Procurement Automation
UK Manufacturing Company
Context & Objective
The client's procurement process was a case study in friction. Purchase requests started as emails, bounced between approvers, and sat in inboxes for days. Average approval time: 7 days. For urgent purchases, people bypassed the system entirely - creating compliance gaps and budget overruns.
Challenges Faced
Email-Based Chaos
Requests lived in email threads with no visibility into status. Things got lost, duplicated, or stuck waiting for approvers.
No Budget Visibility
Spending against budget was only known at month-end. Overspends were discovered too late to correct.
Audit Trail Gaps
Approval history existed only in scattered emails. Demonstrating compliance for audits required hours of searching.
Approach & Solution
Dynamic Approval Routing
Power Automate workflows routing requests based on value, category, and department. Different approval chains for different thresholds.
Real-Time Budget Integration
Dataverse tracking committed and actual spend against budgets. Warnings triggered when requests would exceed allocation.
Mobile-First Approvals
Teams and Outlook integration for one-tap approvals. Managers can review and approve from their phones.
Complete Audit Trail
Every request, approval, and decision logged with timestamps and approver details. Exportable reports for compliance.
Results & Impact
- Eliminated 'emergency bypass' culture - fast approvals mean no need to skip the process
- Finance team reallocated from chasing approvals to value-add analysis
- Clean audit trail satisfied ISO certification requirements