Purchase-to-Pay (P2P) is one of the most critical end-to-end processes connecting the Business, Procurement, Logistics, and Finance & Controlling. It directly influences cost control, working capital, compliance, and operational agility. For many organizations, ongoing business transformation programs driven by SAP S/4HANA bring P2P back onto the management agenda. Beyond technical conversion, these programs offer a unique opportunity to holistically redesign P2P and turn operational execution into a strategic performance lever.

Despite digital tools, P2P processes often remain fragmented across functions: 

• Master data quality and governance issues lead to incomplete PRs, manual PO corrections, and invoice posting errors, reducing automation and spend transparency.
• Weak integration with the business results in low-quality requisitions due to unclear buying channels, poor usability, and undefined roles leading to clarification loops with Procurement and low automation possibilities.
• Gaps in logistics integration cause missing confirmations and delayed goods receipts, triggering invoice deviations and planning uncertainty.
• From a finance perspective, complex account assignment, recurring invoice discrepancies, and open POs or GR/IR balances create manual effort and impair working capital steering.
• High effort for PO monitoring, long approval lead times, and limited end-to-end transparency and reporting prevent proactive management. 

Individually, these issues appear operational; collectively, they drive high process costs and constrain strategic focus. 

Sustainable P2P optimization is often primarily a process and governance challenge. Technology-enabled business transformations – such as S/4HANA – create momentum, but value is generated only if organizations first define how P2P should work end-to-end. 

• Clear end-to-end process ownership ensures consistent design decisions across Procurement, Finance, Logistics, and the Business.
• Robust master data governance as a basis for clean master data provides the backbone for automation and prevents recurring downstream errors.
• A structured buying-channel strategy guides requesters toward standardized sourcing paths, improving PR quality and compliance.
• Streamlined approval concepts reduce cycle times while maintaining control.
• Harmonized integration with logistics and finance, including standardized goods receipt process, consistent monitoring and closing of open POs as well as simplified account assignment, reduces exceptions, clarification loops and stabilizes financial processes.
• Transparency and steering mechanisms through defined KPIs enable proactive performance management. 

Once process design and governance are in place, technology can accelerate and scale P2P performance. In the context of S/4HANA transformations, digital capabilities should be seen as an enhancement – not a substitute – for good process design.  

For example:

• AI-based guided buying and improved user experience to reduce PR errors and increase compliance.
• Embedded transparency through real-time data enables visibility into commitments, open POs, GR/IR balances, and invoice exceptions.
• “SAP Lean Services” and simplified workflows reduce effort and lead times for procurement of external services.
• Intelligent invoice processing using OCR and AI-supported matching lowers manual workload and exception rates. 

Technology delivers its full value only when built on stable, standardized processes and clear governance. 

Executives should use business transformation programs enabled by S/4HANA as a catalyst for holistic Purchase-to-Pay process optimization. Priorities include establishing a clear governance model for process ownership as basis for redesigning and integrating the process from an end-to-end perspective. Organizations that act now will not only streamline daily operations but also position Procurement and Finance as enablers of sustainable business performance. 

Kubach, M. / Franz, D.