Procure-to-pay processes: an empirical exploration of inefficiencies

In recent years, researchers have increasingly centred their attention on strategic and tactical procurement processes. In contrast to that, procure-to-pay processes, which operationally ensure the availability of input resources, have rarely been studied. However, industry managers know that P2P processes can be a constant source of resource consumption and compliance risks. In this research, an exploratory analysis of real-world ERP data using process mining methods shows the nature of P2P inefficiencies as well as hints regarding their origin. Four requestor-related, four item-related, and four supplier-related factors resonating with a newly developed inefficiency indicator are structurally reviewed. This study contributes to the academic discussion on information systems in operations/process management in three ways: methodically, by introducing and testing a new measure for process inefficiency; empirically, by applying the rather novel technique of process mining to a large-scale real-world dataset; and theoretically, by exploring the character of P2P inefficiency.