Invoice processing 4.0

Weig sees itself as an industrial service provider along the cartonboard value chain. The Group is a specialist for gypsum board, has integrated competence in packaging board and cartonboard packaging, and offers sustainable solutions in the disposal of secondary raw materials.

All threads come together at the headquarters in Mayen, where the central administrative areas are located. The processes of invoice receipt processing are efficiently bundled due to the Tangro IM software.

Weig receives around 45,000 invoices a year, half by e-mail and half by post. The processing of these documents in SAP had already been automated years ago. However, with a solution that was only connected to the ERP system via an interface.

With the disadvantage that all created purchase orders and goods receipts were only transferred to SAP once a day and posted there. This important information was therefore only available for invoice processing on the following day, adding a further one-day delay to the usual document processing time.

In addition, there was a plethora of different approval processes that further slowed down invoice verification. The vision of efficient, transparent processes was not met by this old solution. Most importantly, the system on S/4 was not as efficient and thus conflicted with the company's strategy to use S/4 Hana as the leading ERP system across the enterprise.

"We wanted to rely on someone we knew supported S/4 Hana. With Tangro we have found the right partner".

says Tim Hoffmann from Group Service IT about the decision in favor of the software.

"We were also convinced by the practical proof at a reference customer where Tangro is already running on S/4 Hana."

The invoice processing solution is SAP-embedded, which means it can be integrated directly into the SAP ERP system without interfaces - even in S/4 Hana.

"From an IT perspective, the SAP embedded property simplifies a lot, of course. There was only one small adjustment, and then the basic software was ready to run on our S/4 system. It was all done quickly and without complications.

Tim Hoffmann is enthusiastic about the project.

"We felt very well advised."

It took only eight weeks for IM to be in productive use at Weig. This was also due to the enormous preparatory work of the employees involved. Since then, the system has been able to make full use of its advantages in the specialist departments.

Purchasing and Invoice Verification benefit from the direct embedding of the software in SAP, not only because the clerks process incoming invoices in the same environment, but also because direct access to SAP data is possible.

Working in the same environment requires special internal agreements on workflows. Checking, reworking and supplementing document data is thus significantly simplified and accelerated.

Around 80 percent of invoices at Weig are recognized completely automatically with IM. This means that the system meets one of the most important requirements of the specialist departments, as Alexander Paucar- Bahrs from Group Service Purchasing explains:

"It was important to us that the invoice receipt processing software ensures the best possible recognition and, if required, posts documents completely automatically in the background."

Especially with invoices for inventory-managed items, where the item number is available and fixed prices are stored, this requirement is met. Rarely does anything need to be added, corrected or approved. The financial accountants only intervene on a pro forma basis, briefly review and then post directly with a mouse click.

Plus Business Workflow

For the remaining invoices, the effort has also been greatly reduced. Here, too, IM recognizes a large part of the content automatically, such as the supplier, the order number and the items.

Account assignments, G/L accounts and tax key figures are also drawn automatically. For approval or clarification of questions, the Tangro Business Workflow comes into play, which automates and electronically handles all workflow processes.

With the implementation of the new workflow solution, the processes were simultaneously standardized and streamlined in line with the company structure. Now there are fixed value limits according to which invoice approval is organized.

In addition, substitute rules ensure reliable processing of documents even during absences. Previously, the absent employee had to set up his substitute immediately before the absence. With IM, he is able to store his entire vacation planning in advance.

In addition, the handling is so simple that the specialist department can regulate most things itself: If, for example, a colleague falls ill at short notice and therefore no substitution rule has yet been activated, the current workflows can be cancelled collectively so that they can then be started specifically with the intended substitution. Only in special cases (for example, long-term illness) does IT intervene and activate the substitution in the background.

Invoice receipt book

Further simplification is provided by an automated escalation process, which reminds users who have not yet released an invoice that it needs to be processed. The overview of all received documents is ensured by the invoice receipt book with the independently set up variants.

Here, employees can immediately see which invoices are in the workflow or which documents can be posted immediately. Invoices that are unsubstantiated, have incorrect content or have mistakenly ended up at Weig can be returned to the supplier by users directly from the system in the invoice receipt book.

In this way, invoice processing has been accelerated to such an extent that an increase in cash discounts is now already noticeable after just a few months of productive operation.

"Thanks to real-time processing, we can now post invoices faster and take advantage of discounts much more often," says Alexander Paucar-Bahrs. "Also, for the first time, we have the ability to report on the whole process. We can see immediately where there are problems. Duplicate invoices can be identified immediately thanks to real-time processing."

No interfaces, low maintenance

The optimization effect for internal IT is confirmed in productive use. "The maintenance effort will be reduced in the long term. There is no longer an interface that we have to look after from an IT perspective and, for example, always have to adapt when the provider changes something.

We have a single, central system for invoice processing that works with a similar user structure to SAP. We can therefore adopt authorization roles," says Tim Hoffmann, listing the advantages.

Above all, however, Weig is ready for the future: "By running the invoice verification with Tangro on S/4 Hana, we are on the fastest system in this area and are positioned for the future."