7 Benefits of Using Construction Purchase Order Software

Purchase orders are an important element of your construction business to track committed costs against your projects. They can be used to assist with budgeting, forecasting and managing your cash flow.

As the number of POs grows as business takes off, it can be more and more difficult to stay on top of the details of each one. 

With such important information being kept about each of your projects, it is crucial to stay on track and manage any potential risk to not only the project but your business relationships. 

So how does a thriving construction company truly stay on top of what can seem like a mountain of POs? The answer: construction purchase order software.

Here are the ways implementing construction purchase order software will benefit your business.

1. POs on the go

With a digital purchase order system in place, you and your team can create and send POs directly to the suppliers from any location. These POs will then be linked to all invoices that arrive in your inbox. It is how you can save countless hours of manual processing and travel time to the office. You can also reduce the potential for processing errors and track costs for all your projects. In our book, this alone is already a huge win.

2. Real-time spend updates

Any and all purchases made by members of your team are linked to cost codes. It is now easier for your team to instantly see what materials have been ordered for specific projects. They now can pick up on possible overspends before they happen. Now that you have a live picture of what is happening across all of your projects, you and your team can make better business decisions that positively impact your company’s bottom line.

3. Improved approval process

Add approved users for departments all the way down to an approver for an individual project. Once added, they can track and accept purchase orders. No longer do you need to follow up with emails or chase up documents that have the potential of being lost. With construction purchase order software, POs are automatically matched to invoices and sent to the correct approver who can deny or approve a bill with the click of a button. This frees up more time for pursuing active business instead of chasing paper.

4. Supporting documents

Each user has the ability to add supporting documents that relate to specific POs. These can be project photos, quotes, drawings, and receipts. This ensures that the right products, services, and materials are being purchased for the correct project. It enables you to stay on budget, which in return, helps your bottom line. 

5. Control spending and accurate pricing

Set spending caps per project and implement a customisable approval hierarchy. Share access to the data you need to help with supplier price negotiations and improve the accuracy of your budget forecasting.

Increase the accuracy of your PO by loading your agreed supplier pricing information into your construction purchase order software. Your team will now be able to select the correct vendor and product for each project, minimising potential mistakes. 

6. Accurate archive

With construction purchase order software, your business will now have an accurate archive of historic data from all previous projects. This is now a searchable database that can be used to retrieve old POs. The information on these POs can help you with future orders pertaining to specs about materials ordered, which directly impact budgeting and forecasting on current projects in your pipeline.

7. Secure financial compliance

Be ready for tax time and any audit that comes your way. Construction purchase order software keeps all invoices organised against specific PO numbers. When it is the end of financial year, your business will be able to pull all financial records from the cloud and provide it for tax season. Thus, eliminating the need for manual, time-consuming paperwork. 

Not only does this keeps you compliant come tax time but keeps the financial team compliant with internal financial systems. For example, your team is now able to track all purchases that are being made and make sure it is from approved suppliers only. This saves time and money spent on sorting out purchases from outside vendors as this is now reduced or even picked up on before the buying can be commenced. This is just one example of the many things you can do to improve your financial process with construction purchase order software.

Having clear and concise financial information enables your team to be better at the work they do, as well as, your company can provide better service to your customers. When your finances are reliable, you can spot and fix issues faster, which only enhances the relationships you have built as the go-to company within construction industry.

Conclusion

Improving your decision-making is where better business begins. Using a manual purchase order system will never give you the information and tracking that your staff and company needs to begin making better decisions for your business. 

Mismanagement of purchase orders can threaten both cash flow and profits that ultimately impact your bottom line. Without a strong system in place that tracks all expenses from the beginning to the end of a project, companies risk not having a full picture of their numbers. This can mean overpaying suppliers and going over budget.

With construction purchase order software, turning what used to be time-consuming paperwork into a method that is error-free and that saves your company time and money is where the future of your business begins.