New Process for Supplier Registration Approvals in i-Buy NYU
Post date: Sep 1, 2020 7:54:03 PM
From: Bob Dayre <rd114@nyu.edu>
Sent: Monday, August 31, 2020 1:19 PM
To:
Subject: New Process for Supplier Registration Approvals in i-Buy NYU
Dear i-Buy NYU Super User Group, I hope this note finds everyone well.
We are excited to announce that the Procure to Pay team will be introducing an RPA (Robotic Process Automation) into the supplier registration approvals in i-Buy NYU for the Compliance step. Specifically, related to the Independent Contractor registrations where there are discrepancies in various answers that the suppliers provide vs. those that the NYU requestor answered in the New Supplier Request form.
Currently these discrepancies are handled manually via an email to the requestor asking them to contact the supplier to confirm the correct answer and resolve the issue by responding back to the Procurement Team.
For example:
One of the questions we ask for individual independent contractors is:
Is the individual restricted from providing services to any client other than NYU.
If the requestor answers NO and the supplier answers YES we require the NYU requestor to resolve the issue.
Another question that we monitor is:
Does the supplier have a direct family member that is an NYU Employee. Some of you may have received my emails in the past when these occur. Almost all of the time it is verified that the supplier has answered the question incorrectly.
What the RPA will do:
The new artificial intelligence will look at certain questions on the New Supplier request and the Supplier Registration.
If a discrepancy exists an email from Procurement RPA BOT will be sent to the requestor. The email will detail the supplier name and number in i-Buy NYU along with the answer(s) that do not match.
In the email will be a response link that will allow the requestor to respond to the request. The choices will be:
· An Approval based on the supplier answering the question incorrectly. The workflow step will be automatically approved.
· An Approval confirming that the requestor has gone ahead and received a waiver from HR and Compliance. The workflow step will be automatically approved.
· A Rejection stating that the supplier is no longer needed. The Supplier will be rejected.
The process for this step once the RPA is implemented will be fully automated.
If No action is taken on the RPA email by the requestor, the supplier registration will stay in the approval workflow as Unapproved until some action is taken.
Please communicate this to the end users on your respective teams that submit New Supplier Requests so they are aware of what is happening if they receive an email from the Procurement BOT. As always thanks for the continued support and we look forward to continuing to provide future improvements to our processes. As always, questions can be directed to myself or askfinancelink@nyu.edu.
Many thanks and please remain safe and well.
Bob Dayre
Director of Procurement Operations
NYU Procurement
New York University
Phone: 212.998.1031
Mobile: 917.886.8399