Can anyone make some recommendations on a Purchasing Process management software?

November 2, 2007 12:32 PM

Can anyone make some recommendations on a Purchasing Process management software?

I'm looking for an electronic purchasing process system, preferably web-based or with some level of web-based functionality. Also very important is a high emphasis on ease of use and simplified user interface. If Google made a product like this, I would be checking that out first.

I am looking to facilitate and automate a purchasing process, including submitting purchase requests, checking the status of open requests, adding notes to requests, automated e-mail updates on requests, user-level access controls, a user-based approval process, etc.

Those are the main features. Other great things would be the ability to export purchase orders into quotes/invoices, with the ability to manage markups and select specific items from purchase requests to export into invoices.

I am also interested somewhat in Quickbooks integration (or other accounting software), but don't care so much about this aspect as the main features.

Does anyone know of any good examples of this type of product? Has anyone used this type of software before?

It doesn't matter if it's free, open-source, or costly and proprietary. All I care about is the functionality and ease of use.

posted by doomtop to computers & internet (4 answers total)

Oracle (PeopleSoft) and SAP will certainly do everything you want (and probably much more). They are both very costly and propietary :)
posted by tayknight at 7:12 PM on November 2, 2007

Don't go with Oracle. It's a nightmare for the end-user. Or, at least it is for us. Perhaps it's just how A/P or IT has it set up. It's slow and very limited. There's no way for the end user to find out the status of their PO without emailing someone in A/P. The system does send out weekly status messages, but only to the original requester, and if that person has left the company or switched projects, they can't be replaced. Honestly, I'm sure that a lot of our problems are organizational, but I have been totally unimpressed with Oracle. They may make great back end stuff, but their front ends are for crap.
posted by reddot at 9:07 AM on November 3, 2007

Oh, and you might want to evaluate this:
Transparent Software, although I have no knowledge of it, and it's not free or open source.

You could also check out CuteFlow, which is.
posted by reddot at 9:13 AM on November 3, 2007

Or what about TinyERP?
posted by reddot at 9:27 AM on November 3, 2007