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 Located in Butler County between Hamilton and Middletown, the City of Trenton has about 10,500 residents, 84 employees, 12 departments, and an annual budget of about $12 million. Trenton has been an SSI customer since the mid 1980's, using SSI Financial Management, Income Tax, Utility Billing, and Payroll applications.
"We've been very happy with SSI software and support," says Michael Engel, Trenton Treasurer. "SSI software provides the core of our information systems and the SSI people have been a good partner for us over the years."
Focus on Purchasing
One aspect of Trenton's operations that was not as efficient as the city's administration and department heads would like was the purchasing process. So when SSI launched a new eProcurement solution called Proactis Purchase-to-Pay (P2P) in 2007 and invited Trenton to be one of the early pilot sites, the city readily agreed.
Engel and other Trenton managers had two primary goals for the P2P solution:
- Streamline the purchasing process - make it easier for employees to get the things they needed, make it easier for department heads and other approvers to process purchase requests, and reduce overall turn-around time.
- Improve budget control - ensure the right people are approving purchases, and provide more visibility of the details of purchase requests, as well as the current status of funds.
Proactis P2P
The Proactis P2P solution was ideal for meeting Trenton's objectives because of its well-conceived design:
- A fully electronic approach that captures and makes available all purchase request information, status, authorization details, and history
- Flexible electronic workflow for approval and transaction routing
- Built-in controls for account coding, budget checking, approval policies, and more
- A very intuitive browser-based user interface for easy access from anywhere employees are located, and for easy entry of purchase requests and approvals - even for people who only use the system on an occasional basis
- Full integration with SSI Financial Management for accounts, suppliers, and payments
A Smooth Deployment
"Actually, it's running like clockwork," says Engel after having the P2P system up and running for about six weeks. "The people who especially like the new system are the department heads and the people who need to buy things on a relatively infrequent basis."
Department heads and other approvers are happy with the system because purchase requests are now electronically routed to the proper people along with all of the details about each request. Approvers receive an e-mail telling them they have one or more purchase requests to approve. They can link directly into P2P to view details, approve with a single click, or electronically return the request to the originator with comments.
Employees, too, are very pleased with the system because turn-around time is much reduced, and because they can see the status of their request throughout the process. The purchase request process is so straight-forward that most employees have needed little or no training.
In the finance department, the A/P function has been simplified as well. Originators register invoices directly into P2P, which automatically compares them to the PO. Any discrepancies are addressed in the department and 'matched' invoices are automatically sent to the SSI financial system for payment.
Streamlined Communications
"P2P is really a communication system," says Lon Green, Trenton IT Manager. "The rules-driven workflow gets a transaction from originator to approver instantly without the need to send paper forms from office to office. And if a department head needs more information, that request is likewise sent immediately back to the employee. This has taken days off the turn-around time."
Improved Controls
P2P has also improved budgetary controls. "Because all of our account responsibilities and purchase policies are built into the workflow rules, we know all requests are being sent to the right people for approval," adds Engel. P2P also automatically checks for available funds and tells if there is a problem. When there are insufficient funds in an account, the manager can either reject the request or approve it if they know funds will become available later or can be transferred from another account.
In summary, Engel says: "P2P has already greatly improved our procurement process. We know, though, that it gives us ways we can make it even easier for people to get what they need to do their jobs while complying with our established policies and procedures. We’re excited about what we’ve already achieved and what we expect to achieve over the coming months."
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