Transforming Procurement: A Source to Pay Assessment and Solution Design

Transforming Procurement: A Source-to-Pay Assessment and Solution Design

Headquartered in the United States, this large motorsport organization plays a key role in the sports entertainment sector. As the organization and its related entities continue to grow and mature, the client recognized and identified the need to optimize and enhance its source-to-pay function via a Workday maturity assessment.

The client needed a trusted partner to develop a strategy and detailed plan to execute an end-to-end sourcing and procurement solution and design utilizing the Workday platform. The solution focused on the following four key areas:

• Spend analysis
• Business process analysis
  • Framework/ process areas assessed included:
    • Sourcing and category management, contract management, procurement, accounts payable, supplier master file governance, supplier management, and procurement function governance and enablement)
• Business/organization structure (sourcing and procurement target operating model)
• Technology assessment

The overarching objectives of the engagement's desired benefits and outcomes were to have more timely financial insights that enabled agile decision-making, streamline processes, improve operational efficiency and accuracy, and improve adherence to regulatory requirements and enterprise initiatives.

Identifying the pain points

Several years after its initial Workday implementation, the client conducted a Workday maturity assessment, during which procurement functionality was de-prioritized. As a result, end users experienced pain points using their current instance/configurations for their source-to-pay processes/functions. The client's leadership also noted that less than 10 percent of company spend was captured and tracked via a PO, and most of the organization was not currently complying with nor adopting the established sourcing and procurement processes and policies.

Additional pain points and improvement opportunities identified included:

• Inefficient procurement processes: The existing S2P cycle was bogged down by manual interventions and inconsistent procedures across different departments.
• Data visibility issues: The absence of consolidated data and related analytics led to poor visibility into spending patterns and hindered strategic decision-making.
• Compliance risks and inconsistencies: With outdated processes and lack of governance, there was an increased risk of non-compliance with internal policies and external regulations.
• Technological challenges: The client's current version of Workday did not support their source-to-pay policy and processes, causing frustration and a resistance to change within the organization.

Developing a future state strategy

To address these challenges, Protiviti's approach encompassed a thorough current state assessment, strategic future state solution design from a people/target operating model, process, and technology perspective, followed by developing a detailed implementation roadmap.

The current state assessment consisted of documenting over 150 detailed observations of the current state through stakeholder interviews/workshops and process walkthroughs where we identified critical areas of opportunity where improvements could significantly impact the organization and the S2P functions in ways such as efficiency, cost savings, staff productivity, cycle time, and compliance. We then developed future state S2P processes, incorporating leading practices/ and recommendations tailored to both the unique needs of the client and the motorsports entertainment industry. Additionally, we developed recommendations for technological enhancements to utilize Workday's robust capabilities to automate and optimize key functions like supplier onboarding, invoice processing, and payment executions.

We also crafted and designed a new target operating model for sourcing and procurement that closely aligned with the client's broader organizational goals such as cost leadership and operational excellence. This included a transition plan from their current fully decentralized procurement operating model to the recommended hybrid, - centrally-led procurement operating model.

To support the strategic future state solution design and the client's future needs related to maturing its S2P function, we developed and delivered a phased implementation roadmap that outlined quick wins, prioritization, key tasks and activities to implement each phase, resource requirements, timelines, change management, training and roll-out plans, and expected organization impacts/ROI.

The client needed a trusted partner to develop a strategy and detailed plan to execute an end-to-end sourcing and procurement solution and design utilizing the Workday platform.