Esker - Paper-Free AP With SAP Solutions

8/6/2019 Esker - Paper-Free AP With SAP Solutions

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Paper-Free AP

with SAP Solutions

Auomad Pocingof Vndo Invoic

www.eser.com


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Introduction .......................................................................................................................................................................................3

Executive Summary .........................................................................................................................................................................4

Challenges in Accounts Payable ................................................................................................................................................5

What is the problem? ...........................................................................................................................................................5

How big is the problem? .....................................................................................................................................................6

How valuable is the solution? ............................................................................................................................................6

Overcoming the Challenges .........................................................................................................................................................7

Productivity, fnance and vendor relationships............................................................................................................7

Accounts Payable Automation ....................................................................................................................................................8

How it wors ............................................................................................................................................................................8

Reporting an metrics .........................................................................................................................................................8

Automate process overview ...........................................................................................................................................9

Attributes of Eser solutions ..............................................................................................................................................10

Key benefts ..........................................................................................................................................................................11

Software as a Service for AP automation.....................................................................................................................11

Implementing the Solution in Phases .....................................................................................................................................12

Automate at your own pace ...........................................................................................................................................12

About Esker ......................................................................................................................................................................................15

Table of Contents

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evy buin a o pnd mony o ma mony. Paying bill alo co no only mony bu alo valuabl im in

pocu-o-pay cycl. Bu i voluion of cnology o auoma Accoun Payabl documn poc, i coom compani mo an o.

rac by t hac Goup a found a op-pfoming compani poc a ig pcnag of vndoinvoic lconically in compaion i i p. Buin cogniz valu of auomaing Accoun Payabland are increasingly eager to gain the efciencies that automation brings. Recent research by Aberdeen Group founda mo an alf of oganizaion uvyd ay Accoun Payabl i agic up fom 40% in 2006. t Iniu ofManagmn and Adminiaion (IOMA) po a majo div fo implmnaion of auomad Accoun Payablare large transaction volumes, pressures to reduce costs, and impact on cash ow.

How much oes an invoice really cost?

wil sAPerP oluion mpo buin i Accoun Payabl funcionaliy and anacion daa, manual pocingof vndo invoic main andad pocdu and a bai o buin poc impovmn and un on invmnin npi ofa fo many compani.

Buin unning sAP oluion ill mploy convnional pap-divn Accoun Payabl poc. A a ul, y alimid in i abiliy no only o minimiz p-invoic co bu alo o impov poduciviy, pvn duplica invoic anda advanag of fa-paymn dicoun. Financial planning, vndo laionip, mploy poduciviy, in-npicommunicaion and vn gulaoy complianc ffo may uff fom lac of auomaion in Accoun Payabl. Byondsignicant cost savings, organizations using an automated Accounts Payable system can realize efciencies throughout poc fom daa ny o aciving.

ti pap pn uniqu valu of a compniv plafom oamlin Accoun Payabl poc a un on pap documn a lvl anging fom baic qui pap oluion o oucl poingof invoic and full poc auomaion. I analyz callng facdby compani oday o a ill uing manual pap-divn poc,a ll a oucom of auomaing poc including im,

labo and co aving a ll a incad viibiliy.

Abov all, i pap i dignd o ai CeO, CFO, CIO, AccounPayabl manag and sAP ym adminiao in laning, planningand valuaing auomad vndo invoic pocing ingad iSAP solutions for increased efciency in todays competitive business

nvionmn.

3

Introuction

If your company has ever

found it difcult to answer vendor questionsabou invoic au

paid am invoic ic

mid ou on fa-paymn dicoun

uggld o ga audi infomaion

o mad an inaccua ca foca

then you know the value of AP automation.

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Accounts Payable challenges

What automation aresses

ky iu facing Accoun Payabl opaion oday includ:

Time o poc vndo invoic and o payabl

Errors an elays affecting the accuracy of nancial statements

Visibility to see whats happening with Accounts Payable documents

Cost conol and avoidanc

Security and gulaoy compliance

Performance improvement drivers

Where to focusImmediate and signicant outcomes can result from focusing on:

Poduciviy in Accoun Payabl dpamn

tanacion co conol and avoidanc

Financial managmn and complianc uppo

scuiy and i conol

supply cain and vndo laionip

Document process automation as the solution

Enterprise-wie ROI

Addiional valu byond Accoun Payabl i availabl fom a compniv plafom o:

Capu y infomaion uc a vndo numb, poduc pa numb, du da, and puca od numb

Present data for modication and validation in a web-based interface or use touchless processing

Aciv daa and documn fo ay acc

Dliv ougoing documn uc a puca od and cuom invoic

ta a pad appoac o implmnaion

Software as a Service (SaaS) options

Automation on eman

wy coo a saas oluion?

rapid dploymn

ric funcionalii

Lo co

Lo i

No It invmn

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Executive Summary


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What is the problem?

A i any buin poc a li on documn ic av adiionally bn pap, painful poc unthroughout the procure-to-pay cycle. Research by PayStream Advisors has found signicant concentration in four keyaa of Accoun Payabl: invoic cip, daa xacion, invoic macing and xcpion andling, and appovalworkow. The core problem is that these steps rely on paper and people. AP departments relying on manual processes arending that adding staff does not solve the inherent problem. Manual processes are not only expensive and inefcient;

y alo inca canc of o and xpo oganizaion o many i.

ISSUE IMPACT

Invoice processing cycle time

Dlay in poing xpn wa of ca: inabiliy o capu aly paymn dicoun, la paymn

pnali

Damagd laionip i uppli

No automatic valiation Ovpaymn fo billing o Duplica paymn tax o

Lac of process visibility

Difculties in budgeting, planning and forecasting

Lac of conol and ig i impacing audi andad complianc Callng fo accua and on-im cloing Difculties in responding to vendor invoice status inquiries

Invoice processing costs Invoic dipu oluion excpion andling ecalaion and appoval of poblm invoic

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Challenges in Accounts Payable

PROCESSRECEIVE POST

Time


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Invoice processing cycle time

Although invoices start as electronic documents, they end up as paper on someones desk. The result is that they takelong o poc an y ould if y maind in lconic foma. t uling dlay in pocing av a ngaivimpac on abiliy o a advanag of vndo dicoun fo aly paymn.

No automatic valiation

ri of o i inn in any poc a involv pap and manual daa ny. In Accoun Payabl, i dmandpaicula anion no only bcau of impac on oing capial, bu alo bcau Accoun Payabl anaciona ubjc o cuiny by xnal audi fo gulaoy complianc. Any poblm in coding invoic a liabilii,particularly when the invoice is not associated with a purchase order, can result in inaccurate nancial statements andvn allgaion of faud.

Lac of process visibility

Accoding o Abdn Goup ac, op-pfoming oganizaion a 43% mo lily an i p o aventerprise-level visibility into Accounts Payable processes. Companies lacking such visibility encounter difculty in assessing

operations and developing strategies for process improvement. Lack of visibility is also a signicant contributor to transactionco and cycl im.

Just as automated entry of vendor invoices is essential for process efciency and quality assurance, data on invoicedocumn pocing i cucial o daily opaion. Fo xampl, vndo inquii fqunly ca nd fo infomaionabou pocing au of an Accoun Payabl anacion. Quic acc o infomaion on an invoic abeen received, processed, or paid (as well as data on the currently responsible agent) can signicantly reduce turnaroundim of vndo inquii.

Invoice processing costs

t co of pocing vndo invoic i gnally ig. I i vn mo impoan fo mall invoic, a co of olvingan iu may b ig an valu of invoic ilf. Abdn Goup udi o a manual invoic pocingco bn $13.00 and $15.60 p invoic vu $8.60 o $9.00 fo lconic invoic.

How big is the problem?A a mau of cop of iu, cn Abdn Goup ac a found a pap main main fomafo vndo invoic pning 80% of all invoic. evn a sAP oluion av cnalizd and andadizd many ybuin poc, Accoun Payabl main inundad i pap.

Aberdeen Group research has characterized Accounts Payable functions lacking automation as inefcient and weigheddown by paper. Still, despite compelling transaction cost savings and other strategic benets, most enterprises have not

automated Accounts Payable to any signicant degree.

How valuable is the solution?

Accoding o t hac Goup, incaing volum of lconically capud invoic lin im o 80% can:

Increase on-time payments by 7% Reuce process cost per invoice by 59%

Increase early payment iscounts by a factor of more than 3

Procure-to-pay value

When the solution is part of end-to-end automation in the procure-to-pay cycle, The Hackett Group nds signicantly lower

anacion co among op-pfoming compani an i lo-pfoming counpa. rducion of nd-o-nd co can b a ig a 92%, uling in aving of $2$3 million fo avag oganizaion.

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Productivity, finance and vendor relationships

Auomad Accoun Payabl pocing lp oganizaion ffcivly add callng of impoving poduciviy andtransaction cost reduction, nancial management and risk control, and s vendor/supply chain relationship management.Folloing i a ummay of auomaion oucom in aa.

Prouctivity

rmov manual oing and andling of invoic

spd up daa ny

Remove transportation costs from local ofces to headquarters and back

Minimiz co of pyical aciving of invoic

samlin communicaion o olv xcpion and dicpanci

Monio individual AP pciali pfomanc

Idnify poblmaic uppli

Impov AP vic lvl o o dpamn

Inga lconic invoic ino xiing poc

Financial management

Improve visibility of expenses (approval and/or payment)

Impov abiliy o a advanag of aly paymn dicoun

suppo gulaoy complianc ffo (saban-Oxly, c.)

Conol acual m of paymn and complianc i gulaion

Conol cdi iuaion and poc cdi aing

Improve nancial statements closing process

rduc i of duplica paymn

Enable cash ow forecast Unify Accoun Payabl pocing and xcpion acing

Quicly pond o audio (innal o xnal) qu

Venor relationshipmanagement

samlin communicaion o andl xcpion and dicpanci

rduc uppli complain and inquii

Improve response time to answer suppliers inquiries

Idnify poblmaic uppli

Pay uppli on im

Idnify and olv billing dipu quicly

Avoid cdi old iuaion a may impac buin

rduc numb of invoic quy call fom uppli An uppli quion immdialy

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Overcoming the Challenges


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How it works

Ingad i sAP applicaion and quiing no cuom pogamming, e oluion auoma vndo invoicpocing fom cpion of oiginal documn o uling caion of a coponding buin documn.The workow includes automatic and human validation of the data as well as document archiving. Full customization

exibility lets you:

Automate the creation of venor invoices, including poing and paing capabilii. Fo invoic and cdimmo iou a puca od, u can pcify if a cdi mmo o invoic ould b cad. O invoicare created in relation to an existing purchase order can ow into the SAP system without user intervention.

Archive the original ocument fo la fnc, i on e v o an xnal ym.

Daa uc a vndo numb, puca od numb and du da fo ouing and indxing a capud n a fax,email, paper or electronic invoice arrives. No predened templates are needed. The Esker solution checks the extracteddaa o dmin if invoic i aociad i a puca od.

PO invoices Materials Management (MM)

sAP ma daa i compad i invoic and puca od. If i a pfc mac, anacion canb auomaically n oug o sAP ym (oucl pocing). Daa i auomaically capud uing inlligntechnology offering accuracy and exibility that is superior to basic OCR and template-based capture, completelyliminaing manual daa ny. t oiginal invoic imag i auomaically od fo la ac and ival.

Non-PO invoices Financial Accounting (FI)

Fo invoic a do no mac up i a puca od, e oluion can pfom ncay xcpion andling,uc a ccing o i invoic i a duplica, if a any dicoun a can b applid fo fa paymn o if invoic nd o go oug an appoval poc. Coding may b don, i inid o ouid of accouningdepartment, at this stage. If any additional approval is required, the invoice can be transferred through the ofcelconically o a you no xacly i i in appoval poc and i g o ig popl, g ncayappoval o gna infomaion in sAP ym o boo paymn a quicly a poibl.

With or without a PO

tougou poc i MM o FI invoic, vy acion an i documnd and audiabl. Invoic daa anddocumn imag a lconically anfd ino e aciv o a paa aciving oluion, i a lin bac ino sAP applicaion.

In dliving advanag of Accoun Payabl auomaion, e povid a ool fo accua and on-im accounbooing, ffciv pocumn managmn i on-im vndo bill lmn, invoic validaion and auomadapproval workow. Accounts Payable departments gain the ability to track and closely monitor each step of vendorinvoic pocing. Combind i vail u ig managmn fau in e oluion, capabilii alolp compani comply i gulaion uc a saban-Oxly Ac.

Reporting and metricsrpoing ool mpo Accoun Payabl manag and ponnl o monio volum of invoic pocd by Ftep day, pli bn MM and FI invoic, avag im o poc an invoic and o ky Pfomanc Indicao.w a company u cnology o mov om o all uman invnion fom vndo invoic pocing, auomad poc off diinc advanag i lconic copi of invoic adily availabl o any auoizdperson within the company without having to go through physical les.

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Accounts Payable Automation

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Automated process overview

1. Invoices are sent to the Esker platform and processed according to predened rules matched to invoiceaibu uc a uppli, amoun, buying niy, c. scannd o lconic documn a capud andcan b auomaically oud and pioiizd.

2. t e oluion xac lvan invoic infomaion uc a company nam, invoic numb, du da andlin im dail. Capud daa can b auomaically ccd uing 2-ay o 3-ay macing again anxiing puca od. If a no xcpion, oucl pocing can ca invoic fo paymn

iou nd fo u validaion. Invoic iou a PO can undgo muli-lvl vi, coding and muli-lvl appoval.

3. If an exception such as price/quantity mismatch occurs, the invoice can be blocked for payment pendingvalidation and approval via an electronic workow that can be set up to go through one or several users.

4. Invoic infomaion i mad availabl o sAP applicaion, and documn imag i auomaically indxdto SAP Content Server, the Esker server or another archive. Users can be notied of invoice entry and status.

5. t oiginal invoic imag i adily availabl fo fnc a ndd.

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Without PO

Data& Image

Transfer

PROCESS AUDIT TRAIL

AUDIT TRAIL AUDIT TRAIL AUDIT TRAIL AUDIT TRAIL AUDIT TRAIL

With PO TOUCHLESS PROCESSING

MULTI

LEVEL

APPROVAL

MULTI

LEVEL

REVIEW

ROUTING PRIORIZATION

DATA CAPTURE

Paper invoice Fax E invoice EDI, XML

CODING

DOCUMENT

CAPTURE

Any format

Automateddispatch

Prioritizing

INTELLIGENT DATA

EXTRACTION AND

VALIDATION

Extract relevantinvoiceinformation

Coding

3 way match

EXCEPTION

HANDLING

Duplicate

Price/quantitymismatch

Block/forward forapproval or furtherprocessing

PAYMENT

APPROVAL

Electronicapproval

Multi level asrequired

1 2 3 4 5

INVOICE CREATION

AND DOCUMENT

ARCHIVING

Invoices arecreated free orblocked for

payment

Original document

imageindexed

110101000

100111010

001010100

101001110VENDOR

INVOICESAP

APPLICATION

MATCH

DO NOT MATCH


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Attributes of Esker solutions

In aing agic valu of Accoun Payabl auomaion, e cuom idnify a ang of buin and cnicalfau a igligd in folloing abl.

BUSINESS IT

A copoa plafom fo mulipl poc, includingpocumn ingaion

A u npi oluion i uppo fo advic and cnologi uc a cluing

Povn dploymn oldid

B-pacic implmnaion modology andpoc-focud appoac

Minimal donim

One-step validation and reconciliation/posting

Web workow allowing users to validate and approve

invoic oug sAP infac

Capabiliy o xnd oluion o pocumn fo

nd-o-nd pocu-o-pay managmn

Auomaic coding and ax allocaion

Auomaion of ad and lin im daa validaion

Auomaic duplica invoic cc

expn coding accuacy and auomad GL policy-bad coding of invoic

Goods receipt-based invoice verication

Quaniy and pic vaianc managmn

Plannd and unplannd dlivy co uppo

tacing and poing capabilii o monio invoicpocing acivii

SAP-certied integration and more than two decades

of xpinc

Fi i npi sOA agi

Lvag of andad sAP cnology o ma invoicdaa and paymn infomaion availabl o sAPapplicaion

Archiving exibility

On-p documn validaion and conciliaion

capabilii

Web-based workow outside of the SAP system

Exception handling and payment approval workow

notication

Auomad invoic macing, including 3-ayverication of PO (MM) invoices

Non-PO (FI) invoice handling nancial posting

elconic indxing and aciving of oiginal documnimag fo ay ac and ival

Lin o acivd documn availabl dicly fomsAP anacion cn

Invoice entry notication and warning when

unprocessed orders are sitting for too long in someones

a li

Out-of-ofce management

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Automate at your own pace

e oluion nabl a pad appoac o implmning auomaing Accoun Payabl pocing. Fo companiwho mainly want to get rid of paper, the rst phase makes copies of invoices readily accessible. The intermediate phase

leverages data capture technology to make the invoice archiving and indexing process even more efcient. And the thirdphase adds approval workow capabilities to automate vendor invoice processing from end to end.

Level A: Quit paper

Invoic daa i manually nd ino sAP ym

Indx infomaion i manually yd ino e b clin

A cannd imag of invoic indxd and acivd lconically fo ay ival

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Implementing the Solution in Phases

Invoice Invoices

are scanned

Popup

Based on externaldata information

(email subject, etc.)

Email notificationto AP specialist

1. AP specialist enters invoice in SAP system2. AP specialist keys-in indexes for the

corresponding image in Document Manager

Message:Invoices to

validate

- Vendor name- Vendor #- Invoice # (SAP)- Invoice # (vendor)- Invoice date- Total amount- Currency

ROUTING

Approve

Invoiceimage

Esker on Demandelectronic

archiveIn the Document Managerindexing form, AP specialistselects "Approve" to archiveinvoice in Esker on Demand

Email notificationto AP specialist withImage Archive link(embedded link)


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Level B: Automate ata capture

Invoic a cannd and pu oug conn-bad Dynamic Documn Capu

Data is automatically extracted and veried

Daa i mad availabl in XML i invoic imag, o no addiional daa ny i ncay

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Split invoice

batch

Invoice Invoices

are scanned

Popup

Based on vendor name

and invoice amount

ROUTINGFULL TEXT OCR

VERIFICATION & CODING

Email + TIFF invoicesas attachments sentto an AP on Demand

email address

AP Specialist appliescoding, enters GL

accounts and cost centers

in the Document Manager

AP specialist splits invoicebatch using web based

splitting tool in theDocument Manager

OCR enginereads image andextracts fields:

Line detailsVendor nameTotal

Email notification

to AP specialist

Message:Invoice to

validate

Email notification toAP specialist with image

+ embedded ink

Invoceimage

Invoice image

archived and indexedin Esker on Demand

archive EOD electronicarchivng

Teachingpossible

if needed

XML file of invoice ismade available for

upload into SAPsystem

INTEGRATION & ARCHIVING

SAPApplications


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Level C: Process automation

Invoic a auomaically pocd fom cip o poing

Approval workow to SAP application entry and archiving

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SAPAppications

Split invoicebatch

Invoice

Invoice is

released

for payment

Invoices

are scanned

Popup

Popup

Based on vendor name

and invoice amount

ROUTINGFULL TEXT OCR

Emal + TIFF invoicesas attachments sent

to an AP on Demandemail address

AP specialist to validateinvoice, enter GL account

and cost center in theDocument Manager

XML file of invoice ismade available as an

attachment to an email

sent to SAP system

Email notification

to approver #1

If approved

AP specialist splits nvo cebatch using web based

splitting tool in theDocument Manager

OCR engine

reads image andextracts fields

Line detailsVendor nameTotal

Emal notificationto AP specialist

MessageInvoice to validate

Ema l notification to

AP specialist with image+ embedded link)

Teachingpossible

if needed

Esker on Demandelectronicarchiving

Approver #1 to approve invoice paymentin the Document Manager

Approver #2 to approve Invoicepayment in the Document Manager

Popup

XML file of paymentapproval is made available

as an attachment toan email sent to SAP system

SAPApplicatons


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15

About Eser

Document process automation leadership

e i a cognizd lad in lping oganizaion limina manual poc, gain viibiliy and conol, and duc use of paper by automating the ow of documents into, within and out of the organization. With its comprehensive platformand pand cnology, e dliv advanag of auomad documn pocing i a a poful on-premise solution or as an on-demand services (SaaS) leveraging Esker-hosted infrastructure. Customers achieve signicant

and immediate operational efciencies, cost savings and measurable ROI in as little as three to six months.

As an established SAP software solution partner with certied integration, and an SAP customerilf, e a mad ving nd of sAP cuom a op pioiy. t ul of sAP ande panip a dmonad aound old by sAP cuom o av auomaddocumn poc i e oluion. e a a ddicad r&D am focuing on sAPapplicaion, and a pimay objciv o off sAP cuom b oluion fo documnpoc auomaion.

Foundd in 1985, e opa globally i mo an 80,000 cuom and million of licnd u. e a globaladqua in Lyon, Fanc and U.s. adqua in Madion, wiconin. Fo mo infomaion, vii ..com.

Solutions

Procure-to-Pay an Orer-to-Cash an Automation

to lp oganizaion qui pap and pd ca convion, nanc cuom aifacion, impov upply cainperformance, and increase protability, Esker solutions span the procure-to-pay and order-to-cash cycles:

Sales Orer Processing o auoma ny and ouing of incoming cuom od

Accounts Receivable Invoicing o auoma dlivy of bil ling documn bad on cuom pfnc

Accounts Payable Processing o auoma ny and ouing of incoming vndo invoic and o payabl

E-Purchasing o auoma dlivy of upply cain documn bad on vndo pfnc

E-PURCHASINGSALES ORDER PROCESSING

ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE ACCOUNTS PAYABLE

Your VendorsYour Customers Your Company

CustomerOrder

CustomerInvoice

VendorInvoice

PurchaseOrder

Payment Payment

ORDER-TO-CASH PROCURE-TO-PAY


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2009 e s.A. All ig vd. e and e logo a gid adma of e s.A. in Unid sa and o couni. sAP i gid admaof sAP AG in Gmany and in val o couni.

WORLdWIdE ESkER LOCATIONS

Aia ..com.g

Aualia ..com.au

Fanc ..f

Gmany ..d

Ialy ..i

spain ..

Unid kingdom ..co.u

MAdISON, WISCONSINU.S. HEAdQUARTERS

e, Inc.

1212 Dming waysui 350

Madion, wI 53717

tl : 608.828.6000Fax : 608.828.6001

email : [email protected]

www.eser.com

Documents

Esker - Paper-Free AP With SAP Solutions