I work at a large state university, and my expertise lies in Computer Science and Business Analytics. My current role involves managing veteran education benefits. Unfortunately, the service provided by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) requires us to use a subpar system known as Tungsten. This platform is a major hassle, making it nearly impossible to track purchase orders without a specific PO number. We can't search for any associated metadata like veteran names or counselor details, which are all stored within the system. This forces us to manually sift through purchase orders, one by one, if a PO number gets misplaced. We've set up our own invoicing system and maintain spreadsheets to keep track of everything related to Tungsten POs and our invoices, only to have to duplicate efforts by creating invoices within Tungsten as well, hoping they don’t disappear in the process. Searching for a purchase order is another ordeal. The system doesn’t allow you to stay on the search screen or open POs in new tabs, making the process cumbersome. Each time you close a PO, you must start a new search, which is incredibly frustrating. The system seems to have been designed without input from experienced software engineers, as it lacks a user-friendly interface. It operates slowly and frequently prompts you to verify your login even while you are actively using it, which is quite irritating. Additionally, entering line items for invoices is a challenge; whenever you click a textbox to paste information from our actual invoicing system, Tungsten obstructs your view with tooltips, complicating the process. Having used enterprise systems such as SAP, which, while not user-friendly, are at least efficient, I can confidently say that nothing about Tungsten promotes efficiency. Its design seems aimed at making the user experience as tedious and slow as possible.
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Tungsten Network offers e-invoicing, invoice finance and spend analytics solutions for AP and AR professionals.