Modernizing Purchasing & Expense Visibility for a Mental Health Non-Profit
Industry: Health Service
Service: Procure-to-Pay Automation
Client Background
A not-for-profit organization established in 1977, dedicated to supporting individuals and families through a wide range of mental health and emotional well-being programs. From senior care to specialized counseling services, the organization focuses on community-based interventions to drive positive impact.
Challenges
- Lack of Expense Visibility – The finance team lacked real-time insight into approved and pending expenses, making it difficult to track spending across programs.
- Manual Purchasing Process – Requisition forms were submitted via email, creating bottlenecks, delays, and transparency issues.
- Delayed Reimbursement and Cash Flow Issues – With cost-reimbursement contracts in place, delays in expense reporting led to reimbursement lags, adversely affecting cash flow.
How Did APS Help?
- Approval Workflow Automation – The initial setup routed all purchase approvals through the Directors and the CEO. Our team optimized this to allow self-approvals by Directors for program-level expenses, eliminating the CEO-level bottlenecks.
- Catalog Integration with PeopleSoft – Frequently used vendors were set up with catalogues, making it easy for users to create repeat requisitions with just a few clicks.
- Flexible and User-Friendly Implementation – The APS team configured the platform to meet both operational and ERP needs, while maintaining an intuitive interface for non-technical users.
- Rapid Go-Live – The new purchasing system went live within 2 weeks, helping the organization shift quickly from manual to automated processes.
Results Achieved
- Purchase requisition creation time reduced by 70–80%, dropping from 10 to 15 minutes to just a few minutes per request, freeing up staff time across departments.
- Approval cycle time cut by over 50%, enabling quicker routing of purchase requests and faster processing of vendor payments.
- Real-time visibility into purchases allowed the finance team to monitor expenses and ensure reimbursement-ready documentation at all times.
- Streamlined PeopleSoft integration enabled faster synchronization with accounting, reducing delays and improving cash flow predictability.
- Audit-ready purchasing records ensured regulatory compliance and eliminated back-and-forth during audits or funding reviews.
- Improved cash flow management gave the organization greater financial control and confidence in managing cost-reimbursement contracts.
APS helped the client automate its purchase process and introduce a cultural shift in how the organization approaches budgeting, accountability, and financial transparency, ultimately supporting its mission to deliver impactful mental health services to the community.
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