What is the Intake Process in Procurement?

The intake process is the first step in procurement. During intake, requisitions for goods or services are submitted and assessed.

This phase is essential for involving all necessary stakeholders early in both strategic projects and routine purchases, ensuring requests meet company needs and compliance standards. This approach lays the groundwork for optimizing cost savings and enhancing overall performance.

In large mid-sized and enterprise companies, there is often a Procurement Lead or Head to oversee procurement. However, in smaller companies, procurement oversight is handled by someone on the finance team, often the Controller. With the right tools in fact, the function of procurement can more easily be handled by others.

The right tools also allow companies to apply procurement disciplines of budget compliance, vendor selection, and price negotiation to smaller less strategic purchases. This is done by routing all requests to make a purchase to the appropriate internal reviewer or approver.

What happens during the intake process in procurement?

During the intake process in procurement, various key steps are taken to ensure that purchasing needs are clearly defined, properly evaluated, and aligned with the organization’s goals.

The exact steps vary by the complexity of an organization’s procurement needs.

Here are some typical steps:

1. Request submission.

The process begins with the submission of a procurement request for goods, services, software, or equipment. The request form generally captures essential details such as:

• Item descriptions or service requirements.
• Quantities needed.
• Department or employee using the requested item.
• Preferred vendors (if any).
• Estimated budget or cost.
• Required delivery or completion timelines.

2. Requirement clarification.

Procurement teams may review and clarify the request with the requester to ensure that the specifications are complete and detailed.

This step prevents future miscommunication or ordering the wrong product or service.

3. Approval workflow initiation.

Once the request is clear and compliant, it moves through an approval process. Depending on the organization, the request may need to be approved by managers, department heads, finance teams, or other stakeholders. This ensures that all relevant parties are aware of and agree to the purchase before proceeding.

Depending on the nature of the request, it could be routed to other important stakeholders. For example, for a SaaS purchase, the InfoSec team could review the software’s SOC reports or other related documents.

4. Vendor evaluation.

If a specific vendor hasn’t been pre-selected, the procurement team may evaluate different vendors. This step involves reviewing vendors from approved lists, conducting market research, or sending out RFPs (Requests for Proposals) to gather competitive quotes.

6. Cost and budget verification.

The procurement or finance team reviews the request against available budgets, ensuring that the purchase aligns with financial limits and goals. Cost negotiations with vendors may occur at this stage to secure the best possible terms.

7. Prioritization and scheduling.

The procurement team may prioritize requests based on urgency or strategic importance. This helps ensure that critical purchases are processed quickly, while lower-priority requests are managed within the overall procurement timeline.

8. Tracking and documentation.

All relevant information is documented for future reference. This includes the details of the request, approvals, budget allocation, and vendor selection. Proper tracking helps maintain transparency and accountability throughout the procurement process.

9. Procurement request approval or rejection.

At the end of the intake process, the request is either approved for further procurement actions (like sourcing or purchase order creation) or rejected if it doesn’t meet criteria or policy standards. Rejected requests may be revised or resubmitted based on feedback.

In summary, the intake process helps streamline procurement activities by clarifying needs, ensuring compliance, controlling costs, and facilitating smooth communication across departments. It serves as a crucial checkpoint before initiating the actual purchasing process.

Benefits of an intake process.

An intake process is designed to save time, resources, and effort required to complete tasks. Whether onboarding a new employee or finishing a software development project, a structured system ensures successful outcomes. Other benefits of a client and project intake process include:

• Organizational workflow: An effective intake process keeps you organized and minimizes the time spent on non-essential activities. This allows more time to focus on the actual work that needs to be done.
• Reduced manual data entry: Manual data entry is prone to errors and can be tedious, affecting employee productivity. An online intake process automates request intake and processing, reducing manual work. Software can record, save, and distribute data, ensuring that the right person receives their task.
• Improved efficiency: An effective intake process streamlines procurement operations by ensuring that all requests for goods and services are properly documented and routed to the appropriate departments. This reduces the time and resources spent on manual data entry and follow-ups, thereby enhancing overall efficiency.
• Better supplier relationships: A well-structured intake process helps maintain clear communication and timely payments to suppliers. This fosters stronger relationships with suppliers, potentially leading to better terms, discounts, and more reliable service. Consistent and transparent dealings can make the organization a preferred customer for suppliers.
• Enhanced accuracy and reduced errors: Automating the intake process minimizes the risk of errors associated with manual data entry. This ensures that procurement requests are accurate and complete, reducing the likelihood of misunderstandings or disputes with suppliers.
• Improved compliance and risk management: A comprehensive intake process helps ensure that all procurement activities comply with internal policies and external regulations. It allows for better tracking of compliance-related documents and approvals, thus reducing the risk of non-compliance and potential legal issues.
• Optimized inventory management: The intake process provides better visibility into procurement needs and timelines, allowing for more accurate forecasting and inventory management. This helps avoid overstocking or stockouts, ensuring that the right materials are available when needed without tying up excessive capital in inventory.
• Cost savings: By optimizing procurement processes and reducing errors, organizations can achieve significant cost savings. Efficient intake processes can also identify opportunities for bulk purchasing or early payment discounts, further reducing procurement costs.
• Data-driven decision-making: A well-organized intake process provides valuable data on procurement activities. This data can be analyzed to identify trends, assess supplier performance, and make informed decisions about future procurement strategies. It helps in strategic planning and continuous improvement of procurement operations.
• Transparency and accountability: An intake process that includes clear documentation and approval workflows enhances transparency and accountability in procurement activities. This ensures that all stakeholders are aware of their responsibilities and can be held accountable for their actions, leading to more disciplined and ethical procurement practices.

Best practices for efficient intake process.

• Centralize intake: Create a single entry point for all requests, such as a designated web form or email. Cloud-based tools can streamline this process, automate tasks, and provide real-time visibility.
• Standardize processes: Use clear, standardized forms to capture essential information up front, reducing back-and-forth communication. Define criteria for handling and prioritizing requests.
• Leverage automation: Automate repetitive tasks like data entry and approval routing. Pre-fill forms with existing data to save time.
• Prioritize requests: Establish criteria for prioritizing requests based on factors like urgency and complexity. Implement a tiered intake process for complex requests.
• Maintain communication: Keep requesters informed with clear communication channels, updating them on the status of their requests and decision-making processes.
• Continuous improvement: Monitor metrics like cycle times and user satisfaction, and gather feedback to identify areas for improvement. Implement role-based access controls and security measures, and provide training to staff and requesters.

How can Airbase help with the intake process.

Airbase helps streamline and optimize the intake process in improving efficiency, accuracy, and control over organizational expenditures. Airbase calls its intake process Guided Procurement because it serves as a single front door for all spending whether that is with a virtual card, an invoice, purchase order, or reimbursement, and guides the employee on what is needed.

Airbase intake can be used with or without a dedicated procurement resource and does indeed automate much of the work that a procurement officer would do to route requests to the appropriate stakeholders for their review and sign off. For example, the system can be configured to automatically route all software subscription requests to IT or InfoSec teams.

Airbase intake prompts the employee making the request for the information and documentation that will be necessary for compliant spending, including all necessary accounting, vendor, and payment details.

Some key benefits and features include automation of the intake process for expense requests which reduces the need for manual data entry and ensures all necessary information is captured accurately from the start, customizable approval workflows that help maintain control over expenditures and ensure compliance with internal policies, real-time visibility into spending requests and approvals enabling finance teams to track and manage expenses effectively, seamless integration with existing financial systems like accounting software and ERP systems ensuring that all expense data is accurately recorded and synced across platforms.

Airbase also simplifies the intake process for vendor-related expenses by allowing organizations to manage vendor contracts, invoices, and payments within a single platform. This centralization helps in maintaining clear records and timely payments, improving vendor relationships. Contact us for more information.