Purchase-to-pay

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Purchase-to-pay, often abbreviated to P2P, refers to the business processes that cover activities of requesting (requisitioning), purchasing, receiving, paying for and accounting for goods and services. Also called "Req to check".

The term emerged in the 1990s and is one of a number of buzz phrases (like B2B, B2C, G2C etc) that emerged as Internet applications became used more widely in business. Although it does not necessarily refer directly to the application of technology to the purchasing process, it is most often used in relation to applications like e-procurement and ERP purchasing and payment modules.

P2P as a discipline in its own right

Following the maturation of internet supported supply chain processes, the case emerged for identifying opportunities to further streamline business process across the whole of the procure to pay value chain. This was driven primarily from by the supply chain software vendors and consultants but also by governments who had recognised and enthusiastically embraced concepts like e-procurement. The publication of the Gershon Review in the UK in 2004 for example, gave the British public sector the mandate to direct significant resource and effort toward creating efficiency and in particular in all aspects purchasing.

As a consequence, once disparate business functions such as accounts payable and purchasing have in some organisations, been brought together and the concept of Purchase to Pay evolved from a buzz phrase to recognised discipline. (Some organisations have changed the reporting line of the payables function from finance to purchasing)

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