UPDATED JULY 2025
Chasing approvals through email threads? Wondering which PO version is current? Your procurement headaches are real and costly. Manual processes that work for smaller teams now create bottlenecks that delay payments, strain vendor relationships, and muddy your cash flow visibility.
That’s where a smarter, more connected procure-to-pay (P2P) process comes in.
In this guide, we’ll break down what P2P is, why it matters in 2025, and how you can implement it in a way that is simple, scalable, and effective. We’ll also share real-world examples and highlight the features that make the biggest difference.
Procure-to-pay (P2P) is the full lifecycle of how a business identifies a need, purchases goods or services, receives them, and pays the vendor.
P2P connects procurement and accounts payable into one integrated system that, when implemented well, becomes a competitive advantage.
Here’s what the typical procure-to-pay flow includes:
Purchase Requisition
An employee or department submits a request, like new laptops for a growing team.
Approval Routing
The request is routed to the appropriate approver based on dollar amount, department, or item type.
Vendor Selection
Procurement reviews approved requests, evaluates vendors, and selects the best fit.
Purchase Order Creation
A PO is generated and routed for final approval before being sent to the vendor.
Goods or Services Received
The receiving team confirms the delivery or service is complete.
Invoice Matching and Approval
AP verifies the invoice against the PO and receipt. This is called 3-way matching.
Payment
Once verified, the invoice is paid, ideally through an automated payment method.
Automation doesn’t remove the steps. It removes the hassle and mistakes that come with doing them manually.
1. Speed Up Turnaround Times (and Avoid the Fire Drills)
Manual purchasing processes are slow. Emails get buried, approvals stall, and urgent vendor payments often turn into fire drills for the AP team.
When Operation PAR automated their P2P process, they cut supply turnaround times in half. Before, requests were scattered across emails and phone calls. The accounting team had to track down approvals and manually piece everything together. With automation, requests flow through a standardized workflow.
Faster processing keeps teams on track and strengthens vendor ties. When invoices are approved and paid on time, your team stays focused, and your suppliers stay satisfied.
Automated P2P workflows eliminate common roadblocks and give finance teams the ability to work proactively instead of constantly playing catch-up.
2. Gain Real-Time Visibility into Spend
Without centralized data, it’s nearly impossible to see what’s been ordered, received, and paid until it’s too late.
A modern P2P system gives you a live dashboard of every PO, invoice, and payment, along with who approved what and when. Finance teams at top-performing companies report up to 90% accuracy in cash flow forecasts when procurement, AP, and finance teams share real-time data across departments, creating better visibility into spending and payment timing.
It also helps leaders course-correct before overspending becomes an issue.
3. Improve Vendor Relationships Through Transparency
Strong supplier relationships require intentional effort, built on consistent trust and transparent communication.
Supplier portals let vendors submit invoices, view payment statuses, and receive updates without needing to chase down your AP team. That cuts down on back-and-forth and helps your business become a “customer of choice” –the kind of partner vendors prioritize and go the extra mile for.
When vendors know exactly what to expect and when to expect it, it’s easier to negotiate, collaborate, and build long-term value on both sides.
4. Strengthen Audit Readiness and Compliance
Audits become much easier when your P2P system automatically logs every step. You can build in internal controls, like dual approvals for high-value purchases, without relying on tribal knowledge or sticky notes.
And when it’s time to audit spend or investigate a discrepancy, everything is already documented with a clear digital trail. Strong controls are also critical to protecting your business from fraud, which continues to rise across procurement and finance teams.
Those same controls also play a critical role in safeguarding against fraud.
5. Protect Against Procurement Fraud
Procurement fraud isn’t limited to large enterprises. It’s a growing risk for any organization with manual approvals, limited oversight, or siloed purchasing practices.
A report by PwC found that more than half of global companies experienced some form of fraud or economic crime in the past two years, with procurement fraud ranking among the top risks. In one high-profile example, a Yale employee funneled over $40 million in unauthorized purchases through a department that lacked proper controls.
An automated P2P process can flag duplicate orders, track approver activity, and apply rules that prevent these risks before they escalate. The more visibility and control you build into your workflow, the better protected your business will be.
Let’s say a plant manager requests $10,000 in spare parts due to a spike in production.
Traditional Workflow:
Typical timeline: 3 weeks
Estimated internal cost: $9.40 per transaction in administrative labor
Automated P2P Workflow:
Typical timeline: 3 days
Estimated internal cost: $2.78 per transaction
Automation relieves pressure on your team and brings clarity to every step, and it all starts with the right strategy.
Start by identifying a procure-to-pay solution that integrates with your ERP, supports your workflows, and is easy for teams to adopt.
Look for:
Alimera Sciences reduced invoice processing time by 93% after implementing a solution that combined AP automation with approvals and payment tools.
Also consider how the platform handles supplier onboarding. The more self-service and streamlined that process is, the faster you’ll get value from your investment.
2. Map Your Current Workflow
Before you automate, understand your baseline. Sit down with procurement and AP teams to map every step, including who’s involved, how decisions are made, and where things get stuck.
Look for:
3. Use Conditional Routing to Your Advantage
Set up rules so your software can route requests automatically. For example:
This keeps things moving without sacrificing control.
4. Automate 3-Way Matching and Invoice Entry
Smart capture tools, such as AI combined with human review, digitize invoice data and match it against the PO and receipt. That means faster approvals, fewer errors, and less time spent on tedious tasks.
5. Pay Vendors Automatically and Securely
Modern P2P platforms let you pay vendors via ACH, virtual card, or wire, all from the same place you manage approvals. You can schedule payments to take advantage of early pay discounts or align with cash flow.
Bonus: These payment methods can reduce fraud exposure and offer rebate opportunities.
P2P is more than a process. It’s a strategic lever for finance and operations teams looking to cut through the noise, eliminate unnecessary steps, and gain full control over how purchases and payments flow.
With less time spent on approvals and chasing down paperwork, teams stay focused on strategy and aligned on what matters most: spend control and operational efficiency. The result is fewer errors, faster insights, and better decisions.
To bring everything together, your P2P strategy should prioritize not just automation, but integration. True efficiency comes when your purchasing, approvals, invoice processing, and payments all work within a single connected system.
onPhase supports teams at every stage of that journey, offering automation tools that work with your existing systems and scale with your business.
Ready to connect the next piece of the puzzle?
Explore Not All Integrations Are Created Equal to see how aligning your ERP and AP stack can unlock even faster workflows, tighter controls, and better ROI.