Purchase-to-Pay

In accounting, the volume of documents had increased so much due to growth that it was hardly possible to cope with it using conventional methods. When the automation project was presented to a larger group, it became apparent that there were similar problems in purchasing and incoming goods. In these areas, too, the flood of documents could only be overcome with software assistance.

They found the suitable solution in Tangro software. The Inbound Suite includes modules for processing order confirmations, delivery bills and invoices, among other things, and therefore offered the required, comprehensive approach. At the same time, the system was able to meet another decisive criterion: complete integration with SAP.

"Tangro is SAP-embedded and therefore directly integrated into SAP. This is a huge advantage for us. We always have direct access to our SAP master and transaction data during document processing.", says Maximilian Schröder, Business Key User at Atlas Copco IAS.

Atlas Copco IAS offers various joining technologies from a single source. In addition, the Bretten-based company's range of solutions includes process analysis and planning. It is only logical that processes are also designed seamlessly internally.

SAP-embedded

Due to the SAP-embedded property, the runnability on S/4 is given. "We wouldn't have shortlisted a product that wasn't S/4 Hana-capable," says Maximilian Schröder. Atlas Copco IAS processes around 50,000 delivery bills, order confirmations and invoices per year.

The documents are received by mail, fax, e-mail or EDI and are automatically recognized by the software, compared with the SAP master and transaction data and made available for further checking or processing. In some cases, these last two steps are even completely omitted. The documents are then processed fully automatically in the background - without anyone having to intervene.

This is the case, for example, with order confirmations from specific suppliers, whose documents always have the same structure and content. Some invoices from specific vendors are also posted immediately. The layout of these documents is also always the same, thus ensuring reliable recognition. No one has to check again here.

In the case of other order confirmations, delivery bills or invoices, employees can see all the important content immediately in the system. In the case of order confirmations, for example, this includes the order number, order number, price, quantity and delivery date. For delivery bills, this includes document number, delivery quantity and date.

For invoices, this includes the vendor, invoice number and item data. If everything is correct, a mouse click is all that is needed to post these documents in SAP. Only if discrepancies are detected or content is missing do the clerks process the document and add content or correct values.

But even that is quick because the document image is displayed on the screen along with the recognized content and all relevant transaction data. "With Tangro, the document image and all important contents can be seen at a glance. This makes the processing and posting of incoming documents very effective", explains Maximilian Schröder. "And we save the time for documentation, because with the posting the document is immediately attached to the correct transaction."

The bottom line is that document processing at Altas Copco IAS has thus become significantly faster and more effective. For order confirmations, the processing speed has even been tripled: "By automating with Tangro, we have sped up the processing of order confirmations from three minutes to one minute."says Maximilian Schröder.

You are also much faster with delivery bills: "We now process delivery bills twice as fast as before. Instead of two before, we now only need one minute per document", says Maximilian Schröder.

Especially with delivery bills, such high speed is important because the goods receipt must be recorded in SAP without any time delay. It works because processing takes place in real time: As soon as the document is scanned, the clerk immediately sees the document image of the delivery bill with the associated transaction data in the system and can post the goods receipt.

"Processing delivery bills in real time is a huge added value that brings us an enormous increase in effectiveness." The pre-completed verification processes facilitate invoice processing. Here, too, the software recognizes and interprets all important contents and checks them against the existing order data in SAP.

If the software detects no discrepancies, the document can be posted at the click of a mouse. Efficiency gains are thus achieved here as well. In all phases of document processing, the comprehensive transparency and traceability ensure further optimization effects.

"Thanks to the direct storage of the transaction, we always have an overview of the entire process chain. Using the purchase order number or a material number, we can shimmy along the entire purchase-to-pay and immediately view all important documents. From the order to the order confirmation and goods receipt to invoicing", says Maximilian Schröder. "With Tangro, you can really become more effective. At the same time, automating document processing is another step towards digitalization and Industry 4.0."