University of Essex streamlines purchasing and invoicing processes to drive extra value and improve efficiency
University of Essex automated purchasing and invoicing with Proactis, improving efficiency, supplier management, and on-time payments with a lean team.
Sector
Education
Staff
3,000+
Suppliers
4,000+
Invoices Processed
25,000 per year
System Integration
Unit4 Business World
How Proactis Helped
“Proactis has been really well received across the University. The Payments team love the usability of the system and found it easy to use from a very early stage. We have also been able to suggest new ideas to Proactis, and some of these have been implemented. From a user perspective this is really engaging and the sign of a true partnership.”
Carol Saward, Head of Income and Payments, University of Essex
Centralised all incoming invoices, eliminating invoices arriving directly into departments without purchase order numbers
Automated invoice scanning, data capture, PO matching, and transfer to Unit4 - removing manual effort from the payments team
Improved on-time payment to suppliers, strengthening supplier relationships across the University
Consolidated the supplier base, with Amazon Business punch-out alone delivering over £8,000 in delivery cost savings
Provided a full audit trail for every invoice, enabling the team to respond immediately to supplier payment queries
Delivered a single, user-friendly purchasing portal that buyers found easy to adopt from the outset
Enabled rapid resolution of invoice non-conformance issues through a dedicated, web-based query desk
Implemented on time and within budget during Covid-19 lockdown, with full remote delivery
Overview
The University of Essex is a public research university established in 1963, serving over 14,760 students and employing more than 800 academic staff. With a payments team of just five people manually managing 25,000 invoices per year - often received into departments without a purchase order number - the University implemented Proactis Invoice Capture and Marketplace, integrated with Unit4 Business World. The result was centralised, automated invoice processing, a consolidated supplier base, improved on-time payment performance, and stronger supplier relationships, delivered on time and within budget during the Covid-19 lockdown.
Challenge
The University of Essex is a public research university serving over 14,760 students, employing more than 800 academic staff and processing almost 25,000 invoices per year. With 300 staff across the University authorised to raise orders, the Payments team of five people was having to manually manage every one of those invoices - a resource-intensive and error-prone process.
Invoices were not received or registered centrally; they frequently arrived into departments without a purchase order number, leading to suppliers being paid late and creating no transparency over financial commitments or where invoices sat in the payment process. The lack of a front-end purchasing system also meant there was limited visibility of what was being ordered and from which suppliers.
The University needed a solution to centralise and automate invoice processing, provide employees with a single, intuitive purchasing destination, consolidate the supplier base, and integrate seamlessly with its existing Unit4 Business World finance system.
Solution
Proactis introduced a fully-automated invoice scanning and PDF import solution with intelligent data capture and a dedicated web-based query desk, integrated seamlessly with Unit4 Business World. Invoices are now received centrally, scanned, automatically attached to the relevant purchase order, and transferred into the finance system for matching and payment approval. Electronic invoices are also accepted, with PO flip functionality enabling suppliers to convert purchase orders into invoices directly.
Proactis Marketplace was also implemented to give employees a single online destination for purchasing - providing easy access to approved supplier catalogues and punch-outs through a consumer-style interface, all within established authorisation policies. The solution enabled the University to consolidate its supplier base, with the Amazon Business punch-out alone delivering over £8,000 in delivery savings.
Notably, the entire implementation was delivered on time and within budget during Covid-19 lockdown, with the project completed whilst the team was working entirely remotely - demonstrating the cloud-based resilience of the Proactis platform.
“Probably the most relevant benefit is that the University can access everything, in the same place, from anywhere. We now have full confidence that our invoicing processes and payment to suppliers are robust.”
Philip Sweeting, Head of Procurement, University of Essex
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