Summary
A global manufacturer faced inefficiency in manual purchase order creation, which required procurement staff to navigate complex SAP tables daily. The result was processing delay, data entry error, and less time for strategic work.
We deployed a UiPath solution automating end-to-end PO creation. The automation delivered over 80% time saving, error-free data processing and improved audit readiness.
The client
A large enterprise with multi-plant operations. The procurement department managed high volumes of purchase requisitions daily across multiple SAP systems, with manual processes limiting both efficiency and scalability. The focus covered PR validation, PO creation, and reporting and compliance tracking.
The problem
PO creation depended entirely on people navigating SAP tables by hand.
- 01Identify and validate eligible purchase requisitions in SAP
- 02Apply business rules manually, inconsistently across plants
- 03Convert requisitions to purchase orders one at a time
- 04Compile reporting for audit and compliance separately
What it was costing
- Manual effort identifying and validating eligible PRs
- Human dependency causing errors in PO creation
- Time-intensive process slowing procurement cycles
- No standardisation in how business rules were applied
- No automated reporting, making audit trails difficult to maintain
Objectives
Goals
- Reduce manual workload in PO creation
- Improve accuracy and eliminate data entry errors
- Standardise PR-to-PO conversion across plants
- Improve reporting and audit compliance
- Enable scalability for higher PR volumes
Success criteria
- 80% reduction in manual processing time
- <1% error rate in PO creation
- 100% automated audit trail generation
- Positive procurement team feedback on time savings and usability
What we built
One robot that signs into SAP securely, applies the same buying rules at every plant, and tells procurement what it did — including what it could not do.
Secure SAP login
Credentials held as Orchestrator assets rather than embedded in the workflow.
PR extraction and validation
Open requisitions extracted and validated against business rules before conversion.
Automated PO conversion
Eligible requisitions converted to purchase orders without manual navigation.
Success and exception reporting
A detailed Excel report generated for every run, separating completed work from exceptions.
Email delivery to stakeholders
Reports mailed to procurement automatically, with exception descriptions ready for manual review.
Delivery
8 weeks — requirements to multi-plant stabilisation
- Weeks 1–2 — requirement gathering and process mapping
- Weeks 3–4 — pilot bot development
- Week 5 — testing and UAT
- Week 6 — deployment and hypercare
- Weeks 7–8 — rollout to additional plants and stabilisation
Challenges and how we handled them
Stakeholders
Results
| Measure | Before | After |
|---|---|---|
| Processing time, PR to PO | 10–12 minutes | 2 minutes |
| Manual errors | Frequent | Rare (<1%) |
| Reporting | Manual spreadsheets | Auto-generated Excel |
| Audit trail | Incomplete | Fully traceable |
| Rule application | Varied by plant | Standardised |
Quantitative
- Manual processing time reduced by 80%
- Error rate dropped below 1%, improving data integrity
- Around 200+ hours saved per month across the procurement team
- Automated reports and logs enabled 100% audit compliance
- PO turnaround time improved by 60%
Qualitative
- Procurement shifted focus to strategic sourcing and vendor management
- Greater transparency and consistency in PO creation
- Better collaboration between procurement and compliance
Business value delivered
Scalability
New plants or higher PR volumes are supported without redesign.
Audit readiness
Every run leaves documentation and traceability behind it by default.
Better use of the team
Procurement time moved from data entry to supplier relationships.