Process incoming invoices automatically

By digitizing and integrating Accounts Payable transactions into their ERP system, SAP users can ensure greater transparency, faster booking and therefore cost savings.

Anyone who receives a five- or six-figure number of incoming invoices each year is looking to automate invoice processing. In particular, companies with many locations where invoices are received have great potential to reduce costs by centralizing and automating incoming documents.

For SAP users, the prerequisites for optimization are generally well met: They order and pay equally in SAP. With suitable software solutions, the SAP purchase order (MM) can be linked to the invoice (FI) for accounts payable and release processes can be achieved down to the item level of the invoice. The process from order to payment (procure to pay) can thus be automated and simplified.

Incoming invoices: electronic or paper?

Although electronic invoice receipt is generally on the rise, many companies still receive invoices in paper form. This means that they must first be digitized:

Suitable software components are required to scan these paper documents and automatically recognize and read out invoice-relevant information. The data is then compared with the SAP master and transaction data in order to check its plausibility. This is followed by a release process.

Approvals take place in SAP ERP, via the SAP portal, a web front end or with mobile devices in the browser. WMD has implemented a number of international projects of this kind with its xSuite process solution - for companies as well as for public administrations.

With the SAP-integrated invoice verification solution and supplementary software components, e.g. for electronic invoice receipt, organizations are able to optimally automate their procurement and payment processes and make them faster and more transparent.

Alk-Abelló, a leading global manufacturer of products for specific immunotherapy and the acute treatment of anaphylactic reactions, uses the SAP-integrated workflow internationally not only for processing incoming invoices, but also for managing incoming orders and procurement requests.

In addition to invoices, the same technology can also be used to process documents from other areas of the company such as procurement or incoming orders. The biggest advantage of the solution is the standardization of accounting processes.

This is reflected in a significant increase in the transparency of the processing procedures and higher cash discount income. A total of 1000 SAP users at Alk work with the workflow solution.

Centralization of processes

The Hako Group, based in Bad Oldesloe, is one of the leading international manufacturers of cleaning and municipal technology. The solution there consists of an electronic invoice receipt, components for scanning and OCR, an invoice workflow and clients for approval via web access.

It was integrated into Hako's central SAP system, which is installed in-house and consists of three clients: for the companies in Germany and Poland, for the international subsidiaries in the UK, Australia, Benelux, Spain, Switzerland, Sweden, Finland and Norway, and a further client for the US companies.

Hako receives around 72,000 invoices per year. The proportion of documents received electronically in PDF format is steadily increasing and was already over 50 percent in mid-2015. They are collected from the collective mailbox using a separate software component and fed into the workflow.

The system has led to significantly faster throughput times and greater efficiency in the processes. Internal coordination options have improved significantly thanks to the transparency gained.

Electronic invoices

For some time now, R+V Versicherung has required its top-selling suppliers to send VAT-compliant electronic invoices and is in the process of increasing this proportion further. In the medium term, 70 to 80 percent of all incoming invoices - almost 65,000 documents per year - are to be processed electronically.

An estimated 500 to 600 approvers will then be integrated into the automated workflows, which will check the facts or approve payments. Since the solution was introduced, the insurance company has seen numerous positive effects:

There is no longer any need to carry or send paper back and forth, there is no need to affix release stamps or fill out release forms, and throughput times have been significantly reduced.

Clear financial status for financial statements

The Vorwerk Foundation, a direct marketer of household appliances, cosmetics and other products, was still processing incoming invoices on paper until 2014. By switching to electronic processes, the accounting department hoped to shorten throughput times and therefore speed up invoice processing, increase transparency regarding outstanding liabilities and generate cash discounts through prompt payment.

Today, 80 percent of documents are ready for posting within one to two days, which used to take up to two weeks. As a result, fewer reminders are received and the financial accounting department always has the current financial status available for monthly closings.

The examples show: With digital, SAP-integrated workflows, a company can significantly consolidate and optimize processes such as invoice processing. The many benefits that can be achieved in terms of work quality, time savings, cost reductions and transparency speak for themselves.