Jimmy McConnell came to work in Delaware on January 6th, 2019; the company had SAP, but they did not use the software as it was designed. The Purchasing department had evolved into more of a customer service department for all the managers of the company to give little projects to. There were no internal controls with access to the key functions of SAP such as issuing Purchase Orders. There were about 15 hourly employees in the company who could just create a Purchase Order without any specific approvals. The Purchasing system was out-of-control, so Jimmy’s first order of business was to maximize the use of SAP.
Jimmy McConnell, Purchasing & Category Management Leader
“The two Purchasing Supervisors were the first people I trained in the proper usage of SAP Purchasing Module. Next came the training of the Requisitioners, Approvers, and Goods-Receipt personnel. The required training took about 6-8 weeks to get the key people in the different locations of Delaware and North Carolina to minimal confidence levels.” The Purchasing & Category Management Leader explained that to implement the process and convert to a true online SAP Purchasing Function, the roll out was just one facility at a time. The First requisition was entered and approved online in SAP on June 5th, 2019, creating the first correctly issued Purchase Order.
“I trained two Purchasing Supervisors, 24 Requisitioners/Receivers, and 15 Approvers when the system was fully implemented. My next obstacle was getting Accounts Payable and Accounting to use the Purchase Order system.” Jimmy concluded that more training was needed in those departments in order to acquaint them with the system. Jimmy then had to teach the Suppliers the appropriate invoicing method of using a Purchase Order on their invoices. This all resulted in a functioning three-way match, where the Purchase Order, Goods-Receipt Document, and Invoice all matched which allowed the payment to process.
“In 18 months, the company moved from a non-existent Purchasing Department to a fully functional system.” All locations in the company began entering requisitions with managers approving the orders in the system. Now there are two Purchasing Supervisors issuing the Purchase Orders to the approved suppliers.
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