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12 Best Purchasing Management Software In 2024 [In-depth review]

  • By ProcureDesk
  • January 14,2024
  • 10 min read

12 Best Purchasing Management Software In 2024 [In-depth review]

purchasing management software

Today, there are over 200 different purchasing management software. Search on G2 or Capterra and see a long list of purchasing management software.  These listings are helpful, but different solutions are designed with different target markets in mind, and who has time to click on each website link and review the vendors?

So, to make it easier for you to evaluate these solutions, we have gone ahead and provided you with top results based on the size of your business.

The purchasing management software is grouped based on the following categories.

Small business: We categorize small businesses as less than 10 people. If you are in this category, you have very basic purchasing requirements. All you are looking for is a simple way to create and issue a purchase order.

Growing companies: Companies that are in the 10+ to up to 250 employees range. If you are in this category, you have already tried spreadsheets and manual processes for purchasing management. You are seeking a solution that provides advanced capabilities and integrates with your accounting system, like QuickBooks.

Large companies: Large companies have 250+ employees. They have complex requirements for purchasing, and they are looking for a complete solution, including Source to Pay capabilities. This includes automation of the RFP and auction process. You are looking for a solution that meets your process requirements and integrates with your existing ERP like SAP and Oracle.

So here you go.

What Is The Best Purchasing Management Software?

Here are our recommendations for small to medium-sized businesses. We will introduce our solution, ProcureDesk, and then cover the other 11 options.

1. ProcureDesk – Best for small to medium-sized companies that need a complete procure-to-pay solution.

2. Procurify – Best for medium-sized companies looking for P2P automation.

3. Precoro – Best for purchasing automation with internal catalogs

4. Order – Best for companies that need a marketplace.

5. Procurement Express – Best for companies looking to automate the purchase requisition process.

Here are our recommendations for small businesses

6. Tradogram – Best for construction and project management companies.

7. SpendWise – Best for basic purchasing automation

Here are recommended options for large companies

8. Coupa – Best for companies who are looking for a Best in Breed procurement system

9. SAP Ariba – Best for companies who are looking for a solution that works with their existing SAP ERP system

10. GEP – Best for companies who are looking for a cost-competitive solution

11. PRM 360 – Best for companies who are looking for logistic management capabilities.

12. Jaggaer one – Best for education and research companies.

1. ProcureDesk

Our Verdict — Best for small to medium-sized companies that need a flexible purchasing solution.

Price: Starts at $380/month

 

ProcureDesk is a complete purchasing management software that is designed for fast-growing businesses. It provides the finance and procurement team with comprehensive purchasing controls so that you can control your spending and plan your cash flow. ProcureDesk provides features that support the purchasing process, invoice processing, strategic sourcing process, contract management, and expense report management.

The Best Part:

  • A complete purchasing management system that includes purchasing, inventory, and supplier quote management.
  • Strong support for catalogs that enables better purchasing experience for employees.

The Worst Part:

  • It is a little expensive compared to other procurement management solutions.
Get it if you want a cloud-based procurement solution that is easy to use and automates your entire purchasing process. Click here to see it in action

Best For

The ProcureDesk purchasing solution is best for small to mid-sized companies with decent purchasing activities. If you are starting, this might not be your best solution.

Top Features

Purchase Requisitions

Purchase requisition refers to the functionality of electronically creating purchase requisitions. A purchase requisition is an important feature of any purchase order management software.

A couple of aspects of electronic purchase requisitions that make it easier for employees to create purchase requisitions quickly:

User Defaults

With user defaults, employees don’t have to enter the same information repeatedly.

The common user defaults are:

  • Employees department.
  • Employees default ship-to location.
  • Employee cost center
  • Default Chart of accounts based on the previous purchase history.
  • Class field if you are using QuickBooks.

ProcureDesk remembers the user defaults so that the user doesn’t have to enter the same information again.

Catalogs

Catalogs make it easier for employees to create new purchase requisitions, especially for repeatedly purchased items.

A catalog is a collection of items you purchase, and users can select which item they want to purchase.

Since the pricing and description are already populated, the employee saves time creating the request.

The suppliers also benefit from this because the pricing is accurate, and they can process the order faster.

There are two types of catalogs.

  • Vendor managed
  • Self-managed

Vendor Managed Catalogs

As the name suggests, the vendor manages this type of catalog.

If the vendor is selling a large spread of items, it is easier for the vendor to keep an updated catalog vs. a catalog the buyer manages.

It is common for large retailers like Amazon.com and companies to sell thousands of parts.

The vendor-managed catalog is also called a punchout.

Here is an example of Amazon.com and how the punchout works.

In this case, the employee clicks on the Amazon.com logo from the purchasing system (ProcureDesk).

Amazon_logo_click_from_procuredesk

The purchasing software then directs the user to the Amazon.com website.

You would need an Amazon business account for this work.

The employees can then browse the entire site, selecting what they need to purchase.

The big difference is that the employee needs approval before making a purchase.

You request approval by clicking the “Submit these items for Approval” button.

amazon_purchase_requisition

The system copies the cart data into the user’s purchase request in ProcureDesk.

Vendor catalogs combined with a user-friendly interface for purchasing can significantly reduce the purchase cycle time.

purchase_requisition_from_Amazon

That’s how easy it is.

Self-Managed Catalogs

As the name suggests, a vendor doesn’t manage this catalog type.

Instead, the buyer creates and manages the catalog through supplier collaboration.

Suppose you have a small supplier, and they only sell you 10-15 items.

It probably doesn’t make sense for the supplier to create a website and manage the catalog for you.

In that case, you can create an internal catalog. The supplier provides the required information, and you create a catalog.

Here is an example of an internal catalog.

Supplier catalog

The employees can easily create purchase requests by clicking the “Add to request” button.

The rest of the process is the same whether you use a supplier or self-hosted catalog. Catalog management should be part of the overall supplier management strategy.

Approval Workflows

With the approval workflow, the employees don’t have to worry about the approval matrix and who needs to approve the purchase. Managers get real-time visibility into budgets and overall spending.

ProcureDesk automatically identifies the approval routing and sends the purchase request for approval.

Many systems allow the employees to select who should approve the purchase. It might seem that self-assignment is a more flexible approach. However, this could cause an issue with compliance.

If an employee picks up the wrong approver, it takes more time to approve a request, or in many cases, the request gets approved by the wrong person.

We will cover this in more detail in the workflow section.

Purchase Requests Status

With purchase request status tracking, employees can easily track purchasing through the procurement cycle. If it is pending approval, the employee can easily track with whom it is pending approval.

Here is an example of how employees can easily track the purchase request:

purchase_requisition_pending_approval

Employees can also send reminders to the managers for approval.

purchase_approval_send_reminder

Flexible Workflow Engine

A flexible workflow engine allows you to create purchase approval workflows based on your compliance needs.

ProcureDesk workflow engine offers customizable approval workflows to meet your unique approvals needs.

Here are the key components of the ProcureDesk workflow engine:

Workflow Conditions

Workflow conditions allow the flexibility to create custom workflows and set up an approval management process. It allows managers to make informed decisions.

There are many workflow conditions that you can configure in ProcureDesk, but the following are the most common workflow conditions.

  • Manager approval: This workflow condition allows you to route the request to the immediate manager for approval. If the manager doesn’t have the appropriate authority, the system automatically sends it to the next person in the reporting hierarchy.
  • Amount-based approval: The amount-based workflow allows you to route the purchase request based on the amount. For example, in addition to the manager, the CFO should approve any request that is more than $50,000.
  • Category-based approval: Category-based approvals help with routing special requests for approval. For example, any IT manager must review any IT hardware-related purchase. In this case, the IT manager must always review and approve, no matter who is purchasing.
  • Department: There are times when only one person can approve a purchase. It is where department-based approvals make sense. For example, route all Sales requests to Bob.
  • Location: A location-based workflow allows you to route the requests to specific people for each location. For example, you want the system to route all requests to a location’s general manager.
  • General Ledger account: You probably want to route the requests based on the chart of accounts. It is commonly used when the purchase approval comes from Finance and not the department head.
  • Budget owners: With Budget tracking, you can route the approvals to appropriate stakeholders.

Approval Reminders

Approval reminders are an important part of procurement management software.

Even though the system sends email notifications for approvals, managers forget to approve purchase requests on time.

And that is where approval reminders can help.

You can ensure that purchase requests are approved on time by automating reminders.

Here is an example of the daily reminder sent by ProcureDesk:

automated reminders

Omnichannel Approvals

Everyone has their preference when it comes to approving purchase requests. If a manager is always on the road, they don’t have time to log in to the application and approve the purchase.

For people who are on the road a lot, a mobile app is the best way to approve purchases for people who are on the road a lot.

It is probably easier to log in to the application to approve the purchase request for approvers in the office.

Or they might want to approve over email.

An omnichannel approach to approvals is probably the best approach so that the approvers can approve the way they want to approve.

With ProcureDesk, you can use the web app, email, or mobile app for purchase approvals.

Here is an example of mobile app approval:

Mobile app for approvals

Purchase Order Software

The purchase order software allows the employee to convert a purchase request into a purchase order and track the purchase order lifecycle.

Once the purchase requisition is approved, you can convert that into a purchase order.

The vendor acknowledges the purchase order and then ships the product.

ProcureDesk allows for the automated creation of purchase orders.

You can set up automated rules on when to convert a purchase request into a purchase order.

Here is an example of a purchase order that ProcureDesk generates:

purchase_order_template

Once the system generates the purchase order, you can track the whole purchase order lifecycle.

When it comes to purchase order tracking, there are three things you need to track.

Purchase Order Acknowledgment

A purchase acknowledgment is a confirmation from the vendor that they have received the purchase order. It also allows the vendor to confirm whether they can deliver the product.

For example, if the product is back-ordered, the vendor can use this process to inform the buyer that the product is currently unavailable.

Here is an example of a vendor’s purchase order acknowledgment:

order status acknowledged

Shipping Confirmation

With a shipping notice, the vendor can provide the tracking details of the purchase order.

You can request that the vendor submit a shipping confirmation through a purchasing system.

That way, you have all your information in a single place.

ProcureDesk then tracks the package and informs the stakeholders when the product arrives.

Purchase Order Receipt

A purchase order receipt is a confirmation that the product has been received.

The order contact or the warehouse contact can create a purchase order receipt.

Here is an example of a purchase receipt:

receipt_tracking_procuredesk

When a buyer creates a purchase receipt, the AP (Accounts Payable) team knows that the product is received and the invoice is ready to pay.

If the product is damaged, or you need to return the product, you can note that in a purchase order receipt.

Inventory Management

An inventory management solution is not a must-have feature for purchasing management software. It depends upon your business.

For example, inventory management is necessary if you have a lab and purchase lab supplies.

If you are a school, then the inventory management function is very helpful in tracking what supplies you have in stock before you order.

There are three main areas for inventory control:

Inventory Tracking

Inventory tracking is a key function of warehouse management, and it allows you to keep track of what you have in stock at any time.

To get started, identify all the items you want to track inventory.

Then as you receive the items, the system will update the on-hand inventory.

Here is a snapshot of the on-hand inventory report:

on_hand_inventory

Inventory Adjustments

Inventory adjustment allows you to reduce the on-hand inventory as you use the inventory.

A company can make inventory adjustments in multiple ways:

You can create an adjustment as you use the inventory, or you can update the inventory at the end of the month after an audit.

Here is an example of how to create an inventory adjustment:

order_adjustment_inventory

Inventory Valuation

With inventory valuation, you know the inventory’s value at all times.

There are primarily three ways to track the inventory valuation:

  • Average cost: The average cost method calculates the inventory cost based on the average unit cost. An average cost is the most commonly used method to track inventory valuation. But it is not helpful if the product’s price keeps on fluctuating.
  • LIFO: Last In First Out is the valuation method where the Last item is consumed first.
  • FIFO: First in, First out is the valuation method where the inventory valuation is based on the assumption that the items received first are consumed first.

Integration With The Accounting System

Purchasing management software is incomplete without real-time integration with the accounting system.

You need the cost account data in the purchasing system to effectively book the cost to different cost centers and general ledger accounts.

If you don’t integrate with the purchasing system, the AP team must re-create the accounting system’s data.

The transactions created in the purchasing system need to be updated manually in the accounting software package. For example, purchase orders that are created in ProcureDesk.

That is why ProcureDesk supports integration with different accounting packages. The purchasing data is synced automatically with the accounting system.

Related: Top 5 Spend Management Software Solutions In 2024

ProcureDesk supports integration with the following systems:

Pricing

ProcureDesk offers three pricing plans:

  • The purchase order module starts $380 and covers 10 users
  • The base plan covers all the core features for purchasing automation, including requisition, purchase orders, receipts, and order tracking
  • Annual subscriptions provide a 20% discount on all plans. All plas come a 14-day free trial.
See how ProcureDesk can help you streamline purchasing. Click here to see it in action

2. Procurify

Our Verdict — Best for small to medium-sized companies.

Price: The pricing starts at $1000/month

 

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 complete visibility into the cash flow. Procurify offers different procurement modules for the procurement department.

The Best Part:

  • The best part of Procurify is its comprehensive suite of features that help streamline the procurement process and allow for business spend management.

The Worst Part:

  • It is a bit expensive compared to other features. There is limited support for punchout catalogs but the vendor is adding new vendors.

Best For

Procurify is best for small to medium-sized companies who want to automate a manual purchasing process and don’t need strong support for punchout catalogs.

Top Features

Purchase Requisitions

Procurify purchase requisition module automates the manual purchase requisition process.

The purchase requisition module is designed to support different types of purchase requisitions. For example, an employee can create a request for a purchase, travel, or just an expense.

The users can quickly track the pending and approved purchase requisitions.

The system supports user defaults. When creating the purchase requisition, the system automatically defaults the user location and department.

A buyer can create the purchase requisition or “request for order” in three ways:

  • You can select an item from a catalog.
  • You can select an item from a vendor punchout like Amazon.com. Procurify recently added vendors other than Amazon.com, so you might want to check with them on the total number of vendors supported by them.
  • You can enter the items manually, one at a time.

Flexible Workflow Engine

Procurify offers a flexible workflow engine that allows administrators to set up the purchase approval workflow.

The workflow engine allows different approval setups using the concept of workflow groups.

You can set up a workflow group and assign conditions to those groups. It is similar to ProcureDesk entry conditions, where you can define different conditions for workflow.

Once the group is defined, the system dynamically assigns the approver to the purchase requisition.

The user doesn’t need to remember who needs to approve the purchase, which reduces compliance risk.

Procurify has a mobile app that supports purchase approvals.

Purchase Order Software

Procurify’s purchase order software module is designed specifically for buyers.

Once the purchase request is approved (called RFO – Request for Order in Procurify), buyers can convert the purchase requisition into a purchase order.

The important thing to note here is that you need a purchase request to create a purchase order.

A buyer can’t create a purchase order without creating a purchasing request first.

The system allows you to combine multiple requests from a single vendor into one purchase order.

This feature could be beneficial for reducing the freight cost because buyers can combine the orders.

A disadvantage of this approach is that if the vendor doesn’t support multiple ships to addresses on the same purchase order, you can only combine purchase requests that are going to the same ship to address.

Inventory Management

Procurify doesn’t provide an inventory management system at this time. Please check with the vendor for the latest on this topic.

Integration With The Accounting System

Procurify supports integration with different accounting systems to sync the data to the accounting system.

Procurify supports QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Desktop integration.

There is support for Netsuite, and Procurify is certified to work with Netsuite.

The system supports integration using CSV files for other systems like Microsoft Dynamics.

In that case, the data is extracted from Procurify and imported into different accounting systems.

Pricing

Procurify offers 3 pricing plans:

  • There are three pricing plans – small business, medium business, and Large and enterprise business.
  • The small business plan starts at $1,000/month, and the medium-sized business plan starts at $2,000/month.
  • For pricing related to large and enterprise businesses, contact the sales team.

3. Precoro

Our Verdict — Best For purchasing automation with internal catalogs.

Price: Starts at $39/user/month

Precoro

 

Precoro is a procurement software that helps companies control spending and save time by automating their purchase management process.

The Best Part:

  • Precoro is an easy-to-use and easy to setup.

The Worst Part:

  • Precoro is missing advanced access management features that help administrators control access to different system functionality. The reporting is also limited.

Best For

Precoro is best for small companies that want a simple purchase process without a strong accounts payable functionality.

Top Features

Purchase Requisitions

The purchase requisition module allows employees to submit a purchase requisition electronically.

The purchase requisition starts with the user selecting the date, department, and location.

It doesn’t seem that you can set up user defaults for the purchase request.

The user can then add the items they want to purchase.

There are two ways users can achieve this in Precoro.

  • You can enter the item manually in the purchase request. You can enter one item at a time or enter multiple items. There is also the ability to import the line items.
  • You can select the item from a catalog. A catalog is something you create in the system and manage on an ongoing basis.

Once the user creates the request, they can submit it to the approver for approval.

Flexible Workflow Engine

In Precoro, admins can set up workflows around users.

Here is how the approval workflow setup process works in Precoro.

  • You start by creating the steps in the workflow—for example, 2 step process or 3 step process.
  • Once you create the steps, you can define the users who approve each step.
  • For each user in the workflow, you can define their approval thresholds and what department request they can approve.

The approval workflow setup process is simple and easy to manage for small companies.

However, for large companies, there are always so many personnel changes, and managing the approval workflows based on the named users will be cumbersome.

Rather, we recommend an approach based on the reporting manager. You can link your purchasing management system to the HR system so that it can automatically import the users.

Purchase Order Software

With the purchase order module, Precoro provides an easy way to create and dispatch digital purchase orders to the vendor.

A buyer can create a purchase order from a requisition, or you can directly create the purchase order in the system.

An employee can create a purchase order by entering the item’s description or selecting an item from the catalog, like a purchase requisition.

Once the PO request is ready, the PO creator can submit the purchase order for approval.

The system allows you to attach supporting documents to the purchase order.

Inventory Management

Precoro allows companies to track the stock of the items in inventory.

The process starts with setting up a warehouse or location where you want to stock the inventory.

You can then update the status or on-hand quantity by downloading a spreadsheet and uploading the inventory data into the system.

The users can request the inventory through a warehouse request process. It is separate from a purchase request process.

The system allows you to control access to different functions of the inventory management process. For example – you can easily set up access for who can manage the inventory and who can create a warehouse request.

Integration With The Accounting System

Precoro supports seamless integration with QuickBooks Xero and Netsuite.

Precoro also has an open API that you can leverage to pull the transaction data and import it into your accounting system.

Pricing

  • Precoro pricing starts at $39/month per user.
  • The plan is all-inclusive – you get all the features whether you want to use it.

4.Order

Our Verdict — Best For companies that don’t have an in-house AP department

Price: The vendor doesn’t provide pricing on their website.

Order.co is a purchasing management software designed to help businesses streamline their procurement process. It offers features such as catalogs, a flexible workflow engine, purchase order software, inventory management, and integration with accounting systems.

The Best Part:

  • Order is a marketplace platform that aggregates catalogs from different vendors. You essentially have one catalog to access all your purchases.

The Worst Part:

  • The marketplace pricing keeps on fluctuating. You must approve the invoices because the 3-way match process constantly fails.

Best For

Order is best for small companies who don’t have time to negotiate their pricing. Order sends you one Bill, which makes the payment simple.

Top Features

  • Curated catalogs – The vendor provides curated catalogs from the different marketplace vendors so you don’t have to create your own catalog.
  • Automated order processing – Employees can select from the curated catalogs and place a purchase order.
  • Budgets and approvals – With budget and approvals, you can route the purchase request for approval and assign it to the appropriate budget.
  • Order tracking – With all orders in one place, tracking your purchase orders is easy.

Pricing

Please get in touch with the vendor for pricing details.

5. Procurement Express

Our Verdict — Best For streamlining purchasing and invoice approval process.

Price: Starts at $360/month

Procurement Express provides an easy-to-use purchasing management software with features like requisition, approvals, and custom fields.

The Best Part:

  • Procurement Express is a simple purchasing solution that is easy to set up. Most customers find it easy to set up and train other users.

The Worst Part:

  • Customers reports issues with workflow and the ability to connect budgets with other fields like departments.

Best For

Procurement Express is best for small companies who want to automate their manual purchasing process.

Top Features

  • Purchase requisitions – Employees can create purchase requests by filing a simple purchasing request form.
  • Purchase Approvals – Purchases are routed for approval before employees can purchase.
  • Budget management – Link purchasing to budgets for easy tracking of budget consumption.
  • Custom fields – Add custom fields to purchase orders to meet your specific requirements.
  • Multi-currency – Support your global operations with multi-currency conversions.
  • Custom Dashboard – Create your own dashboards to get visibility into your spending.

Pricing

Procurement Express offers the following pricing packages:

  • Pricing starts from $365/month.
  • The base package includes 10 users and up to $10k/month in spending.
  • If you want integration with the Accounting system, upgrade to a small business package.

6. Tradogram

Our Verdict — Best For the construction industry

Price: Starts at $0/month

 

Tradogram is a cloud-based purchasing software to help businesses streamline their procurement process. With Tradogram, users can easily create purchase requests and route them for approval before they can be purchased.

The Best Part:

  • Customers like that the program is reasonably priced and easy to set up.

The Worst Part:

  • Customers report a lack of reporting, especially around inventory counts.

Best For

Tradogeam is best suited for construction and engineering customers looking to automate their purchasing process.

Top Features

  • Purchase Request – Easily create the purchase request and submit it for approval.
  • Item catalog – The item catalog allows you to create a comprehensive list of frequently purchased items.
  • Approvals – With approvals, stakeholders can review the purchase before a purchase order is issued to the supplier.
  • Budgets – Set up budgets at a department level or overall company level.
  • Inventory – Manage your inventory in one place and setup reorder threshold.

Pricing

Tradogram offers three pricing packages:

  • The tool is free to use if you have less than five monthly transactions.
  • We recommend upgrading to the Premium package that supports unlimited purchase orders. The premium package starts at $168/month.

7.SpendWise

Our Verdict — Best For small businesses.

Price: Starts at $9/month

spendwise

Spendwise is a web-based application that allows you to manage purchase orders effortlessly, inventory, invoices, bills, and expenses

The Best Part:

  • SpendWise offers a simple system for basic purchasing needs.

The Worst Part:

  • Limited integration with other accounting packages.

Best For

Spendwise is a great option for companies looking to streamline their entire purchasing process without spending a lot of money. It allows basic functionality to automate the purchasing activity.

Top Features

  • Purchase orders: You can easily create and send orders to vendors with the functionality of the purchase order.
  • Receiving: With the receiving functionality, employees can confirm the receipt of the purchase orders. This way, the AP team always knows when an invoice is ready to be paid.
  • Budgets: The budget feature allows companies to track spending against a budget.
  • Reports: Spendwise offers over 25 canned reports to get you started with reporting.
  • Roles: You can set up roles and control access to the application.
  • Optional implementation package: Spendwise offers an optional implementation package for companies who want support setting up the system. We are not sure if the base package has any implementation support.
  • Manual data sync: Users can sync the data to multiple systems through a data export process.

Pricing

Pricing starts at $9/user/month for the basic package and goes up to $19/user/month.

spendwise_pricing

  • The base package includes 10 transactions and 5 users. There are no approval workflows in the base package.
  • You must upgrade to a $19/user/month plan for unlimited transactions.

8.Coupa

Solution Overview

Coupa is a comprehensive, cloud-based Business Spend Management platform that streamlines procurement processes for businesses of various sizes, particularly medium to large enterprises. It offers an integrated suite of procurement, supply chain, and finance tools, aiming to enhance budget monitoring, fraud prevention, and Spend management. A key strength of Coupa is its ability to electronically manage the entire source-to-pay process on a unified platform, facilitating collaboration with suppliers and optimizing travel and expense management.

Notable features

  • Procurement Module: Streamlines the creation and tracking of purchase orders and supplier contracts.
  • Expense Management: Tools for managing employee expenses and reimbursements, including travel expenses.
  • E-Invoicing and Payments: Electronic invoicing and processing capabilities with fraud and error detection.
  • Analytics and Reporting: Real-time visibility with a smart dashboard for spend tracking.
  • Contract Management: Enhances supplier management, including performance analysis.
  • Supply Chain Optimization: Digital twin functionality for supply chain visualization and improvement.
  • Travel and Expense Management: Comprehensive set of tools for the efficient spending-to-reimbursement process.

Pricing

Coupa does not publicly list its pricing on the website. Interested parties are encouraged to request a demo or contact the company for a custom quote.

9. SAP Ariba

Solution overview

SAP Ariba is a robust cloud-based procurement solution widely used by large enterprises across various industries. The platform offers a comprehensive suite of tools for managing the procure-to-pay cycle, including guided buying, supplier and contract management, invoicing, and supply chain collaboration. Its integration with the Ariba Network, which connects millions of companies, enhances its capabilities for seamless supplier management. Despite its strengths, some users report issues with the interface’s complexity and the need for more advanced analytics features.

Notable Features

  • Guided Buying: Streamlines the buying process, making it more efficient and user-friendly.
  • Supplier Management: Offers tools for seamless management of supplier relationships and contracts.
  • Contract Management: Effective management of contracts to ensure compliance and performance.
  • Supply Chain Collaboration: Facilitates better collaboration within the supply chain.
  • Reporting and Analytics: Provides reporting capabilities, although there is room for more advanced features.
  • Invoicing and Payments: Streamlines invoicing and payment processes.
  • Ease of Use: Generally user-friendly, with some training to navigate complex features.

Pricing

SAP Ariba’s pricing is not specified and is likely to vary based on the customer’s specific needs. The platform is known to be on the expensive side.

10. GEP

Solution Overview

GEP SMART is a unified source-to-pay (S2P) procurement software combining end-to-end procurement functionality for direct and indirect spend management. It is cloud-native and AI-powered, offering a range of features, including spend analysis, sourcing, contract management, supplier management, procure-to-pay, savings project management, and invoicing. While the platform is generally well-received for its comprehensive features and ease of use, some users have noted challenges with navigation and loading speeds.

Notable Features

  • Savings Tracking: Tools to build, track, and manage savings pipelines.
  • Optimized Sourcing: Automation of sourcing and procurement tasks.
  • Cloud-Based Benefits: Increased storage, collaborative environment, and real-time updates.
  • Contract Management: Integration and collaboration across contract management.
  • Supplier Management: Real-time insight into supplier information and performance.
  • Procure-to-Pay (P2P) Process: Combines order-to-invoice and source-to-contract processes.
  • Data Management: Aggregates and cleanses spend data for spend analysis.

Pricing

GEP SMART does not publicly list its pricing. Potential customers must contact the vendor directly for a quote or demonstration.

11. PRM 360

Solution Overview

PRM360 is a comprehensive procurement software solution that encompasses the entire Procure-to-Pay lifecycle. It is designed to facilitate the complete digital transformation of procurement processes, from purchase requisition to invoice management. The software includes an e-Auction system supporting online bidding and negotiation, which assists purchase officers in selecting the best offers. Its features for automating reminders to vendors for invoice submission and online approvals aim to reduce unproductive time and delays in the payment process

Notable Features

  • E-Auction System: Facilitates online bidding and negotiation.
  • Procure-to-Pay Lifecycle Management: Streamlines the entire procurement process.
  • Ease of Use: User-friendly interface.
  • Vendor Satisfaction: Automated reminders and approval requests contribute to better vendor relations.
  • Efficient Operation: Compatible with existing operations, enhancing procurement needs.

Pricing

Please get in touch with the vendor for pricing.

12. Jaggaer One

Solution Overview

JAGGAER ONE is a cloud-based procurement solution that excels in managing eProcurement, sourcing, supply chain collaboration, invoicing, and contract management processes. It is particularly adept in industries with complex, highly regulated procurement needs, such as healthcare and public sectors. The solution is known for its robust compliance features, contract lifecycle management tools, and spend analytics capabilities.

Notable Features

  • Supplier Management: Comprehensive management of the entire supplier lifecycle.
  • e-Sourcing and Sourcing Optimization: Strategic sourcing events and contract optimization.
  • Contract Lifecycle Management: Streamlined contract management with real-time visibility.
  • Purchase Order Management and Spend Analytics: Centralized purchase orders with deep insights into spending patterns.
  • Invoice Automation and Matching: Automates invoice processing and eliminates manual errors.
  • Business Intelligence and Reporting: Customizable dashboards and reports for data analysis.

Pricing

The vendor doesn’t list price on their website, please reach out out to the vendor.

What Is Purchasing Management Software?

Purchasing management software automates the entire procurement process. A complete procurement platform needs the following features:

Purchase Requisitions

Purchase requisitions automate your paper requisition process. If your employees fill up Google forms for requisitions or print requisition forms, the purchase requisition feature eliminates the manual process.

Purchase requisition refers to an electronic purchase requisition process that digitizes the manual purchasing process.

It reduces the time it takes to create a purchase requisition using catalogs.

Repeat purchases are a breeze using the purchasing requisitions.

Flexible Workflow Engine

To control spending, you need a mechanism to have a review/approval before making the purchase. That is where a flexible workflow engine automates the routing of purchase approvals to different stakeholders.

You don’t want your employees to choose who should approve a purchase. It could lead to compliance risk and unauthorized spending.

Instead, a flexible workflow engine allows you to define an authorization matrix and approval controls. Once configuring the workflow, the cloud-based system does the routing for approval.

Purchase Order Software

After purchase approval, a purchase order gets generated.

The purchase order software automates the purchase order creation process. Your employees don’t have to generate the purchase order manually and email it to the vendor.

The system automatically takes care of that, saving you time and avoiding any manual data entry errors. Lower errors lead to better vendor management and controls.

Inventory Management

Inventory management provides you with a single place to track your stock items.

You can track inventory usage, inventory value, and onhand stock.

Integration With The Accounting System

Purchasing management software must integrate with your accounting package. Otherwise, you have to recreate the data in two data systems. That is no fun!

With Accounting system integration, the purchasing software syncs the data with the accounting system. It saves you time and helps avoid any data entry errors. Integration with the accounting software is a must-have for a cloud-based solution.

The Bottomline

To recap, here are the best [product category] software to try this year:

1. ProcureDesk – Best for small to medium-sized companies that need a complete procure-to-pay solution.

2. Procurify – Best for medium-sized companies looking for P2P automation.

3. Precoro – Best for purchasing automation with internal catalogs

4. Order – Best for companies that need a marketplace.

5. Procurement Express – Best for companies looking to automate the purchase requisition process.

6. Tradogram – Best for construction and project management companies.

7. SpendWise – Best for basic purchasing automation

8. Coupa – Best for companies who are looking for a Best in Breed procurement system

9. SAP Ariba – Best for companies who are looking for a solution that works with their existing SAP ERP system

10. GEP – Best for companies who are looking for a cost-competitive solution

11. PRM 360 – Best for companies who are looking for logistic management capabilities.

12. Jaggaer one – Best for education and research companies.

Related Articles

  1. What is purchase requisition software?
  2. Difference between Procurement and Purchasing
  3. How to control Procurement cost?

What you should do now

Whenever you’re ready… here are 4 ways we can help you scale your purchasing and Accounts payable process.

  1. Claim your Free Strategy Session. If you’d like to work with us to implement a process to control spending, and spend less time matching invoices, claim your Free Strategy Session. One of our process experts will understand your current purchasing situation and then suggest practical strategies to reduce the purchase order approval cycle.
  2. If you’d like to know the maturity of your purchasing process, download our purchasing process grader and identify exactly what you should be working on next to improve your purchasing and AP process.
  3. If you’d like to enhance your knowledge about the purchasing process, check out our blog or Resources section.
  4. If you know another professional who’d enjoy reading this page, share it with them via email, Linkedin, Twitter.