The Procure-to-Pay (P2P) cycle is the full cycle of actions and events that a business engages in when they require goods or services from an outside supplier. The P2P cycle is a vital business process encompassing the end-to-end journey of acquiring goods and services from suppliers, and it goes all the way through to making the final payment. The entire P2P process consists of many individual processes that take place across different parts of the organization and involve multiple people, which introduces complexity and confusion, especially when the process is manual and paper-based. The P2P cycle involves the following stages:

• Identifying the need for a product or service
• Sourcing and selecting suppliers
• Creating purchase orders
• Receiving goods or services
• Managing invoices
• Processing payments

The P2P process is automated, saves costs, and reduces risk. Organizations can improve efficiency and effectiveness by implementing an automated procure-to-pay solution, ensuring the P2P process is transparent and traceable at all times, increasing collaboration between procurement and accounts payable, optimizing supplier engagement and satisfaction, and developing measurable goals and tracking performance.