News & Research: Client Successes

Case Study: P2P Process Documentation and Assessment

ScottMadden was retained by a leading Internet service provider (ISP) to quickly document its Procure-to-Pay (P2P) processes. These processes were to be used as a baseline for internal business process improvement teams.

• Client management was challenged by inefficient P2P processes, including:
  • Fragmented and decentralized purchasing responsibilities
  • Poor documentation and inadequate policies and spending guidelines
  • Weak spending disciplines
  • Manual purchasing processes
  • Fragmented sourcing, which needed to be leveraged company-wide
  • Weak receiving controls
• Management sought to improve operating effectiveness and efficiency. They retained ScottMadden to quickly document the company's current-state processes and develop high-level observations and recommendations for business process improvements

• ScottMadden facilitated a series of joint application development (JAD)-type sessions with process users to quickly document process flows
• Each process step was documented using Microsoft Visio and then presented electronically and in hard copy format. Each step in the process defined the nature of the activity, the participants in the process, and the calendar time generally associated with the process
• ScottMadden documented its general observations regarding process strengths and weaknesses, and recommended improvements

• Business process improvements noted by the analysis team resulted in:
  • Annual cost savings of $7.5 million to $15 million
  • Improved financial control and compliance with Sarbanes-Oxley requirements
  • Fast, uncomplicated purchasing