Introduction To stay competitive, you know how important it is to find new ways to streamline and save on your company s operations. Learning how leading companies handle commercial payments can give you deeper insights into where and how you can improve. Help you understand how to run your Procure-to-Pay processes more efficiently. Enhance visibility into corporate spend. Gain better control and compliance. And ultimately, help enable you to add more profit to your bottom line. Visa commissioned Deloitte Consulting to conduct 90 in-depth interviews in with more than 60 global/multinational, mid-size and large corporations as well as federal and local government agencies across the world. In 2010, Visa commissioned Deloitte Consulting to update each of the following 28 Travel and Corporate Card Best Practices from the comprehensive study to include current trends, updated case studies, and additional key findings. See the section entitled Study Methodology for additional detail. The Visa Global Procure-to-Pay and Commercial Card Best Practices Study describes how these organizations implement and optimize their Procure-to-Pay processes and commercial card programs. The study gives you access to best practices for a variety of topics: Maximizing the benefits of purchasing and corporate card programs. Streamlining travel and entertainment management. Taking advantage of the latest innovative best practices. And automating the entire Procure-to-Pay process. Each best practice is divided into three useful sections a recommendation overview, a benefits outline and steps for implementation so you can quickly find the information you need. For more information on the Visa Global Procure-to-Pay and Commercial Card Best Practices Study, contact your commercial banker. Table of Contents Set Performance Goals for Procure-to-Pay and Card Management Employees.................................. 1 Study Methodology........................................................................................ 5 Note: Survey results, research and practice recommendations are intended for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon for marketing, legal, technical, tax, financial or other advice. When implementing any new strategy or practice, you should consult with your legal counsel to determine what laws and regulations may apply to your specific circumstances. Visa is not responsible for your use of the information, including errors of any kind, or any assumptions or conclusions you might draw from its use. Much of the information contained in this document applies internationally, but a certain amount of information applies only to certain countries or regions. Although Visa tries to mark all country- and region-specific information with a country indication, it does not warrant or represent that all information without indication applies internationally. You should check the applicability of any information in this document to you or your organization.
Set Performance Goals for Procure-to-Pay and Card Management Employees Best practice organizations establish specific performance goals for employees which are aligned with the company s Procure-to-Pay and Card Program strategy. Aligning the employees performance metrics with the company s goals will better enable the department to achieve their objectives. The employee evaluation criteria varies based on the specific department as well as the company s Procure-to-Pay and Card Program goals. For example, employees in the Accounts Payable department at a large U.S. manufacturing company were evaluated against a series of payment processing metrics such as maintaining a certain percentage of on-time payments. The commercial card administrator at the same company was measured against a different set of metrics including the goal of increasing the commercial card transactions to 10,000 per month. Performance evaluation criteria may be based upon department and cost metrics as well as personal development criteria. Department and Cost Metrics Industry associations provide numerous networking opportunities, which allow employees to interact with their counterparts at other companies. This interaction facilitates the sharing of ideas and benchmarks. Measuring employees against specific department or cost savings objectives will align the employee incentives with the company's overarching objectives. Often employees are required to maintain or exceed a certain threshold for each of the evaluation criteria. The performance metrics vary for each of the departments involved in the Procure-to-Pay process: Accounts Payable This department s evaluation criteria may include payment processing metrics, such as cost per invoice, transaction quality / defect rate, and percentage of invoices paid within contract terms. In addition, Accounts Payable employees are often measured against customer service goals, such as the percentage of inquiries resolved within a pre-determined period of time Commercial Card Administration These performance goals may focus on commercial card program growth objectives, measured either by active cards or total spend. The evaluation criteria may also include customer service metrics related to issuing and managing the card program Procurement Employees in the Procurement department are often evaluated against specific cost savings targets. Other goals may focus on rationalizing the number of suppliers, increasing the number of suppliers under contract, or improving the performance of the suppliers, as measured by Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) Travel This department s evaluation criteria is often focused on reducing the company s travel costs. In addition, customer service is an important factor in the Travel manager s evaluation criteria Despite the differences in evaluation criteria by department, many individuals involved 1
in the Procure-to-Pay process are evaluated against annual savings targets. For example, the Procurement group at a multinational media and entertainment company set an annual cost savings goal of US$100 million. In order to achieve the savings target, the Procurement group strategically sourced specific spend categories. The group s performance evaluation was based on both their ability to identify the savings opportunity as well as the actual savings achieved by the business units. The business unit spend was tracked over a twelve month period and the actual savings ultimately determined the Procurement group s performance evaluation. Once performance goals are established, employees should be informed of the evaluation criteria, measurement frequency, and review process. In addition, companies will often create a scorecard to monitor and measure employee performance against the assigned goals. An example of an employee performance scorecard with cost savings measures is shown below: Industry associations provide numerous networking opportunities, which allow employees to interact with their counterparts at other companies. This interaction facilitates the sharing of ideas and benchmarks. For further detail, please refer to Visa s Procurement Professional s Scorecard Template. This is a tool that can be used to evaluate Procurement management and staff against department, cost, quality, and cycle-time metrics. Personal Development Goals In addition to establishing department and cost savings goals, best practice companies also assign individual goals related to continuing education or accreditation with industry organizations. Establishing the goals will encourage employees to remain current on industry topics and will provide them with development opportunities. Best practice companies develop internal training programs to help individuals set and achieve goals related to their specific role. Such programs may include internal training sessions or classes at local universities for which participating employees are reimbursed. In addition, some companies include inter-department training to cross-train employees with both increased development opportunities and an improved understanding of organizational interdependencies. Employees can achieve their education goals through multiple channels, such as issuer 2
conferences, trade shows, technology user groups, and industry association conferences. Key Procure-to-Pay industry associations include: National Association of Purchasing Card Professionals (NAPCP) National Association of Commissioned Travel Agents (NACTA) International Account Payable Professionals (IAPP) National Association of Purchasing & Payables (NAPP) Institute for Supply Management (ISM) Association for Financial Professionals (AFP) In addition to conferences and forums, industry associations also provide accreditation. For example, the Purchasing Card Professional Certification Council (PCPCC) offers a certification for purchasing card professionals. In order to receive the certification, employees must pass computer-based test which covers a variety of topics including provider selection activities, program implementation, managing the program and regulatory topics. Options for Best Practice Adoption Companies vary in their establishment and measurement of performance goals. Options for Adoption Option I Establish and monitor performance goals, requiring on-going education and accreditation Option II Establish and monitor performance goals that are tied to employee compensation and that require on-going education and accreditation Benefits Aligns individual performance objectives with company goals Provides employees with continuing education opportunities Provides compensation incentive to further encourage employee achievement of performance goals Key Considerations Requires resources to accurately and objectively track performance against specific goals Requires determination of the extent to which performance metrics impact compensation Benefits Best practice companies report that the establishment of employee performance goals tied to company objectives provides multiple benefits. 3
Category Cost Savings and Process Efficiency Benefit Obtained Encouraging the correct employee behavior will improve internal efficiencies. In addition, performance goals will motivate employees to achieve the company objectives and cost savings goals. User Satisfaction Clearly communicating expectations and providing continuing education opportunities allows employees to achieve their goals and improves both career development and employee satisfaction. Implementation Steps There are a series of actions steps related to establishing employee performance goals. # Description of Action Step 1 Establish a cross-functional team with Human Resources and department managers 2 Determine employee performance goals, by level, based on company strategy, department objectives, external benchmarks and past performance 3 Assess employees existing performance goals and determine any gaps 4 Adjust employee performance goals and communicate changes to employees 5 Monitor employee performance through a formal review process 6 Continually monitor and evaluate performance goals to keep in line with overall company goals 4
Study Methodology The objective of the Visa Procure-to-Pay and Commercial Card Best Practices Study was to better understand the changes in the segment and to gain a comprehensive understanding of best practices across the Procure-to-Pay process and within the commercial card program. Visa commissioned Deloitte Consulting to conduct 90 in-depth interviews in the summer of 2007 with more than 60 global/multinational, mid-size and large corporations as well as federal and local government agencies across the world. In 2010, Visa commissioned Deloitte Consulting to update each of the following 28 Travel and Corporate Card Best Practices from the comprehensive study to include current trends, updated case studies, and additional key findings. The evaluation of the Procure-to-Pay process included sourcing, order placement, payment and settlement, reconciliation, control and audit, and reporting activities. For the commercial card management process, the assessment focused on practices related to the purchasing and corporate card program strategy, management, and reporting. Interviewees included Regional Controllers, Chief Procurement Officers, Directors of Strategic Sourcing, Procurement Managers, Accounts Payable Managers, Global/Regional/Local Commercial Card Program Managers and Travel Managers. Study participants had a range of commercial card programs in place including purchasing card, corporate card and commercial one card programs with each of the top three card providers: Visa, MasterCard and/or American Express. 5 STUDY METHODOLOGY