Many businesses build workflows in SharePoint for what is initially perceived to be a simple requirement, but they often underestimate the complexity of their processes.

Although Microsoft includes some rudimentary out-of-the-box functionality to support building workflows in SharePoint, as well as development tools for developing more advanced workflows, SharePoint is often not the best solution to manage, monitor and optimise capital expenditure processes. This is because it struggles to bridge the gap between ‘simple and quick to build’ and ‘flexible and powerful to meet your needs’; you are either limited to really basic functionality, or you have to invest months into a development project with no guarantee of success at the end!

To provide the flexibility expected of today’s applications, you will likely need access to skilled developers and other standalone products that offer integration with SharePoint if you want to successfully use the platform to automate your capital expenditure approval processes.

Conversely, with its built-in SharePoint integration, eCapEx covers the end-to-end capital expenditure process from budgeting, request submission and approval to reporting and post-investment review; all tailored for you by our expert team.

Learn why Process Director is a great SharePoint replacement.

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) is the integrated management of core business processes such as finance, HR, procurement, sales, and inventory management.

An organisation may utilise the financial management modules inherent in an ERP system for capital expenditure. However, customising an ERP system to fit your CapEx requirements can be challenging, and you may need to adapt your processes to fit the ERP system.

Conversely, with built-in data connectors for SAP, Microsoft, and Oracle, the eCapEx platform manages the end-to-end capital expenditure process from request submission and approval to reporting and post-investment review; all tailored for you by our expert team.

Yes, the system is a low-code, graphical development environment. No coding experience is required.

The system empowers business users to create forms, workflows, and user interfaces via point-and-click configuration, pre-built templates, and data connectors.

We can provide training and support to empower your own teams to build a solution internally.

Yes, we certainly can. Our professional services team are here to make your implementation as smooth as possible.

If you prefer this option, we can discuss your precise requirements before building a turnkey, fully operational and bespoke solution for you.

Although the system is a low-code application, most clients take this approach with our delivery teams creating the forms, workflows, and interfaces, as they lack the internal resources or desire to build the solution themselves.

Prospects often ask us if our CapEx system is off-the-shelf. The simple answer is yes. We have deployed it many times for different organisations.

The underlying technology behind the system is BP Logix Process Director, a commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) BPM software. The platform is a toolkit that allows you to build bespoke software incorporating electronic forms, business rules, workflows, and dashboards quicker than a development package but with the same flexibility.

In an ideal world, clients would tick a few boxes and go. Yet it seldom works out that way. Your requirements might seem quite simple, yet the devil is always in the detail. So there is plenty of scope for customisation and configuration to allow us to tailor the solution to your organisation.

This approach results in capital expenditure approval software that does exactly what you want and is not bloated with extra functionality. Plus, you get peace of mind that your CapEx tool is built on a solid, well-supported framework.

We offer cloud-based, on-premise, or hybrid deployment to fit your technology infrastructure with per user subscription pricing.

Although there may be some minor costs for re-deployment and cloud hosting cancellation policies must be respected, it is possible to migrate from any platform type to another if required.

You can host your system on-premise, in a new or existing private-cloud environment or, for completely hassle free service, within our cloud hosted environment.

If you chose our cloud hosted environment, our data centres are UK-based and fully compliant with UK GDPR. We use an ISO 27001 certified, Tier 3 data centre with award-winning green efficiency.

Data is replicated to a second geographical location in near real-time. These replicated servers are capable of being promoted to live, should there be a need, either for extended scheduled maintenance at the primary site or in the event of a failure with the primary site. Periodic backups of servers are taken and retained for no less than a year.

If you prefer, we can host your CapEx system within the Microsoft Azure global infrastructure, allowing you to keep your business-critical data in any region and comply with relevant legislation.

The underlying technology (BP Logix Process Director) runs on the well-supported and reliable Windows, IIS, SQL and ASP.NET platforms from Microsoft. This means we can leverage the inherent security, scalability, and reliability features within the system.

Process Director by BP Logix is a business process automation platform in continual development since the mid-2000s. To date, it has been sold to hundreds of organisations, with 1,000,000+ users across the world.

As their European partner, ePC has delivered many Process Director based CapEx workflow systems for clients such as Rentokil Initial, Millennium and Copthorne Hotels Plc and Aman Resorts.

Our delivery team will replicate your existing process (including any improvements you wish to make) within a few weeks.

Typically, we will conduct a ‘discovery phase’ to gather requirements. This will involve spending time with you to understand what problems you are trying to solve, the current As-Is process and what your future To-Be state looks like.

Once we have mapped out the process, we will build a fully operational bespoke solution allowing you to be up and running much sooner with less reliance on your internal resources.

For most projects, the number of days is between 10 to 30 for setup, depending on the complexity of your needs.

At ePC we adopt the philosophy of being a real partner to your team and do not hide behind impersonal support forms or procedures.

Our support helpdesk will be available to you during the implementation and beyond, via telephone, eMail, and online chat.

Depending on the level of support, you will also have access to maintenance releases, version upgrades, remote access problem diagnosis and resolution, and remote server maintenance.

Our standard support times are 09:00-17:30 GMT/BST during working days in England.

If you deploy on-premise, you can install most updates, patches, and upgrades yourself.

Alternatively, if you opt for cloud hosting, maintenance releases will be managed by ePC. All updates/upgrades are included in the subscription costs.

For system administrators we have a variety of off-the-shelf training courses. These courses are normally delivered at your premises and tailored to your requirements, although if you prefer, we can provide training online.

For the system users, in our experience, a train-the-trainer approach is best suited to disseminating the required knowledge to global users. With intuitive forms and a graphical interface, users should not need to know about the underlying CapEx software, only your company forms and policies. Often, user training is more about understanding your business processes and methods than it is about understanding the technology.

No, there is no CapEx approval software to install. The system is web-based and accessible from any browser, operating system, or mobile device. All major platforms (including iOS and Android) are supported.

Forms and user interfaces will automatically resize to work on smartphones, tablets, and other devices.

We will usually provide a fixed price quotation for the entire project before we start. The price will depend on the number of users, hosting preference, and the amount of consultancy, development and training days required.

We can usually provide a ball-park figure once we know a few key pieces of information though, so please contact us, and we can provide a rough guide price within a few minutes.

Yes, this is possible, once a project has been initiated.

We also provide externally accessible prototypes during the development cycle to present progress to key stakeholders and gather feedback. If areas of the solution exist that are problematic or hard to define, we can use the prototype to confirm we are on the right track or fuel your internal discussions about how certain parts should work.

This feedback is invaluable and functional prototypes help end-users gain confidence in the solution.

Yes, this is possible. The system can be re-used throughout finance (or the wider business) for other processes and tasks, removing the need to procure multiple systems and enabling you to multiply your return on investment many times over.

Once you have successfully rolled out the technology in one area, it can be quickly deployed elsewhere, as you have an existing agreement in terms of users, reusable components, and management buy-in.

An example of this approach is Rentokil Initial, the global pest control and hygiene services provider, who initially automated their capital expenditure request approval process in Europe. They subsequently rolled out the technology to their APAC, Latin America, and US operations and went on to create additional workflows for their M&A, Procurement and R&D divisions.

Generally, when we implement enterprise-wide BPM we recommend introducing the technology to smaller (departmental) processes. This approach results in a quicker win and reduces risk. It also supports a more agile approach during the early stages of adoption.

This empowers early adopters to act as champions and embed knowledge as the roll-out continues.

ePC support organisations to replace manual, paper-driven tasks with automated data capture and BPM solutions. We are certified re-sellers of BP Logix Process Director and ABBYY FlexiCapture as well as OpenText OEM partners specialising in TeleForm and LiquidOffice.

Trusted by industry leaders like Rentokil Initial, Next plc, and the British Council, our portfolio of data capture, workflow automation and document scanning solutions can be deployed to reduce manual data entry and automate critical tasks such as:

• Capital expenditure approval
• Exam paper capture and processing
• Clinical trials
• Timesheet capture
• And many more…

We focus on delivering enduring and scalable solutions and nurturing long-term relationships rather than simply selling boxed software.

We are ISO 9001:2015 accredited, hold Cyber Essentials certification and provide solutions to the public sector through the G-Cloud and Digital Outcomes and Specialists (DOS) framework.

ePC will provide all services (consultancy, development, implementation, training, and technical support) from our Head Office in Lightwater (near London), UK.

Visit our website to learn more.

Founded by successful information technology industry executives, BP Logix has been building robust enterprise software solutions since 1995.

Their customers include the University of Pennsylvania, the National Institute for Mental Health, Multiplan, and numerous others around the world.

BP Logix and Process Director have earned dozens of industry awards for innovation and excellence. BP Logix is based in northern San Diego County, with additional sales offices in London and sales and distribution partners in Tokyo.

Process Director has been in continual development since the mid-2000s. Visit their website to learn more.

BP Logix is part of Finrock Growth Partners, a software-focused private equity firm. Since 2009, Finrock has been investing in software businesses to help them achieve category leadership. Visit their website to learn more.