The purchase order process is often plagued by inefficiencies, errors, and manual touchpoints, leading to costly delays and frustrated employees. However, automation can help streamline this process, reducing manual intervention and improving straight-through processing rates. Purchase orders are formal documents that outline the types, quantities, and prices of products or services, serving as a binding contract once accepted by the seller. The creation process involves department identification, review and approval by managers, and issuance to the vendor. Automation can help with data extraction, PO template population, automated approval workflows, dispatch, goods receipt, and invoice matching and payment processing. To optimize this workflow, it's essential to ensure smooth data flow and collaboration, use AI to detect duplicate POs and potential fraud, enrich data from external sources, support global procurement, and continuously monitor and optimize the workflow.