Revolutionizing SAP Info Record Creation with Smart Power Automate RPA Solution 

Client Overview  

Our client specializes in premium processing and?packaging solutions for the pharmaceutical, food and nutraceutical industries. Both benefiting?from a wide network over 20 countries, focusing on delivering advanced technologies for maximized accuracy, and efficiency. How they do that is with?the commitment to modernize their procurement workflows to move away from inefficiencies and automate repetitive manual tasks to maintain their competitive edge in the industry. 

Challenge  

Manual workflows which?are still the case for procurement, pose a lot of challenges rendering it ineffective and unefficient. One major issue involves the tedious process of laborious data entry involving employees who will have to extract information from electronic mail from their vendors and the PDF attachments manually data to type into the SAP?system. Not only this, it?also leads to longer procurement cycles, wasting time in repeated action. 

Furthermore, manual data entry leaves plenty of room for error — common issues?include material number discrepancies, pricing discrepancies, or inaccuracies in vendor details. Such errors lead to time lags, increasing operational complexity, and decreasing?the integrity of the data. 

But as the organization has scaled, the current approach became untenable: The amount of vendor requests has exploded,?and the team just can’t keep up. Hiring new employees is a very expensive and inefficient approach, especially at the time strikes when?some can pay for additional staff, creating a dire need for a scalable solution. 

Additionally, the workflow is not transparent which makes it impossible to track the data entry progress and?find errors as they happen. Ambiguity on processes creates complexity?in audit and slows the rate of issue resolution – both adversely impact the efficiency of team’s operations. 

Broadly, the combined effect of these challenges is to elongate procurement cycles and detract the team from strategic initiatives such as vendor?negotiations and contract optimisation. The challenge therefore is to address these inefficiencies and streamline?and automate the procurement team to contribute further value to the company. 

• Labor-Intensive Data Entering: Employees manually extracted data from?the vendor emails and PDF attachments and then entered the data into SAP, one by one — which used valuable time and slowed down procurement cycles. 

• High error rates: Manual data entry resulted in errors, such as mismatched material numbers, pricing discrepancies, and wrong vendor?information that delayed order fulfilment. 

• Scalability Constraints: The increasing number of vendor requests?made it unviable for manual processing to continue. Bringing on new employees?wasn’t a sustainable long-term solution. 

• Lack of Visibility: No workflow transparency clashed with?the lack of tracking of the data entry process, resulting in delayed audits and resolution of the issues. 

It also made it difficult, at different points in the procurement cycle, to achieve operational efficiency?and, in time, meant the team was prevented from focusing on strategic. 

Solution: Automation with Unattended Power Automate Bot  

An Automated solution has been introduced to eliminate the inefficiencies that exist in the procurement process to increase?speed, accuracy, and scale. This has allowed the system to fully automate the workflow by being able to directly search?for emails with vendor-specific details and automatically read data from documents via email. Key data like supplier price and material numbers is auto?updated in the company’s system removing the need to manually feed data. This resulted?in tremendous time saving and fewer mistakes. 

It also provides end-to-end data?accuracy through integrated quality checks. Mistakes and missing information are immediately flagged and routed for quick resolution, minimizing errors and?downstream problems. This proactive mindset has increased?the redefines of the procurement process. 

Real-time updates and notifications keep stakeholders informed about the state?of affairs, increasing visibility and control. Managers may use procurement visage to maintain a watchful eye on procurement and quickly address any discrepancies that are presented as highlighted with ease?so that day-to-day operations theoretically go on like clockwork with no prior notice, from Maximizing Generating Expediting Cross-Functional Collaboration. 

The system was perfect to handle growing?volumes of vendor requests as the business scaled. This eliminates any need to acquire further resources or invest in infrastructure, meaning that the company?can scale operations in a cost-effective and efficient manner. 

Maintains detailed records of all transactions?automatically, ensuring compliance with relevant regulations. These complete logs also support auditing functions and can serve as visibility into compliance?with regulations for procurement activity. 

Key Features of the Automation Solution:  

End-to-End Data Automation  

The bot?recognized relevant emails with vendor information attachments and extracted data from PDF files autonomously. Using SAP GUI scripting, it populated essential data — material numbers, vendor information, pricing, etc., directly in the?SAP system, thus avoiding any human intervention. 

Accuracy Through Validation  

We ensured that, using rule-based validations, all the extractions made were effectively?accurate and complete. Violations, like missing or invalid entries,?were highlighted for review. This greatly lowered the?risk of mistakes. 

Real-Time Monitoring and Notifications:  

This system offered?real time logs and notifications and clear visibility into the process. This enabled stakeholders to monitor?progress and resolve issues in real-time. 

Scalability & Cost?Efficiency  

Due to the growing volumes of vendor requests, the?automation solution was crafted to process these without impacting productivity or required infrastructure. 

Streamlined Compliance 

Audit trails were easier to?trace and procurement regulations easier to adhere to, thanks to comprehensive logs providing a history of processed records. 

By harnessing these capabilities, the automation solution eliminated manual inefficiencies?while improving data accuracy and ensuring that the procurement team could easily handle rising workloads. 

Results 

Key implementation?results of the Power Automate RPA Implementation Services had enabled the client to achieve remarkable progress in its procurement processes and gather benefits on multiple fronts.  

1. Time Efficiency

SAP Info Record Creation was automated, resulting in an 85% reduction in manual effort and saving more?than 136 hours every month. Things?that had previously taken hours were suddenly completed in under five minutes. This?streamlined procurement cycles and freed up employee time for more strategic activities. 

2. Error Reduction

As a result, the error rate for?manual data entry was reduced from about 8% to less than 0.5%, leading to accurate and consistent procurement records. These rule-based processes and automated validation checks helped in minimizing errors,?rework, and delays.  

3. Scalability

It also allowed to handle rising volumes of vendor requests without hiring additional?staff. Such scalability enabled the business?to expand its operations without significantly increasing costs or resource consumption. 

4. Improved Transparency

Real-time logs and alerts improved?visibility into the procurement workflow. Stakeholders?would be able to monitor progress, resolve issues in real-time, and have comprehensive records for audits. This encouraged compliance and accountability through?transparency. 

5. Cost Savings and Productivity

This led to great?operational cost savings with reduction of manual effort and errors. Employees were freed of repetitive, transactional work and encouraged?to concentrate on high-value work such as vendor negotiations or contract optimization. 

Performance Metrics: Pre- and Post-Automation