April Procure-to-Pay Project Update

Posted in Procure-to-Pay

Update – April 2025
August 2024 – July 2025, OCFO & BDOG

Overview

The Office of the Chief Financial Officer (OCFO) finished development of a 5-year strategic plan to clarify the role of the office and set priorities. Procurement was identified as a critical area for improvement by campus partners. The “Procure-to-Pay” (P2P) process is complex and multifaceted at GU, so to understand where improvements are needed, we need a deeper understanding of current practices —from processes and workflows to the tools we use and how our teams are structured.

Fall 2024 was for “listening and learning” to document the Current State of GU and Benchmarking industry best practices around Procure-to-Pay. 

We are now in the Spring and Summer of 2025 focused on assessment, analysis, and action.

Recommendations, Analysis, & Action

  • Recommendation conversations are underway, however there are no larger decisions or updates at this time
  • “Quick Wins” focused for now = what Procurement and Accounts Payable can change/do NOW (this summer) that will have a positive impact for stakeholders based on your feedback. 

Remaining Timeline for 2025

April – August

Assessment, Analysis, and Recommendations

*Project originally slated to close mid-July 2025 → due to recent events, project is extending to August

**NOTE: Federal Government actions may cause project timeline delays due to bandwidth issues – still TBD

P2P Quick Wins

50+ Action Items 

  • Identified for both Procurement and Accounts Payable 
  • To be completed between now (April 2025) and September 2025 
  • Goal: benefit your experience, improve operations, and increase customer service with immediate impact

In Progress P2P Quick Wins

*not exhaustive, this is what is being worked on as of this announcement; many items identified are not listed as in-progress yet as delegation and phase planning occurs

Structure

  • Moving Travel Manager under Strategic Sourcing
  • Hiring underway for Director of Strategic Sourcing & key priorities identified on Quick Wins

Policy

  • Preliminary meetings to discuss thresholds, risk tolerance, and updates
  • Federal Funding RFP Support from Strategic Sourcing team
  • Publishing directives around SSJ/Competitive Bids, etc. in a more user-focused way
  • Spend category usage clarity (dictionary)
  • Building out a checklist for hotel and restaurant contracts to decrease legal review step & building out more partnerships with local hotels

Process

  • UIS Technical Review moving into FreshService & de-coupling Procurement/UIS
  • Website updates (immediate & long-term)
  • Template updating and additions (ex. Scope of Work, Contracts, etc.)
  • Customer Service training and expectation alignment between Procurement & AP to better service stakeholders

Tools & Technology

  • Updates to supplier registration & visibility of process
  • Troubleshooting match exceptions through AppZen
  • New international wire payment platform migration
  • New functionality for supplier connectivity

Other (Training)

  • More accessible register of the Procurement & Payables Improvement meeting updates/topics
  • Intranet Updates for Procurement Team internal training and tracking; curriculum build-out