© 2011 Financial Operations Networks LLC AP Automation Case Study: The Successes and the Challenges, Part II Amy Fine Levi Strauss & Co. Wednesday, April

© 2011 Financial Operations Networks LLC

AP Automation Case Study: The Successes and the Challenges, Part II

Amy FineLevi Strauss & Co.

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

www.TheAPNetwork.com Page 2

THE ACCOUNTS PAYABLE

Leadership Conference



Leadership ConferenceCompany History

• May 20, 1873 – Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis receive a patent for the process of riveting pants and the blue jean is born

• First factory opened in the South of Market area of San Francisco in 1880

• 1977 – Levi’s was the world’s largest jeans manufacturer

• Today Levi’s jeans are sold in over 160 countries

• Global Headquarters located in San Francisco, California



Leadership ConferenceBrands



Leadership ConferenceShared Service Center – Eugene Oregon 1999



Leadership ConferenceShared Services Center

• Indirect Requisition-to-Check – RTC

• Hire-to-Retire – HTR

• Order-to-Cash – OTC

• Record-to-Report – RTR



Leadership ConferenceIndirect Requisition-to-Check

• Invoice Processing

• GRIR Maintenance

• Travel and Expense

• Vendor Master

• Indirect Procurement




Become a student of change. It is the only thing that will remain constant.

— Anthony J. D’Angelo



Leadership ConferenceInvoice Processing

Utilize different accounting systems for each country:• Canada – Cedar Software

• Mexico – SUN Systems

• United States – SAP



Leadership ConferenceSAP Purchasing Guidelines

• SAP Procurement Process

• SAP Payment Request

• Corporate Card



Leadership ConferenceUploads

• Advantage IQ – utilities for approximately 170 Retail Stores – 3 invoices a week compared to 170+ per month

• Staples – office supplies – average 50 invoices a week

• Serengeti – legal invoices 50 a week

• IQ Navigator – contract labor – large volume

• Granite – telephone – 215 invoices a month

• Rental payments – 200 invoices a month




• Service Channel – retail store maintenance

• OTM freight transactions that will not go through EDI

• JP Morgan Central Bill

• Weekly benefits

• Continually asking…Can this be on an upload?

Uploads (Cont’d.)



Leadership ConferenceEDI

• CASS – for FedEx and UPS (1,800 invoices a month)

• Oracle Transportation Management – inbound freight from contractors (500 invoices a month)

• Outbound freight – freight from distribution centers to customers (2,000 invoices a month)




Processors Were Spending Time:

• Entering invoices and payment requests from paper copies

• Often found that no goods or service receipt had been done

• Following up with requisitioners, often several times

• Batching invoices at the end of the day so that they could be scanned

• Responding to vendor and requisitioner payment inquiries



Leadership ConferenceManual Processing

• Currently have six invoice processors

• Each can manually process between 600 and 1,200 invoices a month

• About 52% percent of invoices had been making it through to payment the first time touched

• Of the remaining 48%, 17% were duplicates and 31% had some type of problem



Leadership Conference% of Non-Trade Invoices Paid on Time



Leadership ConferenceFront-End Imaging

• September of 2009 received approval to begin a front-end imaging project

• Began RFP process in January 2010

• Reviewed four different vendors

• Signed a contract with ReadSoft in June 2010

• Go live date was February 28, 2011







• Incoming mail goes directly to the Scan Room and are scanned into ReadSoft (IPA)

• Incoming e-Invoices are uploaded into IPA

• Invoices are separated into different categories and scanned into IPA

• The program displays the interpreted fields that can be compared to the scanned image

• The user makes the necessary corrections in verify so that correct categories are recognized







• Invoice transfers to INVOICE COCKPIT by ReadSoft for processing

• Invoices without errors flow through system

• Invoices with errors will kick off a workflow

• Invoices are paid according to terms in the vendor master
















• Payment requests are entered though IPA WEB CYCLE (ReadSoft)

• Sent to an authorized approver through web-cycle

• Reviewed by an invoice processor and flow through the system for payment




• LOVE the new tool!

• It is intuitive and easy to use

• Requires no training

Initial feedback from requisitioners:




• No more paper clutter

• Ability to electronically search for invoices

• Have visibility to PO right away

• Can enter invoice and save when partially complete

• Automated workflow

• Automated escalation of workflow

Initial feedback from invoice processors:




• Image is easy to send

• Audit trail of communications within the tool

• Outlook email does not get full

Initial feedback from invoice processors: (Cont’d.)




• Listen to ReadSoft about the timing of training

• Test!

• Catch up on invoice backlog before going live

Lessons learned:




• Vendor portal for payment inquiries

• Add more vendors to EDI

• Create uploads where they make sense

• Global SAP

What’s next?

© 2011 Financial Operations Networks LLC

Thank You!

Documents

© 2011 Financial Operations Networks LLC AP Automation Case Study: The Successes and the Challenges, Part II Amy Fine Levi Strauss & Co. Wednesday, April