“We now have the traceability to show who has raised a purchase order and who has approved it.”
About Lesedi Drilling and Mining
Lesedi Drilling and Mining Contracting Company provides diamond-drilling services to South African mining houses. We extract underground core samples that mine geologists use to determine reef location and ore quality.
The Challenge
Lesedi Drilling and Mining were using a paper system for purchase orders and invoices where a physical document was given to the admin team to scan and upload into Xero. They found that Xero was great for their accounting but didn't have a purchasing system that could show them the status of their documents. There was no record of a purchase order being sent or received and they couldn't allocate orders to their department or project budgets. With no visibility of document status it was difficult to keep track of orders and payments.
The Solution
After a Google search for purchasing systems that integrate with Xero, Lesedi compared a few solutions to find one that fit their needs. They realised that other systems didn't integrate with Xero as they had hoped, as their integration was simply a function that required manual importing. Lesedi discovered the direct integration with Xero that Zahara offers, making it easy to implement and found it to be the most affordable solution within their budget. After an efficient set up and quick training, Lesedi were up and running with the purchase order system. They are still implementing various other features of Zahara and enjoy discovering more benefits for streamlining their process.
The Results
Lesedi are now able to trace their purchase orders, along with who approved it and any comments made to an approval or rejection. They have more control over spend and allocating orders to their budgets, helping them to analyse and forecast costs. Retrieving information from Xero is made easy and their accounts payable documents are all in one place, with the reporting function maximising their control using insights. Zahara's cloud-based automation solution has helped Lesedi Drilling and Mining to replace their old system and accurately record their purchasing behaviours.
TL;DR
Lesedi Drilling and Mining replaced a paper-based purchasing process with Zahara, gaining complete visibility over purchase orders, approvals and budgets through its direct Xero integration. The result was better control over spend, easier tracking and reporting, and a more efficient accounts payable process.