Automated Invoice/P2P Processing

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1 Automated Invoice/P2P Processing Business Solutions Reduce processing costs Eliminate bottlenecks and delays Automate invoice capture Automate requisition processes Improve management reporting Improve compliance Eliminate paper trails and storage Outsource service options

2 2 Processing supplier invoices is a business process which every organisation has to do. Few companies however realise the true total end to end cost of each transaction. Benefits Eliminates time consuming, repetitive invoice capture and handling tasks Eliminates drawn-out manual matching of invoices to orders and contracts Minimises manual data entry errors Accelerates the invoice approval process Enables fast and practical analysis, reporting and KPI measurement

3 3 There have been many surveys performed on this and figures range from 4 up to 50 per invoice processed. This would include for: Receiving invoices Opening and sorting Keying into ERP system Coding to correct ledgers Matching against purchase order Matching against goods received Routing and despatch to approvers Approval time by Managers Filing and archiving As an example, if a company is processing 50,000 invoices per annum and we assume a very conservative processing cost of 4 per invoice then this would mean that at a 50% saving rate you would save approx 100,000 per annum by implementing an invoice automation solution. In addition to automating your invoice processes, DCS can also supply a fully integrated Purchase Order management solution which has its own value proposition and additionally aids matching within an automated invoice process. Invoice automation process INVOICE DATA ENTRY Scanning e-invoices Transfer to payment Without PO With PO recurring invoices ERP/ Financial System Multilevel approval REPORTING Automatic coding and approval Match Do not match Automated routing for approval Automated cost centre coding DCS have reduced our per invoice transaction processing costs by 50% and that is after only a few weeks of implementation.

4 4 What other benefits does automation bring? Besides the business process cost savings described previously, all of our users are seeing other very important more subjective business benefits including: Better visibility of the whole process Improved transaction tracking Automated processing gives less manual errors Improved accuracy More accurate and faster financial liability reports Improved financial compliance Ease of scaling to cope with peak loads Faster exception and query handling Improved ability to claim early payment discounts How does DCS s solution work? Our solution comprises software modules (or an option for an outsourced service) which provides: Scanning of invoices Automatic import of EDI invoices Automated extraction of header and line items Automated matching with PO & optionally GRNs Validation of data with your ERP database Automated or manual single/multi-person nominal coding Automated route and approval workflow over the web Automated final posting to ERP system Automated archive of invoices Fully automated compliance with various tax requirements Management console, for a wide range of management reports at any time Easy to understand dashboard reports

5 5 The overall solution comprises a number of optional software modules to break the above down into the main process categories of capture, processing and archival. Automated Procurement DCS s solution offers you a reliable way to improve spend compliancy and reduce costs from your day to day procurement processes. Our procurement modules comprise functionality to manage product and supplier selection, contract renewals and also requisition approval processes. KPIs can be measured via management dashboards and numerous reports on purchase processes and supplier efficiencies can be called up in seconds. Your procurement process can therefore be speeded up and monitored on a 24/7 basis allowing you to make continuous process improvements. Product catalogues can be set up to ensure that staff only have access to pre-approved contracts which reduces rogue spending and ad-hoc procurement. These catalogues can be managed by suppliers themselves quickly and easily via their own portal which also gives them access to purchase order history, status and contract renewals. Request For Quotations (RFQs) and Pre-Qualification Questionnaires (PQQs) Benefits Compliance, Increased Transparency and Control Built-in best practices enable compliance with audit/legislative requirements and ensure high standards of corporate governance Provides complete audit trail for each transaction Enables versatile cash flow management Integrated review and approval facilities with powerful search, analysis and reporting capabilities support a high level of transparency and control throughout the organisation KPI bench-marking enables monitoring of the key process areas and staff productivity Our Accounts Payable Team can now process more than double the amount of invoices they could previously and we have also reduced the approval process time by 30%.

6 6 can be automated by an agile sourcing solution which supports electronic tendering and sourcing of potential supplier information in a controlled way. Tenders can also be automatically scored based on price, quality or other criteria enabling managers to make more objective sourcing decisions. Capturing Invoices and Data Entry This process entails scanning your invoices to digital files so all the other subsequent processes can be automated by computer processing. Once the paper invoice has been scanned then our capture module will automatically read the header and (optionally) line item information from the invoice. The solution is unique in that it comes supplied with a pre-defined database of UK/European invoice rules which means that there is little setup time and cost. Further optimisation against your own supplier invoices is then automatically learnt as and when new invoices are captured. The capture module can also be linked to your ERP system so that when the accuracy of recognition is checked it can flag most of the errors where there is no match against either supplier and/or purchase order tables. Line item tables and multi-page invoices can also be handled far faster than manual keying and at any stage information can quickly be checked and corrected if necessary. Overall this automation can reduce data entry time by between 50-75%. Process and approve The Process Module handles the process of coding the invoices and the route and approval process. The nominal, departmental or other coding can be done at either header or line item level. Coding can also be performed at initial data entry or at a later stage, perhaps by a departmental manager. Coding can also be shared between different staff with perhaps certain coding done by the AP team Validating automatically captured invoices

7 7 and other coding done by a budget holder later on in the approval process. Complex approval matrixes of user vs approval limits can also be handled thereby coping with the most complicated budget and globally distributed problems. The Process Module tightly integrates with your ERP system and has interfaces and manufacturer accredited and proven implementations with SAP, Oracle Financials, JD Edwards, CODA, Pegasus, Sun Accounts and Agresso to name just a few... The whole routing and approval process will therefore be handled automatically for you and where delays or bottlenecks exist then automated system reports can notify your AP team and also send chasing s to approvers if necessary. This lets you to pull back control of the approval process rather than sending out paper invoices to approve and crossing your fingers that something will eventually come back! By automating the approval process it will also allow your organisation to comply with any corporate supplier invoice processing terms. This is especially important for Local Government organisations who are rated under BVPI8. Benefits Savings and Return on Existing IT Investments Performance Delivers ROI in less than 9 months Saves time and money with automated review and approval workflow Minimises the cost of capturing invoices by enabling electronic capture Streamlines your ERP process with the most cutting-edge invoice automation solution in the world Optimises cash flow and settlement discounts with timely payments Leverages existing IT investments with seamless integration to carious scanning systems for data capture and more than 100 ERP and finance systems such as SAP, Oracle, Agresso, Coda, Lawson and SunSystems Handling supplier payment queries now takes far less time as we can immediately see where invoices are in the approval process without even leaving our desks.

8 8 Invoice filing The tax authorities require retention of invoices for at least 6 years and besides this some companies have other compliance requirements such as Sarbanes Oxley and/or industry/internal legislation to meet. This means that the efficient storage and subsequent search and access must be fast and efficient. The Invoice Archive module allows all the scanned invoices (and other procurement process documents such as quotes and POs) to comply with Government storage requirements and also comply with BS BIP0008 which gives guidelines on the legal admissibility of digitally stored images. FileStore gives a full audit trail of what has happened to an invoice, when and by whom and this can be viewed at any time. Invoices can be searched for on any header or even line item data and this can be done from within our automation solution or direct from your ERP or other business software application. We have multiple sites which all receive invoices. How do we handle this? DCS s whole solution is designed to work over a secure network via simple web browsers. This means that it can easily handle: Multi-site PO creation Multi-site receipt and capture of invoices Viewing a scanned invoice

9 9 Multi-site approval processes Multi-site and multiple ERP solutions Centralised service centres can also be automated or even a combination of remote multiple site scanning and then centralised processing. Flexibility, Scalability and ease of use are all key factors leading to the design of our solution. We wish to outsource our whole process. Can DCS help us? DCS can both supply and install our solution at your site or you can contract us to handle your whole invoice process on a per invoice, pay as you go basis. Initial invoice scanning can be handled by setting up a PO Box number redirecting invoices to DCS s processing centre in Slough or we can supply one or more scanners to you which then scan the invoices over the web to DCS for ongoing processing. There are many other hybrid possibilities on how we can configure our services to suit your own particular requirements. Many of our clients start with an outsource pilot scheme and then implement an in-house automation solution later after the concept and benefits have been proven. Outsourcing and hybrid solutions are of particular interest to Local Government organisations where capital funding can sometimes be difficult. Can I also process EDI invoices? Electronic invoicing forms a minority of transactions for most companies and typically does not exceed 20% of the overall volume. EDI adoption (usually via XML) continues to be very slow and is only really viable where there are a limited number of high volume suppliers. Invoice approval status Last year following a tax audit we had to pay a bill of over 50,000 as we could not locate invoices relating to certain expenditure. I am now confident that with our new invoice automation solution that this would not happen again.

10 10 DCS s solution can however handle EDI invoices and treats them in the same way as paper invoices but without the paper scanning process. This means that whatever happens in the future your automation solution can handle it. I also need to automate and manage our requisitions. How? Our purchase to pay solution can optionally include a corporate purchase order system. This allows users to select from standard approved supplier products and then to track their order through management approval to receipt at the warehouse. What other P2P solutions do DCS supply? Our integrated solutions also include options for contract lifecycle management, order matching, KPI reporting, mobile clients and supplier portals How can I find out more information? As a next step we can arrange a meeting with your senior Financial Management Team and our Business Consultants to initially benchmark your own specific invoice processes. We will evaluate your overall invoice processing costs, stage/step costs and volumes. Our discussions would also examine any other existing business problems such as poor management information or delays/ bottlenecks in specific process steps. After considering all of the above, DCS will then provide you with a free report giving recommendations, potential savings/roi and budget costs for a solution to automate your own invoice processing. Procurement Invoice Automation Performance Compliance Cost Savings Supplier Interaction Archiving

11 11 Our invoice/p2p processing customers include: DCS provides enterprise information management software solutions and services to more than 1,000 worldwide companies, bringing intelligence and automation to the creation, capture, management and distribution of information. DCS s solutions make it possible for companies to share content globally across all internal and external systems, applications, and departments, while maintaining central control and management.

12 Data Capture Solutions Ltd 345 Edinburgh Avenue, Slough, Berkshire, SL1 4TU, UK Tel: Fax: