Illuminating value: Intelligent P2P transformation at Centrica
en
Industry
Utilities
Region
Windsor, Berkshire, United Kingdom
Company Size
21,000 employees
About Centrica
Centrica identified process complexity, fragmented visibility, and exception-driven manual work in it’s procure to payment processes. These were steadily eroding value and limiting working capital performance. Traditional reporting was reactive and exposed symptoms but lacked the depth to identify root causes, leaving leadership without the real-time, end-to-end intelligence required to detect value leakage, compliance exposure, and automation gaps.
SAP Signavio Process Intelligence’s introduction, provided Centrica with Real-time P2P transparency, and exception root-cause intelligence. Within weeks, live dashboards (8) and advanced analytics (more than 200 KPIs) surfaced hidden inefficiencies across invoice cycles, retroactive purchase orders, supplier behaviours, and payment adherence.
This enabled £1 million in annual improvement potential and established a sustainable governance model. P2P is now positioned as a data-driven value engine and leads the roadmap for O2C and R2R processes too.
CHALLENGE
Centrica’s Procure-to-Pay (P2P) environment was hindered by fragmented process visibility, elevated exception volumes, manual invoice handling, retroactive purchase orders, and inconsistent payment terms. These structural inefficiencies constrained working capital optimisation, increased processing costs, and weakened compliance and automation maturity. As a result, leadership decision-making depended on static, retrospective reporting rather than real-time, end-to-end process intelligence.
SOLUTION
Centrica implemented a data-driven transformation programme to establish end-to-end P2P transparency, leveraging SAP Signavio Process Intelligence. A targeted Proof of Value deployed process-mining dashboards, KPI frameworks, exception root-cause analytics, and working-capital optimisation use cases to rapidly demonstrate measurable impact.
The initiative integrated process mining, continuous process monitoring, user behaviour analysis, and payment-performance optimisation into a single intelligence layer. This structured approach enabled Centrica to move from fragmented oversight to real-time operational insight, equipping stakeholders with actionable data to prioritize improvements, strengthen governance, and accelerate automation maturity across the P2P lifecycle.
OUTCOME
Within the Proof of Value phase, Centrica identified more than £1M in annual improvement potential across four priority use cases, delivering eight process dashboards and approximately 50 KPIs to strengthen performance visibility.
The initiative reduced key exception drivers, enhanced compliance transparency, and established a scalable governance and transformation roadmap. As a result, P2P management evolved from reactive issue handling to proactive, intelligence-led optimisation, positioning the function as a strategic driver of efficiency, control, and measurable business value.
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