eProcureAI / Platform / Spend Analytics

Spend Analytics

Answers you can get
without asking finance

Because every purchase runs on one record, the reporting is a by product rather than a project. Spend by category, by supplier, by department, and the things nobody thought to look for.

Built from your own transactions. Nothing here needs a data warehouse or a quarterly extract.

Spend TrackerThis quarter
How it feels to use

Reporting stops being a monthly production

Most procurement reporting exists because somebody spent three days assembling it. That is why it arrives late, covers last month, and answers the question that was asked rather than the one you have now.

When requests, orders, receipts and invoices all live on the same record, the reporting is already there. Spend by category is not a report somebody builds, it is the same transactions grouped a different way.

That changes what people ask for. Instead of requesting a report and waiting, a department head opens their own position. Instead of an annual supplier review, concentration is visible whenever anybody looks.

The findings nobody went looking for

The more useful half is what surfaces on its own. Two suppliers with slightly different spellings and the same tax identifier. A category where most spend goes to the contracted supplier and eleven percent goes elsewhere at a premium. Licences renewed every year for seats nobody activates.

None of these are hidden. They are simply invisible when the data lives in four systems, and obvious when it lives in one.

It needs a little history

Worth being honest about this. Cycle time improvements show up immediately, but spend analysis needs a quarter or two of clean transactions behind it before the numbers are worth acting on. The first genuinely useful savings report usually lands in month four or five.

How the reporting builds itself

No extract, no warehouse, no wait

As it happens

The transaction is the record

A request carries a category, a supplier, a department and a charge code. Nothing needs tagging afterwards because it was captured at the source.

TaggedAt the request
1
At approval

Commitment is counted

An approved order counts against its charge code immediately, so reporting includes money promised rather than only money invoiced.

Committed$63,000 open
2
At receipt

Reality is recorded

What actually arrived is captured at the dock, so spend reflects delivered goods rather than ordered ones.

ReceivedCounted line by line
3
At the invoice

The figure is final

Matched invoices post against the same record, closing the loop without anybody reconciling two systems.

MatchedOrder, receipt, invoice
4
Whenever you look

It is already current

There is no month end assembly step, because nothing was ever waiting to be joined together.

Assembly stepNone
5
The three views people use

Category, supplier and department

By category, for planning

Where the money goes as a shape rather than a list. This is the view that starts conversations about which categories deserve a sourcing event next quarter.

  • Category mix across the period
  • Trend against previous quarters
  • Contracted against non contracted split
  • Feeds the sourcing pipeline directly
By categoryLive
Software32 percent
Services28 percent
MRO21 percent
Facilities19 percent
Shape, not a listWhere to look next

By supplier, for leverage

How much you actually spend with each supplier, and how concentrated that is. Both numbers matter before a renegotiation and both are usually guessed at.

  • Total spend per supplier across the period
  • Concentration and single source exposure
  • New suppliers added this quarter
  • Performance history alongside the spend
By supplierLive
Suppliers used142
Top supplier share18 percent
Single source categories3
New this quarter11
Before you renegotiateKnow the real number

By department, for accountability

Each department head sees their own position without seeing everybody else's, and finance sees the roll up. Same numbers, different scope.

  • Department heads scoped to their own budgets
  • Finance sees the consolidated view
  • Charge code detail underneath each department
  • Scheduled to the people who need it
By departmentLive
IT$980,000 planned
Operations$1,340,000 planned
Admin$420,000 planned
VisibilityOwn budgets only
ScopedUsable rather than noisy
What gets surfaced

Four findings that pay for the work

Each one is quantified from your own transactions, with the underlying purchases attached so it can be checked rather than argued about.

FindingHow it is spottedTypical valueWhat you do about it
Duplicate suppliersSimilar names or a shared tax identifier$41,000 a yearConsolidate onto one record and one agreement
Off contract buyingPurchases in a category avoiding the contracted supplier$33,000 a yearEnforce the preferred supplier at the point of purchase
Unused licencesSeats paid for against seats actually active$27,000 a yearReduce the count at the next renewal
Missed volume breaksSpend split across departments that would qualify if combined$22,000 a yearConsolidate ordering to reach the threshold

These are figures one customer identified in a single quarter. Yours will differ, and the point is that the transactions behind each one are attached.

Turning a finding into an action

A number nobody acts on is just trivia

Consolidate

Two suppliers become one

Duplicate records are merged, future purchases route to the surviving supplier, and the history stays attached to both.

Value$41,000 a year
Enforce

Make the contracted supplier the default

Off contract buying usually happens because the contracted option is not in the catalog. Adding it fixes the cause.

FixUsually a catalog gap
Renegotiate

Go in with the real number

Total spend and concentration are the two facts that matter in a renegotiation, and both are on screen before the meeting.

KnowSpend and concentration
Source it

Put the category out to competition

Categories with several capable suppliers and meaningful spend are the ones worth an event. The analysis tells you which.

Next stepA sourcing event
Trim

Reduce at renewal

Unused licences are easiest to fix at the renewal date, which the contract register already knows.

TimingAt renewal
Watch

Set a threshold alert

Some findings are worth monitoring rather than acting on immediately, so the alert does the watching.

EffortNone ongoing
Who does what

The short version of everyone's job

The reporting is a by product of running the process properly, which is why it does not need its own project.

What people do

Look, and decide. Nobody assembles anything, which is the difference from most reporting.

The human partLive
Department headChecks their own position
ProcurementPicks categories to source
FinanceReviews the roll up
EveryoneDrills into a figure they doubt
Looking, not buildingNo assembly step

What eProcureAI does

Groups the same transactions in whatever way you asked for, and points out what you did not ask about.

The automatic partLive
Group by categorySupplier, department
Count commitmentsNot just invoices
Spot duplicatesBy name and tax identifier
Quantify findingsWith transactions attached
Deliver on scheduleTo whoever needs it
Current whenever you lookNothing waiting to be joined
0of managed spend for the period
0visible without building a report
0of clean data before the analysis bites
0drills down to the transactions behind it
FAQ

Questions people actually ask

How is this different from a report we build ourselves?
It is the same transactions rather than an extract of them. Nothing is copied out, joined up or refreshed on a schedule, so what you see when you open it is current rather than as at last month end.
How long before the analysis is useful?
Cycle time improvements are visible immediately, but spend analysis needs a quarter or two of clean transactions behind it. The first genuinely useful savings report usually lands around month four or five.
Can department heads see the whole company?
No. They are scoped to their own budgets and charge codes, while finance sees the roll up. That scoping is what stops the view becoming noise.
How are duplicate suppliers detected?
By comparing names and tax identifiers across the supplier directory. The same company under two spellings, or two accounts sharing an identifier, are the two common shapes.
Do we still need our business intelligence tool?
Probably, for enterprise wide analysis. Most teams use this for live procurement reporting and export into their warehouse for anything spanning the whole business.
Can reports be sent out automatically?
Yes. Dashboards can be scheduled to the people who need them, which removes the weekly request that somebody currently answers by hand.
Can I check a number I do not believe?
Yes, and you should. Every figure drills down to the individual purchases behind it, so a surprising number can be verified in a few clicks rather than debated.
Does this include money we have committed but not yet been invoiced for?
Yes, and that is a large part of the point. Reporting that only counts invoices is weeks out of date at any given moment.

Ask us what your own data would show

The duplicate supplier number surprises most teams. Bring twelve months of spend and we will run it with you.

Book your free demo

Next in the chain: Budgets and Charge Codes