E-Procurement 101: A Starter Guide

Why this matters now

Margins are tight, staffing is stretched, and resident expectations keep rising. If your teams still email PDFs, key prices into spreadsheets, and chase signatures for approvals, you’re paying a hidden “manual tax.” eProcurement replaces those steps with a single digital workflow—from request to order to invoice and payment—so finance and operations spend less time in spreadsheets and emails.

What is eProcurement (in plain English)?

eProcurement is the digital system that manages purchasing end-to-end: picking items from pre-approved catalogs, routing approvals automatically, issuing purchase orders (POs), receiving goods, capturing invoices, matching them to POs and receipts, and pushing clean, coded bills to your accounting system.

Think of it as one connected workflow instead of six disconnected tasks.

Senior living & post‑acute: what’s unique

• Multi‑site complexity. Dozens of communities ordering the same items in slightly different ways create price variance and maverick spend.
• Regulatory and clinical standards. From infection control to food safety, you need the right item every time, not “something close.”
• Resident‑driven demand. Diet changes, seasonality, and census swings require fast, accurate ordering and visibility.
• Budget discipline. PPD (per‑patient‑day) and department budgets must guide—not follow—purchasing.
• Audit readiness. Clear trails from quote to payment matter for audits, vendor disputes, and value analysis.

What about AP automation?

AP automation is the natural partner to eProcurement. With invoices captured digitally, approvals and matching are automatic; AP focuses on exceptions, not data entry. Payments (virtual card, ACH, or check) can then be scheduled based on cash‑flow priorities and early‑pay discounts.

The eProcurement building blocks

1. Smart catalogs & order guides
   Hosted and supplier “punchout” catalogs with contract pricing, substitutions, and alternatives. Site-specific order guides make it easy to choose the right item every time.
2. Policy‑based approvals
   Auto‑route requests by dollar thresholds, categories, or locations. Mobile approvals keep things moving without email ping‑pong.
3. Purchase orders (POs)
   Standardize buying with POs that lock in price and quantity and provide a backbone for later matching.
4. Receiving
   Log what arrived (and what didn’t) by line, capture packing slips, and flag shortages or damages on the spot.
5. Invoice capture
   Receive invoices through EDI or email so AP isn’t typing line items. The system reads headers, lines, and totals.
6. 3‑way match & exceptions
   Automatically match invoice↔PO↔receipt. Only exceptions—price variances, missing receipts, quantity mismatches—need human attention.
7. GL coding & posting
   Apply your chart of accounts and dimensions consistently (location, department, program) and export approved bills to your ERP for payment.
8. Analytics & budgets
   Track spend by site, category, vendor; monitor budget vs. actuals and price variances; set alerts for contract non-compliance.

Change management tips that work in senior living

• Meet frontline teams where they are. Short, role‑based training (5–10 minutes) beats one long class.
• Keep order guides tight. Remove duplicates and “close cousins” that cause errors or confusion.
• Publish the playbook. Document who approves what (by dollar/category) and how exceptions are handled.
• Celebrate early wins. Share cycle‑time improvements or variance reductions to build momentum.
• Measure visibly. Put KPIs on a dashboard by community and review monthly.

Checklist: Why choose E-Procurement

• Healthcare‑first design for senior living & post‑acute. Multi‑site workflows, role‑based controls, and PPD/department budgets built in.
• Contract/formulary control with guided buying. Smart catalogs, site‑level order guides, and policy‑based approvals steer teams to on‑contract items and reduce maverick spend.
• AP Automation built in. EDI and email‑to‑OCR invoice capture, automated GL coding, 3‑way match, and an exceptions queue—clean exports to your ERP.
• Budgets & analytics that matter. PPD and department budgets, price variance and contract‑compliance tracking, vendor scorecards, and audit‑ready reporting.
• Integrations & controls. Proven ERP connections plus robust permissions and exportable audit trails down to the line level.
• Proven onboarding & responsive support. Change‑management expertise, role‑based training for frontline teams, and healthcare‑savvy customer success.

Start small—choose one category and two communities. Stand up catalogs and approvals, enable receiving, and turn on invoice capture for your top vendors. Within weeks you’ll see fewer surprises, faster closes, and cleaner audits—building the case for a system‑wide rollout.

Want to see this in action? Talk with our team about how eProcurement and AP automation can standardize purchasing across communities, cut manual work for AP, and improve visibility for Finance.