There are four main components:

1. Spend Category Management and Allocation
2. Grid Analyses
3. Query Builder
4. Forecasting

Spend Category Management and Allocation

The spend category structure provided with xpend is an entirely configurable parent / child architecture than can be used to implement standardised systems, such as UNSPSC, or for your own corporate standard.

Once the required categorisation structure is loaded, as each new invoice file is imported, the system identifies unmapped suppliers, and prompts the user to map each new supplier to a default spend category, used to aggregate the spend data. For suppliers that provide goods and services in several categories, the settings can be overridden for individual invoices. sparesFinder is also able to leverage the scanning, pattern matching and analysis techniques developed for our data cleaning solution, Masterpiece, to suggest spend categories based on key words found in descriptions.

Further value is added by using xpend to map together different versions of the same supplier names that have been used in different systems, to present a global picture of spend with each supplier.

Grid Analyses

The main analyses are presented in a series of grids, which allow the user to see the activity in each category, either by spend amount (normalised to your corporate reporting currency), or number of suppliers. In every case, the user is able to drill down from the top level global aggregation through to the individual invoices that make up each total.

As well as seeing the data by location, departments and cost centres, date ranges can be used to restrict the data set being analysed to a fixed period.

Specific reports, such as displaying the Top 50 suppliers, ordered by spend, are available, with additional bespoke designed reports available on request.

Query Builder

In order to allow you to answer ad hoc queries, we have created a user-friendly interface letting you build bespoke queries against the complete data-set. These can be saved for repeated use if necessary, creating your own personal library of reports. You can choose which columns to display in the results columns and download the results presented on screen as an Excel spreadsheet.

Forecasting

One of the key disciplines in controlling spend is budgeting, and xpend not only offers a quick and easy way to create next year’s budget, but also lets you track your spend against it.

Each operating location is able to review their spending by category, and make a generalised inflation adjustment, together with individual forecasts for the major suppliers. Specific project expenditure can be added, and suppliers can be discontinued, allowing a full picture to be quickly created.

This approach encourages your staff to focus on where the money is being spent rather than waste time in unproductive detail.