Procurement guides
Plain-language explanations of the procurement concepts and terminology that come up most — written to be genuinely useful on their own, not just to fill a blog.
- What is Source-to-Pay?A plain-language breakdown of the Source-to-Pay (S2P) process — every stage from sourcing a supplier to paying them, and why organizations treat it as one connected system.
- Source-to-Pay vs. Procure-to-Pay: what's the difference?Source-to-Pay and Procure-to-Pay are often used interchangeably, but they describe different scopes of the procurement process. Here's the exact boundary between them.
- What is a reverse auction?How reverse auctions work, how they differ from a standard auction, and when they're a good fit for B2B sourcing.
- RFQ vs. RFP vs. RFI: what's the difference?Three commonly confused sourcing documents, and when a procurement team should use each one.
- What is procurement software?What procurement software does, which processes it covers from sourcing to payment, and how to tell whether your organization has outgrown spreadsheets and email.
- Reverse auction vs. RFQ: which should you use?How a reverse auction differs from an RFQ, when each fits, and how procurement teams combine them in one sourcing process.
- What is e-procurement?A plain-language explanation of e-procurement: what it covers, how it differs from traditional procurement, and the benefits and pitfalls of moving procurement online.
- How to reduce procurement costsPractical, process-level ways procurement teams reduce cost: competitive sourcing, consolidated demand, supplier performance tracking, and clean invoice matching.
- Purchase requisition vs. purchase orderThe difference between a purchase requisition and a purchase order, who creates each, and how they fit in the purchasing process.
- Procurement KPIs: what to measure and howThe procurement KPIs worth tracking, from savings and spend under management to supplier performance and invoice accuracy, with a short checklist for getting started.
- How to automate vendor onboardingA practical guide to automating vendor onboarding: what to standardize, which checks to build in, and how to keep supplier records current after approval.
- 3-way matching explainedHow 3-way matching works: the three documents compared, what counts as a match, how tolerances and exceptions are handled, and why it matters for paying invoices correctly.