Credit Cards Online Information

PURCHASING CARD PROGRAMS are moving to a new level of value. The first wave of change, which began about twenty years ago, put buying authority in the hands of front-line employees throughout their organizations. The benefits were clear: first, purchasing necessary goods and services became fast and convenient; taking even a part of the procurement process out of the paper-based world generated considerable savings in time and money; and, suppliers received payment almost instantly. Today, a second wave of purchasing card functionality is putting strategic information on the desks of senior managers. The difference is in the data.

At the most basic level of purchasing card use, managers receive monthly statements with "level one" data: date, supplier, dollar value and, of course, the name associated with the card, whether it is assigned to an individual employee or a work unit.

"Level four" data, on the other hand, is enhanced to the customers' specifications. Wendy Hall, Public sector Relations director at BMO ePurchasing Solutions said, "We may be the only provider that can pass level four data, custom data based on unique specifications of a client. An example would be time-sheets from a temp help agency, so we would work with the supplier and the government of Canada to deliver that custom data." she said.

Across levels one to four, there is a world of useful data, including order number, item product code, description, quantity, unit of measure and price. Managers can see where products are coming from and where they are going. If the organization is using temporary services, they can look up spending by individual contractor or the types of work performed. If materials are being sent out for analysis and testing, purchasing information could include tracking numbers. In fact, any information about a purchasing card transaction that can be described in alphanumeric terms can be delivered electronically.

Five years ago, when Ken Babich joined the purchasing services department at the University of Victoria, there were only about 70 purchasing cards in use on campus, with very restricted use, manual reconciliation and a monthly spend of only about $15,000.

Shortly after he arrived, he wrote a visionary article called "Bridging The Gap" that looked at the challenge of creating a seamless merger of purchasing card programs with enterprise resource planning (ERP) software to create an all-electronic process. At that time he wrote, "... purchasing cards should seriously be considered as the preferred method of purchase and payment." Since then, he has pursued that goal.

Today, there are 770 purchasing cardholders at the university and a total spend of nearly $4 million a year. And, best of all, "The entire process is electronic, from the actual commitment right to encumbering it in our budget."

Within the University of Victoria e-procurement website, an e-merchant site hosts the purchasing card solution. Employees use their purchasing cards to buy from approved vendors and each morning all the transactions for the prior period, including the day before, are reported.

"We take that information in spreadsheet format and we apply the tax tables to it, the PST and the GST, based on where the goods initiated from and so we have that all embedded in code through a product from a company called Millennium Computer Systems which is here in Victoria," Babich said. When data enters the financial software system, money immediately leaves the appropriate budgets.

As Babich said, "The end user can buy something today and within 24 hours, they can go to their financial statement, click on the transaction and see that it is a p-card transaction, what the value is and what it is for, all electronically. That was 'bridging the gap'."

Looking back, Babich said there is more to a solution than just technology. "One is the management of the program itself and the degree to which there is an entrepreneurial spirit attached to it. In other words, how willing is an organization to go ahead and engage technology, particularly p-card technology and some of the inherent risks that they think might come with it."

Once the gap is bridged, and data is flowing into an organization, the next step is to turn it into useful information. Brent Needham, the commercial solutions senior manager at Visa Canada said organizations really capture value with a fully automated procure-to-pay process.

"If you use an ERP system integrated with your electronic procurement system, and it automatically goes on a p-card, then it is much easier to take that enhanced data electronically and, if you're a compliancedriven organization, make sure people are in compliance," he said. "If you're an organization that really values strategic sourcing, you use that to figure out how much you're buying from suppliers and then try to negotiate better deals because you understand how much you're spending with each supplier over each twelve-month period."

# posted by Medical Information : 6:05 AM