What is Source to Pay (S2P)? Definition and Process

Often an online process that leads to e-procurement, Source to Pay (S2P) is a buyer's methodology for finding, negotiating with and hiring sellers for their products or services and then paying for delivered items. The process can include seller performance reporting by the buyer, including the creation of a supplier scorecard for future reference. Spend analytics can also be a result to determine the value realized by the seller compared to the value promised.

Throughout, a buyer also assesses any risk a seller might present. 

The ultimate objective? Optimize procurement, minimize costs and ensure that the buyer receives the goods it needs on time, while fostering a smooth relationship with the supplier.

Read on to learn the typical steps in the S2P process, the challenges and benefits of S2P and how it can further a firm’s digital transformation—including the use of software solutions that can streamline the process.  

In This Article

• What is the Difference Between Source to Pay and Procure to Pay?
• What are the Steps in the Source to Pay Process?
• What Are Examples of Source to Pay?
• Benefits of Source to Pay
• Common Challenges in the Source to Pay Cycle
• Best Practices for Optimizing Source to Pay
• The Role of Digital Transformation in S2P
• Source to Pay for Government Contractors
• How S2P Software Can Help GovCon Firms

S2P is a precursor to the Procure to Pay (P2P) process; you can think of P2P as a subset of S2P. Specifically:  

Source to Pay

S2P includes identifying a product or service need; preparing a Request for Information (RFI), Request for Quote (RFQ) or Request for Proposal (RFP) bid document (if required); curating submitted bids; qualifying vendors; negotiating pricing and preparing a purchase contract. At this point, the S2P job is done. 

Procure to Pay

P2P now ensues with the buyer’s procurement team preparing a purchase order (PO) using a purchase requisition. When a supplier invoice comes in, Accounts Payable (AP) processes that invoice and pays the supplier, typically by direct deposit.

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Most enterprise buyers follow the following step-by-step process in implementing S2P:

Identify a Demand

Buyers begin by recognizing a specific business need for products or services. This need might arise from depleted inventory, new project requirements or a desire to gain more favorable pricing or terms for an already-in-play procurement. The procurement team evaluates these needs against existing contracts and market conditions to determine the best path forward.

Source Ideal Vendors

Here, buyers conduct comprehensive market research to identify potential suppliers—many already within their supply chain—who align with their requirements. Modern procurement teams leverage advanced analytics to evaluate historical spending patterns and market dynamics, often called eSourcing, enabling data-driven supplier selection. Sourcing this way helps create a robust supplier base.

Confirm They’re Compliant

In this step, buyers verify that potential suppliers meet regulatory requirements, maintain necessary certifications, if any and align with corporate compliance standards. Also included: checking financial stability and insurance coverage to minimize risk.

Produce a Bid

The procurement team develops detailed bid documents, whether RFI, RFP or RFQ. These documents outline specific requirements, evaluation criteria and submission guidelines. Digital procurement platforms—often known as ePortals— foster efficient bid management and response collection.

Make a Decision

Teams assess pricing, technical capabilities and past performance to determine the most suitable vendor partners. After this analysis, the buyer selects one or more suppliers with whom to negotiate.

Manage Negotiations

This step involves creating the actual contract document, negotiating costs and pricing and final approval. Here, strategic and operational processes connect. On both sides—buyer and seller—teams work to align terms, conditions and performance metrics while protecting all stakeholders' interests.

Transition to Procure to Pay

Once contracts are final, the focus shifts to operational procurement. This transition marks the beginning of the P2P phase, where day-to-day purchasing activities commence.

Handle POs and Follow-Through

The procurement team initiates purchase orders based on approved purchase requisitions and oversees vendor relationships and delivery schedules.

Process an Invoice

AP captures and processes vendor invoices, including screening vendors for authenticity, verifying invoices, matching vendor invoices with purchase orders, receiving documents, gaining invoice approvals and generating accounting reports.

Pay the Vendor

The process concludes with payment execution, typically through electronic funds transfer. This final step ensures timely vendor payments according to agreed-upon terms, maintains healthy supplier relationships and closes both the S2P and P2P cycles.

Let's explore two examples from different perspectives:

Let’s say an enterprise tech company is looking to implement a new customer relationship management (CRM) system. The company begins by identifying its specific needs and researching potential vendors inside and outside its current supply chain. After narrowing down the options, it requests quotes based on requirements, negotiates with the top contenders and ultimately selects the most suitable provider. Once the contract is signed, the procurement team initiates the purchase order and oversees the implementation process. Finally, that team manages invoice processing and payment, completing the S2P cycle.

From a construction contracting standpoint, imagine a firm seeking specialized equipment for a large-scale project. The process starts with defining the project requirements and conducting a thorough market analysis. The firm then requests proposals from qualified suppliers, evaluates the submissions and selects the best fit. Contract negotiations follow, addressing terms, pricing and delivery schedules. Upon agreement, the firm generates purchase orders, tracks the equipment's arrival and processes payments according to the agreed-upon terms.

By integrating various procurement processes into a streamlined system, S2P powers buyers to optimize operations. Specific benefits include:

Better Spend Analysis and Forecasting

S2P gives buyers unprecedented visibility into their own spending patterns. Enhanced transparency allows companies to identify cost-saving opportunities and make data-driven forecasts. For instance, a manufacturing firm might discover that consolidating orders from multiple suppliers could lead to substantial discounts.

Improved Supplier Relationships

S2P methods cultivate strong vendor partnerships by centralizing supplier information and interactions. The improved collaboration that results can lead to increased reliability—on the part of both buyer and seller. A retail chain, for example, might use an S2P system to track supplier performance and reward top-performing vendors with increased business.

Enhanced Compliance

An S2P process can help ensure that all procurement activities adhere to company policies and regulatory requirements, reducing the risk of associated non-compliance penalties. For example, a healthcare provider might use S2P methods to flag purchases that don't meet industry regulations, preventing potential legal issues.

Efficient Supplier Risk Management

An efficient S2P methodology can continuously monitor supplier performance and financial health, alerting procurement teams to potential issues before they escalate. A technology company might use S2P to quickly identify and address supply chain disruptions that could be caused by an interrupted cash flow on the part of one vendor in the chain.

Cost Savings

Companies can substantially lower their procurement expenses by streamlining processes, eliminating redundant tasks and leveraging data for better negotiations. A large retailer might use S2P and its related solutions to automate invoice processing and capture early payment discounts.

Supplier Performance Issues

One hurdle in monitoring a diverse supplier base is ensuring consistent performance across various metrics, such as quality, delivery times and cost-effectiveness. Buyers may struggle to implement standardized evaluation processes, making it challenging to compare suppliers objectively.

Seller Risk Issues

Additionally, buyers can sometimes encounter difficulties in managing supplier risk. This includes assessing potential vulnerabilities, such as geopolitical factors that could disrupt operations. For instance, a manufacturer might face production delays if a key supplier experiences difficulties in shipping due to military restrictions and can't deliver critical components on time.

Onboarding and Integration Issues

Bringing new suppliers into the fold can be time-consuming and resource-intensive, especially when dealing with complex seller systems or stringent compliance requirements. Delays can impact the entire S2P cycle, potentially leading to missed opportunities.

Effective Spend Management Strategies

These involve centralizing procurement data from various buyer departments to view expenses comprehensively. By leveraging AI-powered analytics, firms can identify spending patterns and anomalies, revealing potential cost-saving opportunities. For instance, a manufacturing firm might discover that consolidating purchases from multiple raw materials suppliers could lead to volume-based savings. Regular benchmarking against industry peers can also reveal valuable insights into areas for spending improvement.

Building Strong Supplier Relationships

Fostering strong supplier relationships is a significant way S2P optimizes the buying process. Beyond mere transactional interactions, this worthy effort produces strategic partnerships. Buyers should focus on cultivating open communication channels, conducting regular performance reviews and encouraging collaborative problem-solving. A retail chain, for example, might work closely with its packaging supplier to develop eco-friendly solutions that align with both parties' sustainability goals. By treating suppliers as allies rather than just vendors, buyers can unlock new opportunities for innovation.

Streamlining Procurement Processes

In short: Standardize procedures. Remove obstacles. Eliminate bottlenecks. Buyers should consider automating routine tasks such as purchase requisitions and approvals, freeing up procurement teams to focus on strategic initiatives. A technology company might implement a centralized procurement platform that integrates with its financial systems, enabling real-time visibility into spending and accelerating the S2P cycle.

Importance of Technology in S2P

By leveraging advanced technologies, buying companies can achieve greater visibility into their spending patterns and make wise economic decisions. For instance, a manufacturing firm might use data analytics to identify consolidation opportunities across its supply chain, significantly improving its bottom line.

How Automation Enhances Procurement

With automated workflows, AP can generate, approve and send purchase orders to suppliers in a fraction of the time it would take to execute manually. This not only speeds up the procurement process but also reduces errors and improves compliance. A retail company, for example, might implement an automated system that tracks purchase order communications to its suppliers, minimizing discrepancies.

Decision-Making through AI

Artificial intelligence can provide valuable insights into market trends. Solutions that incorporate AI technology can enable procurement leaders to proactively address challenges and seize opportunities. For instance, a technology company might use predictive analytics to forecast demand and optimize its inventory levels, ensuring it can meet customer needs while minimizing excess stock—commonly known as demand-driven manufacturing.

S2P is the end-to-end process agencies use in direct procurement and government contractors use to efficiently procure materials and services from subcontractors. As in the commercial world, S2P helps buyers search for and vet suppliers and subcontractors, negotiate prices, sign contracts and manage schedules —until a project is complete and money has changed hands. The process ends with a final payment to the supplier, often with performance reporting and spending analytics involved after the fact, just as in a commercial context.

In government work, procuring and paying for goods can be complex because a buyer must often manage multiple vendors throughout the project lifecycle while stringently maintaining compliant processes. Too, S2P requires keeping various internal stakeholders aligned, including individuals in business development, contract and subcontract management, purchasing, receiving, project management, finance and accounting.

For government contractors that need to procure subcontracting services, leveraging disparate systems, paper and people can increase procurement cycle times, Days Payable Outstanding (DPO) and the resources required to complete a CPSR audit—a standard contract purchasing system review conducted by the government.

Without a consolidated system to house procurement data, departments aren’t working from a single source of truth. This means the business is missing key learnings that could help a contracting firm make smarter decisions that improve efficiency.

Choosing an S2P solution can sharpen your competitive edge while:

1. Connecting project data across the entire S2P cycle to reduce redundant processes.
2. Bringing automation, accuracy and acceleration to invoicing actions and improving DPO.
3. Reducing purchase-order and invoice disputes.
4. Maintaining compliance standards required under your contract and ensuring you’re prepared for audits—with all transaction and negotiation history in one place.
5. Easing the handoff between teams by enabling proactive communication.
6. Improving inventory management.

Learn how an all-in-one solution like Deltek Costpoint can increase efficiency and profitability in your S2P game.

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