OB10, operator of the leading global e-Invoicing network, today introduced a comprehensive Purchase Order Services solution, extending the network's cost-saving and streamlining efficiencies further into the purchase-to-invoice cycle.
Purchase Order Services complements OB10's existing e-Invoicing network service by making it simple for trading partners to send and receive purchase order (PO) documents through the OB10 network. Both OB10's clients and their suppliers can significantly speed the purchasing process while reducing their PO processing costs as they further eliminate paper-handling from the accounts payable process.
The new solutions package enables clients to send purchase order to suppliers, who can then acknowledge the PO and convert, or flip, it into an invoice for submission to the client. Using client-provided PO data, the intelligent OB10 network can compare the supplier's invoice and the client's purchase order and validate that the invoice conforms to the terms and conditions of the purchase order.
"This new features package is a natural extension for the OB10 e-Invoicing network," said Peter Watson, senior vice president of sales and marketing for OB10. "As the only truly global provider of electronic invoicing services, we continue to take the lead in innovations that benefit the thousands of organizations on our network."
As clients send POs to suppliers through the network, the OB10 Network validates the file structure and writes the records to the client's purchase order database, cross-referencing each destination supplier. Clients receive a notification of the results of the processing. As with invoices, the OB10 Network supports Any-to-Any Data FormattingSM, enabling both clients and suppliers to receive the purchase order data in the format of their choice.
Clients can submit new POs as well as modify, cancel, or update existing POs. Suppliers can accept the orders as specified or conditionally, choosing to allow or prohibit modifications. The OB10 solution gives clients a high degree of flexibility in how they choose to receive PO acknowledgements.
If a supplier chooses to convert (flip) a PO into an invoice, the OB10 network offers the option to create a full or partial invoice, depending on the client's preferences. When the supplier begins the flip process, the OB10 network automatically retrieves all the PO data and streamlines the conversion of the PO into an invoice.
By making the PO process electronic, it assures that purchase orders can't be lost, damaged, or delayed. Also, electronic PO data assures that the procure-to-pay process begins with accurate data, which eliminates or reduces the potential for errors further downstream. In addition, clients benefit through the increased matching rate of PO to invoice, which reduces processing costs, while suppliers' ability to respond rapidly to POs shrinks their order-to-ship cycle times.
OB10 also announced an additional enhancement to the network that allows a client to achieve 100 percent paperless invoices, even in the face of suppliers who might not be online or who are otherwise unable to generate an e-Invoice. The additional service helps to clear what for many organizations is a final hurdle to a completely paperless accounts payable process.
The OB10 global e-Invoicing network, which has members in 90 countries and across six continents, is distinguished by the fact that it allows suppliers to submit invoices in any electronic format, from sophisticated ERP systems such as SAP and Oracle all the way down to small-business QuickBooks-generated invoices. Its ability to translate these invoices and present them in the client's preferred format is key to achieving high rates of supplier compliance. E-invoicing itself is a "green" enabling technology, helping to reduce the environmental impact caused by the manual production and distribution of paper invoices.