business automation software Processing Supplier Invoices “ A brief overview and technology guide”
business automation software
Processing Supplier Invoices“ A brief overview and technology guide”
Why the need?
Manual processing and approval of invoices wastes time Rapid move to electronic transmission of invoices Typically 50% of the invoices are now sent via email, typically as a PDF attachment Often the PDF document gets printed at the other end and then manually processed Businesses already invested in workflow and/or DMS technology still persist in printing and
scanning PDF invoices A simple solution is needed which will process both invoices received via email or post
This document will consider the options and their associated cost, complexity and speed of implementation.
Stage 1 – Check supplier
Electronic Invoices
Our Process
Stage 3 – Publish to DMS
Stage 2 – Extract meta-data from invoice ……..manual VS automatic?
Capture Email
Paper Invoices
Scan Paper
Suppliers
DMS Workflow Approve Release to ERP System
DB Lookup
How are electronic invoices captured?
We have two methods to capture PDF invoices sent via email – these are:
MS Office plugin – This simple Office plugin allows an email user to select an email attachment and submit it for indexing without the need for printing.
Monitor an email account – We have a service which can poll an email account (e.g. invoices@ acme.com), looking for emails and attachments which meet certain criteria (e.g. from a specific supplier, or with a recognised subject line). An automated response can be sent to the sender and the email attachment will then be automatically downloaded ready for indexing.
Scanning Invoices - there’s no Magic Bullet
Be realistic about your expertise and budget– there’s no magic bullet, the more automation you require, the more a solution will cost and the greater the complexity of implementation.
If your volume is relatively low (i.e. less than100 invoices per day), then are you really going to get a payback on an invoice capture solution costing more than £15,000?
Unfortunately, there’s now a perception that low cost solutions exist which will allow you to magically scan a batch of paper invoices and automatically extract via OCR (Optical Character Recognition) the information you need (e.g. invoice number, order number, date, supplier name, VAT total, net total etc.). If you want this technology, it costs, both in software and more importantly professional services and training costs.
Going a stage further, if you want line item recognition (i.e. extracting product codes, quantity, unit costs etc.), this is a whole new level of sophistication and cost.
Invoice Scanning – Manual vs. Auto Indexing
Solution Daily Vol of invoices
Typical Setup Time
Typical Solution Cost
Full Text OCR
Zonal OCR
Barcode Support
Auto Header Extraction
Auto Header & Line Item Extraction
Notes
User Scan Station
Less than 50
1 hour £500 √ X X X X Key from image - Great for low volume applications, where workflow approval is the main benefit.
Batch ScanStation
More than 50
1 – 2 days
£500 to £5,000 √ √ √ X X A powerful departmental scanning
application with zonal OCR and DB lookup capability which is quick to implement
Header Level Recognition
More than 250
More than 7 days
£10,000 or above √ √ √ √ X Out of the box header level
recognition but needs careful setup and training
Advanced Line Level Recognition
More than 500
More than 15 days
£25,000 or above √ √ √ √ √ The “Holy Grail” of invoice
recognition. Powerful line level extraction of data with PO matching. Complex and costly to implement – only consider if your volumes are high
* This table is only a guide and designed to give a flavour of the options and their associated capability vs. cost
User Scan Station – key from image
Index information manually keyed from imageDB lookup for supplier and code
Batch Scan Station – zonal & barcode capture
Auto read barcodes Drag and Drop OCRIndexes can be manually keyed, read via OCR, or populated from barcodes or DB lookups
Header Level Recognition
Indexes intelligently extracted, from anywhere on the invoice via the field labelsVendor/Supplier automatically
recognised and validated against a supplier record on ERP system
Advanced Line Level Recognition
In addition to header level records, line items information can be intelligently extracted and matched against a PO
Values can be validated for errors using mathematical logic
What is the best solution for your company?
• Choosing the best solution for your organisation can take time – Document Genetics can provide remote web demos, onsite workshops or professional services to help define your requirements. Here’s some questions to consider:
• What are your monthly volumes of purchase invoices? • What proportion are stock and non-stock invoices? • What proportion are paper vs. electronic? • What are the electronic formats and methods of receipt? • Do you have a top 20 suppliers, who raise the vast majority of invoices (80/20 rule)? • What fields do you collect from your invoices? • What’s your reason for wanting to automate your supplier invoice process? • What proportion of invoices matches your purchase orders, GRNs and delivery notes and requires no
intervention? • How do you currently resolve matching issues? • Do you manually approve invoices through the organisation? • Do you have an existing document management system?
• Bringing corporate technology to the SME• Cost effective and proven software• Fast implementation and Rapid ROI
“They don’t do Bloatware – just bulletproof solutions with a fast ROI.”Bill Griffiths, Autosmart
“It’s like an extra worker who works 24x7x365 and never asks for a pay rise.” Andy Siviter, Betterware
Why Document Genetics?
Some of our clients
t: 01604 671177e: [email protected]: www.document-genetics.co.uk
Document-Genetics is a division of Extra Resource LtdHallFarm, Sywell Airport, Sywell, Northants, NN6 0BN
Registered in Wales No 3715580 | VAT Registration No GB-721 4244 70
business automation software