’s efficiency and overall user experience.

Integrating a user-friendly purchasing system like ProcureDesk with Sage Intacct can bridge this gap and provide a seamless experience for startups and medium businesses. By leveraging a purchasing system, your business can improve transactional data entry, streamline your spending process, enhance financial management, and optimize supplier management while ensuring the integrity of your accounting process.

If you’re ready to explore on what ProcureDesk has to offer, schedule a demo call with our team today!