FUSION 2012 - PROCURE-TO-PAY SESSIONS FUSION 2012 - PROCURE-TO-PAY SESSIONS

Accounts Payable Diagnostic Session: Evaluating Mega-Trends and Opportunities to Boost Financial Efficiency 

Henry Ijams – Managing Director
PayStream Advisors
Co-Facilitator from P&G TBA
Co-Facilitator from Con Agra Foods TBA
Co-Facilitator from YUM! Brands TBA
Presentation Style – Traditional PowerPoint
Business Management and Organization – 1.0 Credit
Overview # 1600 – New Session
Discipline of Focus:  AP, P2P

You want to improve AP operations, but you are not sure where to start. In this session, superstar managers from shared services, purchase-to-pay operations, and disbursement will discuss major trends shaping the future of P2P and share important tricks to identify the next big opportunities for improving your operation. Learn from your peers how to conduct a thorough self-assessment to drive lasting transformation.

We will explore critical ingredients — work process, staffing, and automation of AP — that go into developing your three-year transformation road map. How can you optimize your approval processes? Is there a more efficient way to organize your staff? What have other organizations done to develop low-cost, easy-to-implement automation? Which payment tools will have the biggest impact on cash management?

Learn how the different choices of AP technology — including workflow, e-invoicing, e-payments, and discount management — can impact your efficiency and working capital. The session will also include discussion of three methods to evaluate your processing costs against industry benchmarks, and the two key elements in developing a bulletproof automation business case. This session will provide you with tools to drive change in your finance operation.

Aligning Procurement with Corporate Business Objectives: How to Bridge the Gap

Richard Hunsinger - Director, Sales
ePlus Systems Inc.
William Portuese, C.M.P. - Senior Director, Procurement
UGL Services
Presentation Style – Traditional PowerPoint
Business Management and Organization – 1.0 Credit
Advanced # 1605 – New Session
Discipline of Focus:  P2P

Procurement executives can play a pivotal role in aligning the business for strategic growth. The daily activities and decisions procurement executives and their organizations make daily can directly influence a company's finances. For this reason, it is critical that procurement is universally aligned with the strategic goals of the corporation.

Attendees will learn:

  • The critical questions that need to be addressed in order to bridge the gap between procurement and corporate business objectives.
  • How aligning procurement with overall business objectives helped a leading national corporation to achieve success.
  • Technological advances in e-procurement that assist the enterprise in meeting these goals.

Benchmarking and Payables Performance Measurement

James Tucker – Director, Product Marketing
Ariba
Presentation Style – Traditional PowerPoint
Business Management and Organization – 1.0 Credit
Intermediate # 1610 – Updated Session
Discipline of Focus:  AP, P2P

"You can't improve what you can't measure." This simple phrase sums up the objective of this session: to identify the key performance indicators leading finance professionals track. The process involves setting the right objectives, measuring and analyzing the right information, and taking the correct action.

In this session, the presenter will explain how you can:

  • Benchmark your accounts payable operations against those of industry and peer groups.
  • Set the right objectives for your AP automation project.
  • Effectively measure and analyze results against stated objectives.
  • Identify opportunities to optimize payables-related working capital.
  • Perform appropriate actions to improve ROI.
  • Mitigate risk through improved visibility and control.


Session attendees will leave with an actionable blueprint for measuring and managing payables performance across several dimensions including process efficiency, discount capture, working capital optimization, and vendor management.

Best Practices to Optimize Accounts Payable for Improved Processing in Your ERP

Bob Monio – Director, Channel Partnerships and Alliances
ReadSoft
Presentation Style – Traditional PowerPoint
Business Management and Organization – 1.0 Credit
Basic # 1615 – New Session
Discipline of Focus:  AP, P2P

Is your accounts payable department struggling to keep up? Research from PayStream Advisors reveals the average invoice cycle time is 23 days while best-in-class companies have reduced it to as little as five, which begs the question: What's missing in the majority of AP operations?

Join this session to explore key industry best practices for your end-to-end payables process. Examine the traps most organizations fall into that ultimately keep them from rising to best-in-class status. Learn which practices you can implement in your invoice receipt, validation and ERP integration, routing, and payment processes to avoid the bottleneck that is ultimately costing your organization valuable time and money.

Case Study:  How PG&E Reduced Annual Total Spend and Streamlined AP with a Cloud-Based Solution for SAP

Matt Wright – VP, Client Services
Taulia Inc.
Ben Shaffer - Manager, Accounts Payable
Pacific Gas & Eelectric Company (PG&E)
Presentation Style – Traditional PowerPoint
Business Management and Organization – 1.0 Credit
Intermediate # 1620 – New Session
Discipline of Focus:  AP, P2P

A Taulia customer, a Fortune 500 company running SAP ERP, enabled dynamic discount terms and on-demand payment acceleration for its supply base by rolling out a cloud-based dynamic discounting solution and supplier portal. In this session, learn how with the help of cloud technology and the certified SAP Add-On tool this company was able to fully leverage its existing procure-to-pay process, accomplish rapid deployment, and generate an annual recurring multimillion-dollar savings opportunity through dynamic discounting.

Changing the Face of Accounts Payable  CANCELLED

Mary Lynn Scalf – Manager, GL, AP Shared Services and Property Accounting
Verallia North America
Advanced # 1625 

Don't Automate, Eliminate (Part 1 of 2)  CANCELLED

Chris Evanoff – Principal
Soltec Inc.
Overview # 1630 

Don't Automate, Eliminate (Part 2 of 2)  CANCELLED

Chris Evanoff – Principal
Soltec Inc.
Overview # 1635 

E-Invoicing Strategies for PO and Non-PO Invoices

Christopher Rauen – Manager, Solutions Marketing
Ariba
Co-Facilitator TBA
Presentation Style – Traditional PowerPoint
Business Management and Organization – 1.0 Credit
Intermediate # 1640 – Updated Session
Discipline of Focus:  AP, P2P

Matching a purchase order to an invoice is a proven method for improving compliance; however, for many organizations, some portion of corporate spend may not involve POs. In these cases, consolidating PO and non-PO invoices for electronic processing can dramatically reduce errors, exceptions, and processing costs.

In this session, the presenter will discuss how you can transform your accounts payable operations by consolidating the electronic processing of PO and non-PO invoices.

Learn how you can:

  • Compress the processing of valid PO and non-PO invoices from weeks or months to a few days.
  • Drive first-time match rates of PO invoices close to 100 percent.
  • Match invoices against contracts without requiring a PO.
  • Implement business rules and electronic workflow that eliminate virtually all non-PO invoice exceptions.
  • Expand the capture of early payment discounts for all invoices.

Emerging Best Practices for Retail Recovery Audits

Jim Paolucci – Senior Director, Retail Operations
APEX Analytix
Jeremy Dotson - VP, Retail Operations
APEX Analytix
Presentation Style – Interactive Facilitated
Auditing – 1.0 Credit
Basic # 1645 – New Session
Discipline of Focus:  AP, P2P

Come learn how your peers are improving their retail audit operational efficiency, whether your audit focus is internal, external, or a combination of both. Learn how other retail organizations are successfully reducing average cost per claim, establishing and maintaining strong retailer-supplier relationships, and increasing internal catch rates. Re-evaluate your current strategies to enhance your recovery efforts and improve the accuracy of your long-term global retail transactional process. Find out how you can improve your cash management strategy by taking advantage of promotional allowances, rebates, and cash discounts.

Finding What Works:  How AR Professionals Handle Collections, Invoice Submission, and Payment Terms

Ernie Martin – Director, Global Supplier Marketing
OB10
Presentation Style – Traditional PowerPoint
Business Management and Organization – 1.0 Credit
Intermediate # 1650 – Updated Session
Discipline of Focus:  AR, P2P

This session will provide insight into findings from the 2012 Accounts Receivable Survey by The Institute of Financial Operations and OB10, uncovering trends and practices AR professionals use to mitigate the collections process and reduce the payment cycle.

Find out:

  • The top three ways AR professionals deal with late-paying customers and why they are effective.
  • What AR professionals really think about transitioning to an e-invoicing solution.
  • Which invoice submission methods are increasing in popularity and which ones are decreasing.
  • How AR professionals really feel about the use of discount payment terms.
  • Why AR professional believe their businesses might better or worse financially in 2012 compared to 2011.

Invoice Elimination without Technology (aka Pay-on-Receipt)

Chris Evanoff – Principal
Soltec Inc.
Presentation Style – Traditional PowerPoint
Business Management and Organization – 1.0 Credit
Overview # 1660 – Updated Session
Discipline of Focus:  AP, P2P

Learn the details of this process that eliminates the supplier's invoice from the procurement and disbursement operation. Instead, pay-on-receipt determines supplier payment based on accurate and timely purchase orders (price) and receiving information (quantity). With its dramatic cost reduction potential and ease of implementation, this process has become one of the most sought-after best practices for financial operations professionals in North America. This session addresses all of the principles, cost savings, and requirements, as well as  techniques for implementation. This best practice is not a software or technology solution, nor does it require electronic data Interchange (EDI). It is a fundamental change in the procurement and disbursement process with a major focus on data quality in purchasing and receiving.

This session will provide you with:

  • Complete understanding of the process
  • Impacts to purchasing, receiving, and accounts payable
  • Understanding of the auditing, information systems and supply requirements
  • Implementation approach to achieve pilot launch

The Journey from Paper to Prosperity: Whayne Supply 

Chad Bruffey – VP, Sales
Verian
Les Long – VP & Director, Purchasing
Whayne Supply
Presentation Style – Traditional PowerPoint
Business Management and Organization – 1.0 Credit
Advanced # 1690 – New Session
Discipline of Focus:  P2P

Whayne Supply's 15-step paper-based procure-to-pay process required five accounting clerks to reconcile the 50,000 POs the Caterpillar dealership generates every year. The 16-location, 1,000-employee company decided to automate its procurement, matching and invoice payment processes. After a fast and relatively pain free software implementation, Whayne encouraged user adoption, enhanced contract spending compliance, and educated employees on the costs of "maverick" spending. The amazing transformation reduced processing time from over 120 minutes to just four. What is most interesting is what happened after Whayne stopped struggling with paper: data from the new system was used to develop a strategic spend management strategy and KPI's that drove $1,140,000 in annual hard cost savings and pointed to one surprising integration that helps Whayne recover $40,000 in lost billings per location per year. Come see where a procure-to-pay journey can take your company.
 

Lessons Learned from Advanced Discount Management in Accounts Payable

Matt Wright – VP, Client Services
Taulia Inc.
Greg Bloom - Senior Director, Solution Consultant
Taulia Inc.
Presentation Style – Traditional PowerPoint
Management Advisory Services – 1.0 Credit
Basic # 1665 – New Session
Discipline of Focus:  AP, P2P

Hear firsthand, real-world experiences gained from advanced discount management at Fortune 500 companies. Learn how dynamic discounting can triple the average discount capture rate of 12 percent to more than 60 percent by extending the discount opportunity to invoices that originally don't offer discount terms. The presenter will explain the added positive effects advanced discounting has on supplier relationships, how it generates savings that can serve to fund AP automation initiatives, and how it accelerates and maximizes the ROI of invoice scanning, imaging, and workflow; OCR; and e-invoicing.

Lies My P2P Automation Vendor Told Me

Lori Messana – Managing Director, P2P Automation
BancTec
Tami Kight – Accounting Supervisor
Presentation Style – Traditional PowerPoint
Business Management and Organization – 1.0 Credit
Overview # 1670 – New Session
Discipline of Focus:  AP, P2P

Organizations worldwide are looking to embrace the many benefits that AP and P2P automation can deliver. However, with so many offerings and so much misinformation, it is becoming difficult to discern the truth around how to create a realistic ROI, which is the right vendor to choose, who to include in the decision, and other critical topics.

This session will explore how to counter the common misperceptions that are proliferating through the industry. A practitioner's perspective from a large manufacturing company will help to dispel some of the misperceptions from her own experiences on the search for the right AP automation solution. The presenters will sprinkle some reality and offer best practices on how to find the truth among the lies, from the classic "automation will solve all your problems" to "you don't need to include IT."

Mining the Hidden Value Streams in Procure-to-Pay

Jim Arnold – President
APEX Analytix
Presentation Style – Traditional PowerPoint
Business Management and Organization – 1.0 Credit
Overview # 1675– New Session
Discipline of Focus:  AP, P2P

Diamonds (visibility and transparency), gold (payment accuracy and efficiency), and cash are hidden in the procure-to-pay value stream, which can be uncovered through best practices that target savings leakage and inefficiency. The presenter will paint a vision of a P2P environment in which price paid is the price negotiated, continuous monitoring prevents payment errors and detects fraud, and supplier portals transcend basic self-service. AP has tools that provide cross-system visibility and metrics to reduce risk, support cash management, provide transparency in global service models, and address defects and exceptions efficiently.

Procure-to-Pay: Building an AP Automation System that Purchasing Will Love, and Vice-Versa

Thomas Noe – Product Manager
Basware Inc.
Presentation Style – Traditional PowerPoint
Business Management and Organization – 1.0 Credit
Basic # 1680 – New Session
Discipline of Focus:  AP, P2P

Purchasing departments throughout all organizations spend a considerable amount of time and effort negotiating the best pricing and terms for their company. What good is it, though, if employees still spend like mavericks, shopping and buying from wherever they desire? Often the AP department is the first to recognize the impact this has on the company's spend.

Having a purchasing/e-procurement system that integrates tightly with AP automation is the best way to ensure a successful operation that monitors and improves upon the entire purchase-to-pay process.

Topics of this presentation include:

  • What considerations do I need to make regarding my AP automation system when my company already has a purchasing system in place?
  • What considerations do I need to make regarding a purchase management/e-procurement system when my company already has an AP automation system in place?
  • Where can the company expect to see the quickest return on investment throughout the whole purchase-to-pay operation?
  • What functions can suppliers do themselves through technological solutions such as a supplier portal? Examples include uploading new prices, alerting customers about part numbers that are discontinued or replaced, and introducing new catalogs.

The Retail Advantage:  Case Study on P2P Automation at The Children's Place CANCELLED


Rob DeVincent - VP, Product Marketing
Corcentric
Basic # 1710

Understanding Your Suppliers: What Every AP Professional Should Know About Collections, Invoice Submission, and Payment Terms

Ernie Martin – Director, Global Supplier Marketing
OB10 Inc.
Presentation Style – Traditional PowerPoint
Business Management and Organization – 1.0 Credit
Intermediate # 1695 – Updated Session
Discipline of Focus:  AP, P2P

This session will provide insight into the findings from the 2012 OB10 Accounts Receivable Survey by The Institute of Financial Operations and OB10, and what practical steps AP professionals can take to improve the financial relationship with their suppliers.

Find out:

  • The top three ways AR professionals deal with late-paying customers and why they are effective.
  • What AR professionals really think about transitioning to an e-invoicing solution.
  • Which invoice submission methods are increasing in popularity and which ones are decreasing.
  • How AR professionals really feel about the use of discount payment terms.
  • Why AR professional believe their businesses might better or worse financially in 2012 compared to 2011.

Vendor Portals – Choosing the Right One, Because One Size Does Not Fit All

Jason Douglas – Director, Technical Operations
ICG Consulting
Jim O'Rourke – Director, Business Development
ICG Consulting
Presentation Style – Traditional PowerPoint
Business Management and Organization – 1.0 Credit
Basic # 1700 – Updated Session
Discipline of Focus:  AP, P2P

Vendor or supplier portals are becoming a more common and mainstream business tool for AP professionals. As a result, there are many more products on the marketplace than ever before. But beware: One size does not fit all. This session will help you understand the different functionalities available and assist you in making better decisions when evaluating vendor portal solutions. You should not have to change your process or be limited by technology to implement a powerful vendor portal solution in your operation. Portals should be able to enable and enhance your existing process without your having to add new technology, force your vendors to join a supplier network, or be tied to any enterprise resource planning (ERP) or content management system. Picking the right solution can add tremendous value to your company and your suppliers without breaking the bank or straining your IT resources.

What Country and Western Music Can Tell Us About Optimizing Near-Cash Business Processes in SAP

Brian Shannon – Principal Process Strategist
Dolphin
Presentation Style – Traditional PowerPoint
Business Management and Organization – 1.0 Credit
Intermediate # 1705 – New Session
Discipline of Focus:  AP, AR, P2P

Financial executives remain focused on cash flow: forecasting and controlling the ins and outs of cash. Optimizing near-cash business processes reduces the cycle time and overall cost while delivering better intelligence, transparency, and control.

So what does country-western music have to do with cash flow? From the earliest days of singing cowboys to the evolution of alternative country, there is an abundance of lessons to be learned from this music genre when we consider optimizing accounts payable and accounts receivable processes.

Entertaining analogies will highlight various aspects of the strategy and decision process as well as specific elements of optimization solutions:

  • The importance of an executive sponsor when developing a roadmap for AP and AR processes
  • Solution strategies, including appropriate capture technologies for automation, workflow models, and document storage
  • Getting a project approved with tangible ROI metrics
  • Assembling a winning project team to ensure successful deployments