Case study · Health & Aged Care
A procurement reset grounded in 175,000 transactions
NSW mid-market aged care provider
An eight-week procurement review that converted process and spend evidence into 66 recommendations across eight work packages.
Challenge
Rapid growth had left procurement manual, decentralised and inconsistent, with duplicate systems, variable practices and risk in non-digital payments.
Procurement, finance, asset management and operational teams were using fragmented practices across the procure-to-pay cycle. Supplier onboarding, purchasing, invoicing and payment varied by facility, and some transactions still relied on cash, cheques and other non-digital methods.
System responsibilities overlapped between facilities and finance. Standard operating procedures were not consistently embedded, so the same transaction could follow different paths depending on where it originated.
The organisation wanted to standardise and modernise the full procure-to-pay value chain. It also wanted to test whether stronger controls and automation could unlock further savings after several earlier category-based spend reviews.
Approach
Hear the operating reality. Consulted 80 stakeholders across procurement, finance, asset management and business teams over eight weeks. Interviews and process reviews established how purchasing actually worked across sites, rather than relying on policy alone.
Analyse spend and process evidence. Reviewed 175,000 transactions across 4,000 suppliers and examined the systems architecture around them. Quantitative analysis located spend intervention points, automation opportunities, duplicated activity and control gaps across the purchasing lifecycle.
Validate the choices. Worked with stakeholders to test, refine and finalise the opportunities. This collaborative review was important because the organisation had already pursued category savings and needed confidence that the new value came from process, control and automation changes.
Package work for delivery. Converted 66 recommendations into eight governed work packages covering risk and procedures, staff and supplier enablement, accounts payable automation, self-service, cash and cheque removal, a new purchasing interface, data and a procurement portal.
Procurement transformation
Eight connected work packages
The review translated 66 recommendations into a delivery structure that combined governance, behaviour, process, technology and supplier change.- 01
Risk, procedures and metrics
Standard procedures, service levels, performance measures and a practical risk framework.
- 02
Staff education and enablement
Training and a buying structure that support consistent, compliant purchasing.
- 03
Accounts payable automation
Central invoice receipt, optical character recognition and automated purchase-order matching.
- 04
Supplier self-service
Structured onboarding, compliance checks and maintained supplier information.
- 05
Cash and cheque removal
Digital payment options, stronger policy controls and modern expense management.
- 06
One purchasing interface
A consistent staff experience and a single source of purchasing commitments and data.
- 07
Procurement portal
High-volume purchasing through catalogues, marketplaces and preferred suppliers.
- 08
Supplier education and enablement
Clear onboarding, invoice and purchase-order guidance for suppliers.
Outcomes
The client acted immediately on selected work packages and began the broader overhaul of its procure-to-pay process. The programme connected payment modernisation, control design, supplier management, staff enablement and purchasing technology rather than treating each as a separate fix.
The business case identified $2.4 million in annual cost reduction and a 54% lower cost per end-to-end invoice transaction, with a three-year payback. The case also identified stronger working capital, procurement savings, better internal control and audit capability, and round-the-clock availability for procure-to-pay operations.
- 66 recommendations across eight work packages
- Selected work packages commenced
- Working-capital, control and audit improvements