Integrated end-to-end e-Procurement is the implementation of e-Procurement technologies that support each step of the various procurement cycles of your organization in a tightly integrated fashion. It's critical because anything less than end-to-end e-Procurement can result in these types of problems, just to name a few:
inability to capture the manpower savings that only materialize when data no longer needs to be re-keyed in multiple systems
unrealized cycle time reduction because errors are not caught before they cause problem, as happens when an order gets lost in system A when it should be in system B
failure to ensure payment at contracted rates because the rates weren't captured during requisition creation
not knowing if the item you paid for as actually the item your buyer ordered, or if the item the warehouse received was the same item your buyer ordered because there is no multi-way match between purchase order, goods receipt, invoice, and contracted rates
The white paper defines the ten core capabilities of an end-to-end e-Procurement platform; the five most critical features (from a usability, efficiency, and effectiveness perspective); key integration points within the system and with associated systems that implement your sourcing, inventory management, and supply chain processes; a ten step process to make e-Procurement work for you; and an end-to-end e-Procurement checklist that you can use to evaluate a potential system to find out whether or not it is going to meet your needs. Finally, it defines over 20 benefits that can be realized with an integrated end-to-end e-Procurement system.