Are Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central’s procurement capabilities enough?

Blog: Professional advantage - BPM blog

Bring more procurement capabilities to Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central.

In this blog, we invite representatives from Paramount WorkPlace to discuss:

5 reasons to consider a more advanced procurement solution.

For the past two decades, we have worked with hundreds of Microsoft ERP customers looking to complement their ERP capabilities. With integrations to Microsoft Dynamics GP, SL, NAV and AX, and more recently to Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, our procurement solution provides the deep, workflow-intensive capabilities that most ERP solutions simply don’t offer.

Two questions we are frequently asked
during interviews, ERP events, and user groups are, “Are the Microsoft Dynamics
365 Business Central procurement capabilities enough?” and “When should our
organisation consider a more advanced procurement solution?”. The answers depend
upon an organisation’s workflows, processes, and business growth plans. When it
comes to Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, there are (at least) five
reasons to consider a more advanced procurement solution to augment the ERP’s procurement
functionality.

1. We have conditional, multi-department, or complex approval rules or paths

One of the most common reasons that Microsoft
Dynamics 365 Business Central clients get in contact with us is due to the need
to support multiple complex and conditional approval paths. While
straightforward approval routings are easily accommodated, it is when the
approval path within a single requisition varies by individual, amount, expense
type, department, account number, or dimension value that things get tough.

Paramount WorkPlace solves this by supporting unlimited levels of approval and unlimited approval paths. A single request can be routed to multiple departments and multiple stakeholders based on an extensive list of conditions. Need even finer control? WorkPlace supports line-level approvals. What’s more, requests and approvals are supported on the mobile app, meaning staff can keep the process moving even while away from the office.

2. We’re looking to speed up and simplify routine purchasing

Everyone welcomes tools that speed up and simplify the procurement of routine purchases such as office supplies. Paramount WorkPlace incorporates convenient tools that make it simple for users in your organisation to buy from preferred vendors—saving time while keeping more spend under your direct control.

Guided Buying Catalogs: Make it easy for shoppers to buy from preferred suppliers by setting up Guided Buying Catalogs. These catalogues can be organised by vendor, by department, by functional area, or other meaningful grouping, and include predefined vendor items, pricing, and accounting information. The catalogs provide a simple and intuitive interface option for users to select items with a few clicks, and automatically submit them for approval simply by checking out of their shopping cart.

PunchOut: With PunchOut, users can browse and shop a supplier’s catalogue in real-time on the vendor’s website, populating their requisitions automatically, resulting in quick, error-free processing. After approval, purchase orders are created and routed automatically to the appropriate vendor.

Mobile catalogues: Paramount Wo rkPlace Mobile provides full mobile requisition entry, including both free-form and catalogue-based requisitioning. Users can browse and shop their catalogues, save items to a shopping cart to process, or submit as a requisition directly from the mobile app. Busy managers and executives can approve or disapprove pending requisitions with a single touch. Employees can view the status of open mobile requisitions from their mobile devices, anywhere, anytime.

3. We need better GL budget visibility and control

Your
best efforts at spend management can be thwarted when purchases exceed budgeted
amounts. Employees may simply not be aware of budget constraints when
requesting items, or budget values may be unavailable to them.

Paramount WorkPlace incorporates an advanced budgeting engine that enforces your corporate budget throughout the entire requisition and procurement processes. Users gain visibility into GL budgets setup in Dynamics 365 Business Central and can witness the impact on spending against that budget throughout the entire procurement process, including pre-encumbered, encumbered, and actual.

4. We want to ensure support for Microsoft Dynamics 365 dimensions

Microsoft Dynamics 365
Business Central perfects the use of dimensions—those bits of user-defined
information associated with any transaction. Paramount WorkPlace solutions are
fully integrated with Dynamics 365 Business Central, and support dimensions
throughout the procure-to-pay cycle. In fact, you can even route for approval
based on dimensions.

5. We want to take advantage of advanced OCR capabilities

Paramount
WorkPlace uses a combination of OCR, machine learning, and AI to automate and
accelerate entering and approving routing invoices, as well as the validation,
matching, and approval of requisitions and purchase orders. A smart invoice
capture function is capable of recognising invoices and capturing the data down
to the line-level. It eliminates inefficiencies, speeds up and streamlines the
P2P cycle, and reduces the time users spend keying and correcting data, allowing
procurement professionals to focus on high-value projects.

By adding Paramount WorkPlace to your Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central solution, your organisation can gain more control over the procure-to-pay cycle, whilst supporting and enforcing your workflows and business processes. You can login from anywhere, anytime, with your desktop, mobile, or tablet, and have total control and visibility into your data wherever you are. Learn more about our integration with Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central here.

Written by Foy Mainor.

Foy leads Software Sales and Sales Channel Relations at Paramount. With over 25 years of experience in developing and executing software sales and worldwide sales channel development, he is well known and respected within the channel partner community and teams, with whom he collaborates for cultivating strong channel and customer relationships.

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The post Are Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central’s procurement capabilities enough? appeared first on Enterprise Software Blog – Professional Advantage.