Message from the Financial Affairs Department and the Information Systems Department

" Since the implementation of the Coupa procurement portal, there have been significant delays for several months in the processing and payment of supplier invoices. Many teams and units have been affected by this and report difficulties and regular disruptions. We are extremely sorry for this situation and its impact on your relationship with your suppliers and your working time, and we apologize for any inconvenience caused.
 
Everything is being done to find a solution as quickly as possible. The Financial Affairs Department, working closely with the Information Systems Department and all process stakeholders (requesters, approvers, logistics), is doing its utmost to resolve these delays as soon as possible. Special measures have been put in place, including the following:

• 15 members of the Financial Affairs Department have been assigned to focus entirely on processing delays and resolving difficulties;
   
• 2,000 invoices settled this week, an increase of 25% compared to the previous week;
   
• The automated invoice recognition tool is being improved, with an update by the publisher due soon;
   
• The Coupa/SAP interface is being enhanced to streamline flow processing;
   
• Working on a virtual assistant to be added to the Coupa portal, helping users to operate the platform, with step-by-step guidance to limit errors and save time;
   
• Twice weekly, cases are reviewed to determine how they are being progressed and prioritized based on supplier criticality, amounts involved and delay length; 
   
• Communication and awareness-raising measures are ongoing to improve the quality of orders, receipts and supplier invoices.

In this context, in order to facilitate our work in resolving difficulties, we would be grateful if you would follow the recommendations below:

1. Forward any reminders from suppliers that you receive to coupa@pasteur.fr. By centralizing these, it will be possible to process them in a more timely manner.
    
2. Fo any questions concerning order placement or receipt, please also use coupa@pasteur.fr.
    
3. Please contact the staff assigned to managing the situation preferably on Mondays and Fridays, as they work on a task force on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.

Our aim remains to return, as soon as possible, to processing times that meet undertakings made to suppliers. We wrote to all suppliers in April to inform them of this, and we will be writing to them again this week to provide an update and apologize for the current situation. We will come back to you regularly to provide you with an updated status report on the processing of these requests.

Many thanks for the understanding, commitment and patience you have all shown. We remain at your disposal to answer any questions you may have.

We are fully committed to resolving this exceptional situation and its impact on our activity. "