What is Reporting?- Definition

Reporting, as the name suggests, is providing insights in a precise report format. A report is a document that presents information in an organized format for a specific audience and purpose. Although summaries of reports may be delivered orally, complete reports are almost always in the form of written documents.

Talking about Procure-to-pay dashboards, reporting refers to displaying information about vendors and related payments. 

P2P reporting displays information about:

• Active and completed purchase requisitions
• Approvals
• Purchase orders 
• AP invoices; and 
• How these documents relate to each other

Understanding Reporting and Analytics

Even though we often hear the terms “reporting” and “analytics” used interchangeably, this is actually a misconception. Although they both use the same data, they each have completely different purposes. Both reporting and analytics are vital because they better equip the organization to make key decisions that increase its value. 

Reporting, in general, turns raw data into consumable information; whereas, analytics helps enterprises turn that consumable information into actionable insights.

Some of the Common Reports in Procure-to-Pay 

Spend Reports

Spend reports help you track the top suppliers by region, spend changes by category, purchase process developments as well as supplier count developments. Such reports comprise of:

• Tail spend analysis
• Vendor spend analysis
• Category spend analysis
• Item spend analysis
• Payment term spend analysis
• Contract spend analysis 

Category Analysis Reports

These are specific supplier type of report which is derived by sorting and filtering data of goods and services falling under specific spend categories. 

Accounts Payable Reports

Reports that contain valuable information pertaining to

• Spend activity, 
• Budget
• Accruals
• GRN (goods received note)
• GRNI (goods received but not invoiced)
• Payments and discounts

Contract Management Reports

Reports that include vendor contract information like

• Analysis of suppliers
• Performance of suppliers
• Contracts by suppliers
• Contracts by payments
• Contracts by renewal dates

Procurement KPI Reports

Procurement KPI reports help track, monitor, and benchmark the performance of the entire procurement process. It helps you analyze key performance indicators like:

• Purchase order cycle time
• Number of suppliers
• Compliance rate per supplier
• Supplier efficiency to meet demand
• Supplier defect rate
• Lead time 

In order to get better actionable insights, move beyond reporting and embrace advanced analytics. Embrace intelligent Source-to-pay solutions and make procurement easier than ever.

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