Spend visibility is the ability to trace what an organisation spends money on, with whom, in what amount and on what contractual basis.
Dimensions. Supplier, category, business unit, contract, period and status of the case.
Typical gaps. Spend without a purchase order, direct engagements of freelancers and consultancies, inconsistent categories, data scattered across emails, spreadsheets and PDFs.
For services. Visibility is usually derived from invoice and order data, which means after the fact. For services, free-text line items say little about the work, and the requirement arises long before the invoice. It is more effective to capture requirement, tender and award in the process itself.
Where it sits. Spend visibility is the state. Spend analysis is the method used to evaluate the data that exists. Without visibility the analysis stays incomplete.