Guides
Procurement guides for teams that buy across many sites
Practical guides to multi-site procurement: maverick spend, three-way match, approvals, inventory and purchasing documents, each with the formula and a free tool to run your own numbers.
October 19, 2026 · 9 min read · with the Maverick Spend Leakage Calculator
Maverick spend: what it costs a multi-site business, and how to stop it
The formula, a worked 24-restaurant example, and why processing the stray orders costs more than the higher prices.
Read the guideOctober 19, 2026 · 9 min read · with the Three-Way Match Tolerance Calculator
Three-way match tolerance: how to set it without burying AP in exceptions
Exact matching sent 71% of sample invoices to review. How to choose a price tolerance, a dollar cap and quantity rules from what an exception costs you.
Read the guideOctober 19, 2026 · 9 min read · with the Early Payment Discount ROI Calculator
Early-payment discounts: what 2/10 net 30 is worth, and why most get missed
A 2/10 net 30 discount is worth 37% a year. With nine-day approvals and weekly payment runs, only one invoice in six is paid in time.
Read the guideOctober 19, 2026 · 8 min read · with the Contract Price Compliance Checker
Contract price compliance: how to catch supplier price creep before you pay it
A 17-week audit of three suppliers found 37 of 172 lines billed above contract. The four ways prices drift, and how to check and claim it back.
Read the guideOctober 19, 2026 · 10 min read · with the Approval Matrix Builder
Approval matrix: how to set purchasing limits people don’t work around
Three POs, three days, each under the $2,500 limit and $6,620 together. How to set role and category limits, separate duties and catch split orders.
Read the guideOctober 19, 2026 · 8 min read · with the Duplicate Invoice Checker
Duplicate invoices: why exact-match checks miss most of them
Seven duplicate payments planted in a year of invoices. An exact-match check found one. How fuzzy matching finds the rest, and how to stop them.
Read the guideOctober 19, 2026 · 8 min read · with the Purchase Order Generator
What a purchase order must include, and what breaks when it doesn’t
Every later step is checked against the PO. Each field it needs, what fails without it, and the multi-site details generic templates leave out.
Read the guideOctober 19, 2026 · 8 min read · with the Goods Receiving Note Generator
Goods received notes: how to receive a delivery so you only pay for what you kept
One delivery, six lines, four problems: $271.75 owed back. What to count, check and sign at the door so the invoice only charges for what you kept.
Read the guideOctober 19, 2026 · 8 min read · with the PO Invoice Generator
Invoicing against a purchase order: why invoices get held, and how to get paid first time
One wrong digit in a PO number can hold an invoice for weeks. What large customers check, line by line, and how suppliers get paid on the first submission.
Read the guideOctober 19, 2026 · 9 min read · with the Supplier SLA Generator
Supplier SLAs: the service levels, price terms and credits a multi-site buyer should agree
Fill rate and OTIF defined so nobody argues, a price freeze with a capped index, and tiered service credits worked through for a real month.
Read the guideOctober 19, 2026 · 8 min read · with the PDF Document Signer
Signing PDFs electronically: what holds up, and how to prove the document wasn’t changed
What US and EU law says about e-signatures, the documents they can’t be used for, and how a SHA-256 fingerprint proves which version you signed.
Read the guideOctober 19, 2026 · 7 min read · with the Invoice Generator
What to include on an invoice so it gets paid on time
The items the law and your customer expect on an invoice, why each one speeds up payment, and a worked catering invoice with taxed and untaxed lines.
Read the guideOctober 19, 2026 · 8 min read · with the Par Level Calculator
Par levels: how to set them so a site doesn’t run out between deliveries
Two popular par formulas, tested on a chicken order every three days, ran short in over 90% of cycles. The formula that holds, and what moves the number.
Read the guideOctober 19, 2026 · 8 min read · with the Safety Stock & Reorder Point Calculator
Safety stock: how much you need, and why late deliveries matter more than busy days
For one item, 84% of the stockout risk came from the supplier’s delivery times. The full formula, two shortcuts tested, and what each lever is worth.
Read the guideOctober 19, 2026 · 8 min read · with the EOQ Calculator with Price Breaks
Economic order quantity: when the textbook answer costs you money
The classic EOQ said 180 tins. With the supplier’s price breaks, 500 was $6,197 a year cheaper. How to find the real best order size, and when shelf life caps it.
Read the guideOctober 19, 2026 · 6 min read · with the Inventory Carrying Cost Calculator
Inventory carrying cost: what stock really costs to hold, and why spoilage can top the list
$672,000 of stock across 24 restaurants costs $201,600 a year to hold, and spoilage is the biggest part. How to build your own rate, component by component.
Read the guideOctober 19, 2026 · 7 min read · with the ABC-XYZ Analysis Tool
ABC-XYZ analysis: which items deserve your attention, and how to stock each one
In a 60-SKU sample, 27% of items carried 80% of the value, and three high-value erratic items held 23%. How to classify by value and by predictability.
Read the guideOctober 19, 2026 · 7 min read · with the Expiry Risk & Inter-Site Transfer Planner
Expiring stock: how to find it early and move it to a site that will use it
Across four sites, $8,710 of stock was set to expire unused. Ten transfers saved $5,108. How to find at-risk lots early and where to send them.
Read the guideOctober 19, 2026 · 7 min read · with the Cost per Purchase Order Calculator
Cost per purchase order: where the money goes, and which step to fix first
A PO cost $73.60 in people time, and approval was the most expensive step. How to add up your own cost per PO, and where it comes down fastest.
Read the guideOctober 16, 2026 · 9 min read · with the Three-Way Match Tolerance Calculator
What is three-way matching?
Three-way matching is an accounts payable control that compares a supplier invoice with the purchase order and the goods receipt before payment is approved.
Read the guideOctober 16, 2026 · 8 min read · with the Purchase Order Generator
Purchase requisition vs purchase order: what is the difference?
A purchase requisition is an internal request from an employee asking for approval to buy something.
Read the guideOctober 16, 2026 · 8 min read · with the Cost per Purchase Order Calculator
The procure-to-pay process, step by step
The procure-to-pay (P2P) process is the sequence of steps an organisation follows to buy goods or services and pay for them.
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