The Client
The leading development firm in real estate operating across international markets that include Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Pune, Coimbatore, Trivandrum, Serbia and Malaysia.
The Challenges
Purchase Requisition (PR) creation is a very cumbersome and time-consuming process, especially when there are several items in the queue that are to be manually entered into the ERP system. Also, the process being manual, there were high chances of error occurrence. Hence, the client desired to get rid of the manual creation and automate the whole process using RPA, thus improving the operational efficiency as well as the accuracy of the process.
Some of the major challenges in automating the process were:
- There was a need to manage a huge volume of transactions that were generated per day.
- Financial implications made the execution of this process critical. If any wrong value was entered in the system, the client had to face major issues.
- The process was required to be automated in such a way that it is consistent and comparable to provide reliable results.
- Adherence to all the regulatory compliance while performing the process.
The Objective
In the Real Estate Sector, the procurement process is one of the most crucial processes that are highly transactional in nature, needs a lot of administration and investment of both time and resources. As part of the procurement process, the client performed activities that involved planning, contract management, collecting and maintaining supplier information, creating and issuing PO, processing invoices, supplier relationship management, ERP process, payment, and reporting.
The client was manually creating Purchase Requisitions routinely to fulfill ongoing requirements of construction material and related services. Thus, they desired a robust solution to automate and streamline their procurement process to drive massive efficiency improvements, reducing process time and bringing down costs and risks.
The Solution
In order to overcome the challenges faced by the client, it was essential to implement Robotic Process Automation (RPA).
Below steps were performed by the bot:
- An excel file comprising of procurement details was sent in form of an e-mail attachment by a user, which was accessed by the bot and the bot would download the file.
- The bot then reads the required details and performs various business validations on the data provided in the file. For any validation failure, details of the failures are then shared back to the user through email.
- The next step performed by the bot was to log in to the client’s ERP system and input relevant data in an ERP system from the input file.
- The bot will then create the purchase orders and share the document number that gets created in the system back to the user as a notification of task completion. In case of any issues faced by the bot while processing in the ERP system, the details of the errors will be shared with the user.
The process became more optimized and better orchestrated because a centrally operated bot was responsible for overall execution. The purchase requisition can be easily created just by sending an email, and in-built validations at the point of data entry itself eliminated errors and ensured robustness. It has also resulted in easier task management; wherein repetitive tasks have been scheduled and functions get triggered based on business rules.
In addition, setting up regulated workflows has helped control spend and made employees more productive, efficient and focused on value-based tasks.
Solution Footprint:
The Benefits
- Turnaround time reduction – For a 100+ line-item PR Creation, the bot needed approximately 10 minutes which is 60% faster than the manual execution time.
- Optimization of resource time – This automation resulted in time-saving of employees so that they can focus on value-driven tasks.
- Greater accuracy – Improved process accuracy to 100% as the software bot performed all actions based on designated business rules without any error.
- Audit and Compliance – The solution also comes with audit functionality that keeps track of all transactions being performed by the bot. This helped them adhere to internal as well as external audits.
