SaaS Spend Approval Cycle Time Benchmarking
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing SaaS-based electronic spend management systems face challenges in reducing spend approval cycle times due to the requirement for human review and approval of purchase requisitions and expense reports.
Innovation Solution
The system collects community spend approval information and provides a graphical user interface for individual users, allowing them to compare their spend approval cycle time performance against the community average, thereby motivating improvements.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If human review and approval is required for purchase requisitions and expense reports, then spend control and compliance are improved, but approval cycle time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system provides feedback to users by displaying their personal approval cycle time metrics alongside community benchmark metrics. This feedback mechanism motivates users to improve their approval speeds while maintaining quality, as they can see how their performance compares to peers. The feedback loop creates a cultural shift toward faster approvals without sacrificing control.
Solution Approach 2:
The system enables self-service by allowing users to automatically track and monitor their own approval metrics without manual intervention. Users can independently view their performance data and make self-directed improvements based on the displayed metrics, reducing the need for managerial oversight and training while maintaining approval quality.
2Loss of time
If automatic approval is configured for certain purchase requisitions under specified conditions, then approval cycle time is reduced, but spend control capability deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements partial automation by applying automatic approval only to specific categories of requisitions that meet predetermined criteria (e.g., low-value purchases, routine items). This partial action approach maintains spend control for high-risk items through manual review while accelerating approval for low-risk items, achieving a balance between speed and control.
3Productivity
If community spend approval information is collected and displayed to users, then user motivation to improve approval speed increases, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system achieves multi-functionality by using a single metrics display component that simultaneously provides multiple functions: tracking individual performance, displaying community benchmarks, motivating users to improve, and enabling self-monitoring. This universal component addresses multiple objectives without requiring separate complex systems for each function.
Data Source
AI summary
Techniques are disclosed for improving spend approval cycle time in a software-as-service (SasS) electronic spend management system based on community spend approval information. The techniques include the spend management system collecting information about spend approval cycle times across a community of users that use the system. A graphical user interface is then provided by the spend management system to individual customer users of the spend management system where the graphical user interface includes a graphical comparison of the user's individual spend approval cycle time performance against the community's spend approval cycle time performance. By doing so, the individual user can be motivated to improve or maintain his or her spend approval cycle time performance.