Introduction
Significant gains can be achieved in terms of reducing the number of resources and costs by scanning incoming invoices, automatically capturing key data from the scanned images and archiving electronic images of the invoices. With this objective in mind, Centrom has provided a number of Accounts Payable solutions to clients, specifically tailored to meet their requirements, and provide significant cost saving benefits.
Client Background
For this particular customer, the Finance Department typically processed up to 4500 invoices per month, with 50% of these invoices typically from 30 main suppliers. Although the majority were single line invoices, there were a significant number of multi-line invoices. On average there were four lines per invoice
Data from incoming invoices was keyed into Oracle AP and matched against the corresponding purchase order. If the invoice matched correctly then it was marked for payment and no further processing was required. Where invoice data did not match correctly it was placed in an exception queue. About 15% of the invoices needed to be manually approved. Within the Oracle AP system a workflow process was used for tracking manual approval. However as part of the process photocopies of the paper invoices needed to be distributed to the relevant users for approval.
The original invoices were filed and kept for legal requirements, and in order to respond to enquiries from a number of sources such as internal or external auditors, vendors, Inland Revenue, etc.
Finance Department Objectives
The suggested approach of scanning, electronic data capture, electronic processing and electronic archiving of invoices would enable the Finance department to achieve its objectives in the following ways;
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By scanning invoices and using OCR technology to capture invoice data, invoices may be automatically matched with purchase orders and marked for payment or placed in an exception queue without the need for Finance staff to key in data.
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This would reduce the time and effort involved for this activity.
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Once the invoices had been scanned, electronic invoice images could be incorporated in a workflow approval process so they could be viewed by users involved in approving invoices.
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This would reduce the time and effort involved in following up the manual approval of invoices.
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Once scanned, invoices could be archived in an electronic archive system. The invoices would then be easily and quickly accessible to respond to any internal or external request to view without problems due to paper invoices being misplaced, unnecessarily retained, damaged, etc.
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This would also enable the Finance Dept. to destroy paper invoices after a short period thereby reducing storage space and costs.
Summary of proposed solution
Centrom implemented a fully integrated solution to meet the requirements of the customers’ Finance department. The solution was built on three software components:
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ITEsoft FreeMind – to provide invoice scanning and automated data capture facilities
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Oracle Financials – to provide Accounts Payable functionality
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Open Text Livelink – to manage the electronic storage and retrieval of invoice images
Software solution platform
Centrom proposed ITEsoft’s FreeMind product as the most appropriate Scanning and Data Capture software to meet the Finance department’s requirements. It provided facilities to:
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Scan invoices
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Automatically identify the invoice type
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Identify, select and capture data from the scanned invoices
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Match invoice data to Oracle AP, plus use of business rules
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Export invoice images and index data to an electronic repository
Solution Features
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Preparation of invoices for scanning was performed manually
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Data extraction and invoice matching was mainly automated, however for non standard invoices without a pre-built template manual activity by Finance personnel would be required
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Invoice approval users manually click on an invoice image link to view it and manually select to approve payment or reject with comments
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All other parts of the process were fully automated
