A successful P2P project can start in many different areas and travel many different paths; but, before an enterprise begins its P2P journey, it should have a sense of where it is going and what it is trying to achieve. Crafting the right plan or blueprint at the outset of a P2P project will help keep the project focused on the largest opportunities and help ensure that any incremental P2P investments will generate exponential returns. But, before making any technology investment decisions, the relevant process owners and stakeholders across the entire P2P spectrum should be involved in the development of a P2P blueprint that models the desired future state processes, identifies all system end-user interactions and needs, and system integration requirements; it should also prioritize system capabilities and reporting requirements and frame a supplier enablement strategy. While a larger set of project stakeholders will bring a wider set of interests, priorities, and requirements to the discussion; the earlier these different inputs are identified and understood by the larger team, the sooner they can be rationalized and prioritized into a comprehensive plan. The wider involvement of stakeholders is also a classic approach in establishing project buy-in at an early stage and promoting user adoption once the project is launched.
The foundation of a successful P2P project is built within and across the procurement and accounts payable functions of an enterprise. Tight alignment between these two groups must exist for a P2P program to grow and thrive. The project’s lead architects and builders will likely come from these groups; but, wider collaboration is needed, so input should be gathered and incorporated from other stakeholders including:
- Finance/Treasury which manages an enterprise’s cash positions and should have requirements and recommendations related to how supplier contract payment terms are negotiated and executed.
- IT whose understanding of the enterprise’s current IT ecosystem and general technical expertise can be leveraged in helping design the P2P system with the lowest total cost of ownership and help define and support P2P integration requirements.
- Line of Business whose employee adoption rates will have an enormous impact on the overall success of the program. The large number of system business users (particularly on the front end of the P2P process) should have a representative voice in the system selection and design.
- Suppliers – whose level and speed of enablement will be a critical factor in the success of any P2P initiative. The current supply base, particularly the highest transaction volume suppliers, should be evaluated to understand the general technical aptitude and orientation which may favor certain solutions in the market and/or approaches to the enablement process.
Organizations that are starting with a relatively small budget and/or a strict focus on one sub-process area may not have the resources and time to invest in the development of a comprehensive or multi-phased plan. If finely detailing the end state of the entire P2P process at such an early stage is not be possible, the initial blueprint should, at minimum, have a full level of detail for the approved scope of investment in P2P solutions and a description and discussion of the future considerations that will have to be made. The blueprint will help the various stakeholders understand the larger process and their part in it, as well as the initial goals and objectives of any initial investment. With a larger constituency engaged from the start in the development of the P2P blueprint, the P2P leadership dramatically increases its chance of avoiding duplicate or redundant efforts and getting it right the first time.
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