A global company had already invested in Zip, a modern procurement platform, but the system was not delivering the value expected. Integrations were broken, processes were undocumented and inconsistently followed and the team had been managing critical procurement steps through manual workarounds.

Through Denova’s Colleague-as-a-Service model, the client engaged an embeded procurement consultant to stabilise the platform, fix process gaps and help the team start using Zip in the way it was intended.

The result was a structured, hands-on engagement that gave the procurement team the foundation they needed for the business. 

The Real Issue

When Denova joined the engagement, it quickly became clear that the core issue was not Zip itself.  

The platform had strong capability, but no one internally had fully owned its setup, maintenance or continuous improvement. 

• • No system ownership: There was no dedicated internal resource managing or maintaining the Zip configuration, which meant issues went unresolved and improvements were never managed. 

• • Broken integrations: Key connections between Zip and other business tools, including Workday, Ironclad and Fresh Service, were either not functional or partially configured, causing downstream errors and delays. 

• • Heavy reliance on manual workarounds: Because required fields were not enforced in Zip, procurement managers had to manually key in request details — prices, descriptions and spend categories — directly into Workday just to keep the process moving. 

• • No change governance: There was no formal process for making updates to the live system, no documentation of what had been changed and no audit trail. 

• • Inconsistent approvals: The same type of procurement request could be routed to different approvers, with no consistency in how decisions were made. 

The goals set out by the client were clear: align the Zip configuration with real procurement workflows, improve data quality and give the team better visibility over what was happening across their requests.

The Approach

Rather than arriving with a predetermined solution, the consultant started by understanding the current state. Angela mapped existing processes, gathered pain points from business users and identified where the gap between system design and actual business needs was widest. 

From there, changes were prioritised realistically. Updates were tested in a sandbox environment before being moved into production. Where sandbox testing was not available for certain integrations, potential risks were assessed and mitigation plans were put in place before changes were deployed. 

Every update was documented in detail through before-and-after screenshots, test outcomes and rationale, creating a proper change log and governance process that the client could continuously build on. 

The consultant also worked directly with Zip’s support team to resolve technical blockers that had previously remained unaddressed. 

What Was Delivered

Denova’s embedded consultant supported improvements across process design, automation, integration, reporting and governance.  

Key deliverables included: 

• • Process design: Core workflows were documented from scratch, giving the team a clear view of how requests should move through the system. 

• • Improved data quality: Required fields were enforced in Zip, ensuring key information was captured at the point of request and reducing the need for manual correction. 

• • Automation of supplier invites: Vendor portal invites to suppliers were automated upon request submission, removing a step that had previously required manual intervention from the procurement manager. The Ironclad integration was also fixed so that intake form data now auto-populates contract forms directly. 

• • Integration fixes: Broken connections across Workday, Ironclad and Fresh Service were identified and resolved.  

• • Approval workflows: Approval routing was corrected to ensure consistency across request types. 

• • Change governance: A structured change log was established for all production updates, giving the client an audit trail and a repeatable process for managing future changes. 

• • Reporting configuration: Reporting exports in Zip were configured so the team could pull procurement data easily and track requests with confidence. 

• • Knowledge transfer: The procurement manager was trained on Zip’s AI functionality, which can automatically read uploaded documents and pre-fill intake forms. 

The Results

While formal metrics weren’t in place at the time of the engagement, the operational improvements speak for themselves.

Key Takeaways

Technology alone does not fix process problems A well-configured platform still requires clear ownership, defined processes and people who know how to use it. Without those elements, even capable tools underdeliver. 

Proactivity fills gaps that structure cannot When there are no internal owners and no formal support routes, the most valuable thing a consultant can do is take initiative by asking questions, engaging vendors directly and finding a way forward. 

Governance is a deliverable, not a formality Establishing an audit trail and a change management process from day one protects the client’s investment and makes future improvements far easier to manage.