In a company with several locations in Europe, invoices are processed manually on paper. They are delivered by post or distributed internally to the accounting department. The internal approval process requires approval from different people to ensure technical and mathematical correctness.

Objectives

The invoicing process is to be handled completely electronically and the documents are to be stored in a central electronic archive. The IBM FileNet document management system is to be used for this purpose.

Challenge

The following sub-components are to be realised and implemented in order to fully map the invoice processing procedure with the DMS:

• Set up scanning software on the scanning stations.
• Customising the DMS system.
• Designing the invoicing process in the DMS workflow system.
• Implementation of a web application based on the DMS and the workflow system. This implements the user interface, release rules and document handling.
• Connection of the system to SAP to link the documents with the SAP document.

Result

The implementation of the electronic invoice workflow opens up several advantages for the company:

• The defined process ensures that compliance regulations are adhered to throughout.
• The processing times for invoices have been drastically reduced. This means that significantly more cash discounts can be utilised.
• Invoices are immediately visible in SAP.
• No need to send invoices and files from site to site.
• The documents are structured and centrally archived and available to the entire company at any time at any location.
• The approval processes are carried out completely electronically.

© 2006