Tim Robertson

There are many constraints in the Dynamics ERP suites. This is especially evident in how user fees are structured,  and the lack of functionality around invoice approval workflow for Dynamics specifically.

User Costs for Invoice Approval Workflows

• Dynamics workflows are scripted, and that means using IT resources to create or modify them
• Customers must purchase Dynamics user licenses for requisitioners
• If the user touches two modules of Dynamics, such as Purchasing and GL, that can mean additional costs
• There is a user cost for coding – approvers must be licensed in the same way if they want to code an invoice (for G/L and AP)

Functionality Issues

• Without support for punch-out capabilities, PRICAT (Price/Sales Catalogue), or webshops users cannot access supplier catalogs or websites
• Users have to look at each line in order to determine a mismatch for Purchase Order matching
• Much manual legwork goes into finding the discrepancy, and the routing is limited by rules
• Accounting accruals take time and unrecorded liabilities become an issue
• Dynamics lacks an audit trail for the invoice approval process
• Business documents are not stored in an image repository for retrieval
• Data capture is a manual process in many cases, which is restrictive with large invoice volumes

Extending Dynamics Functionality

The good news is that it is possible to leverage your investment in Dynamics by using best-of-breed third party software that provides the functionality Dynamics is missing – with minimal involvement of valuable I.T resources. With the right application, you will have:

Reduced Costs

• Workflows are graphical and dynamic, allowing for ad hoc routing
• Software cost is based on invoice volumes, as opposed to number of users

Extended Functionality

• Users can access preferred online supplier catalogues
• PO matching is automated, and exceptions are sent to approvers on their laptop or mobile devices
• Shows invoice status in a central dashboard
• Creates an audit trail showing messages between users and suppliers as well as document images
• Has a document management system that allows you to not only store contracts and other relevant files, but allows you to put them into a workflow as well
• Have an automated data capture system that uses Artificial Intelligence to extract essential information from invoices, whether they are mailed in paper format or sent in email as a PDF, XML, EDI, Excel, Word or other format.

Find out more about the functionality in EchoVera’s AP automation solution for Dynamics here.

Procure to pay software can make a substantial impact on the digital transformation of your organization. It leverages the investment in your ERP and has a proven ROI for both cycle times and cost savings.

1. Makes 100% digitalisation possible
Organizations want to reduce their carbon footprint, and stop using paper. A paperless environment reduces the workload paper files and paper processes demand.

2. Expands the control of purchasing
A purchasing system with the ability to pre-approve orders reduces maverick spending. Collaboration between purchasing and finance makes for a successful ROI throughout the entire procure to pay process.

3. Dynamic discounting
By having an automated purchase requisition process, approval cycle times are reduced and dynamic discounting opportunities are optimized.

4. Cloud-based software
Because the capital outlay is minimal in comparison to on-premise, a cloud-based solution means fewer servers and staff requirements. You are not paying for the number of users, but actual invoice volume.

5. Connection to supplier web shops
Get punch-out capabilities to web shops or PRICAT (Price/Sales Catalog) support for the online catalogs of your suppliers.

6. Bird’s-eye view of the organization’s expenses
Leverage the data to get a 360º view of the organization’s expenses. Get supplier statistics such as volume and transactions. 
Identify bottlenecks in the organization from within a central dashboard.

7. User-friendly interface and workflow
Best of breed software is intuitive and user-friendly. Workflows are visually easy to manage and employees can do approvals or coding on desktop, tablets, and smartphones.

8. Tools for reports and KPI performance measurements
Because the digital environment is measurable, tools and reports can provide input into key KPIs that are determined at the outset and altered as the organization evolves.

9. Scalability
If you are experiencing tremendous growth, it is very easy to scale. You can increase your license size accordingly, and conversely downsize in cases of reduced volumes or seasonal fluctuations.

10. Security and protection 
Reputable cloud vendors have made the investment in the right people, tools, and appliances that keep data safe and compliance standards upheld.

See our video on How AP Automation Works here.

For more about how Intelligent Procure to Pay software with 95%+ recommend ratings can help your organization, click here.

What percentage of your company’s spend is under management?

For many companies surveyed, that percentage is under what should optimally be 100%.

Indirect spend is a big issue,  and it is something many organizations have not grappled with.

71% of organizations say they lack visibility with the non-contracted/non-sourced spend category, and 50% said that maverick spending is another big concern.

The cost of uncontrolled purchases

Controlling maverick spending is the challenge facing many organizations. Surveys show they are saying that maverick spending by individual managers or business units is front and center*.  

ERPs and the Technology Challenge

Purchasing modules in ERPs are designed for direct purchasing, but not for managing indirect spending – and here are some of the reasons why:

• Workflows are not flexible to match growing companies.
• Purchasing that is operational is driven by growth – with few control mechanisms in place.
• ERP modules for purchasing are complex and are directed by the “order-to-cash” cycle.
• ERP user licenses are costly, impacting broad-based deployment.
• Multiple versions of an ERP are common in large companies or organizations in different countries.
• Managing spend across many ERPs is not practical.

Ensuring a Successful Implementation of Purchase Requisition Automation

Consult each department to find out specifically what they need to consider a transaction successful. As an example:

• Purchasing has policies that dictate authorization levels required for approved purchases that have to be addressed.
• A safety department is required to be on an approval list for anything that involves their department.
• Accounts payable requires that there is a receipt and PO for the invoice being processed.

Build in controls that relieve you from monitoring
An example would be if a person needs to identify approver’s signatures and authorization amounts. This happens when people leave the company, are promoted, or are new to the organization.

Determine what back-end reporting you need. For example:

• Controllers who monitor spending in their area of responsibility may need to have the ability to drill down to the transaction in question.
• Maintenance may need a report on what a specific vendor brings into their facility.
• AP managers could access metrics on team performance, or have a more efficient and accurate accrual process.

Ensure you have the highest percentage of straight-through processing
If an invoice arrives that is lacking supporting documentation, there is a good chance it will have to go into an approval workflow to have someone look at it. By avoiding this manual process upfront, invoices can be processed in larger volumes automatically, avoiding human intervention altogether.

For more information on how you can empower your organization with automated purchase requisition automation, click here.

*Spend Matters

Intelligent 3 Way Match Handles Exceptions with an Approval Workflow and a Shared Central Dashboard

In this video you’ll see an example of how Palette Software automates the matching process for invoices, purchase orders, and good receipts. As well, there is an explanation of how the approval workflow for exception handling works. Both of these functions save huge amounts of time, and reduce the manual handling of documents to a bare minimum. 2.5 minutes

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Excerpt – Defining The Challenge: 2 and 3 Matching

“Most companies do some form of matching of vendor invoices to purchase orders and/or goods receipts. This is called a two or three way match. The process can require a great deal of manual effort, particularly if the invoiced items have to be matched at the line level.

Once an invoice is entered into an ERP it is assigned a “match/no match” status. If for any reason there are price differences or problems with the goods receipt, the invoice cannot be processed by the ERP. Users or knowledge workers typically have to cancel the transaction, and then perform time-consuming manual work to clear the exception. This usually involves the purchaser, the receiver and sometimes the vendor.

ERPs do not have an automated way of handling these exceptions and in many cases staff members may spend days trying to clear up the differences between purchase orders, invoices, and goods receipts.”

Intelligent 3 Way Match is part of our AP Automation solution that includes invoice capture, approval workflow, invoice processing, po matching and archiving. It’s a secure cloud or on-premise platform that lets you select what you need, and add functionality as the organization grows. Seamless integration, unlimited users, and mobile capabilities are included.

Click for more information about EchoVera AP Automation

For more about Intelligent 3 Way Match specifically, click here.

This case study shows how procure to pay software boosts the performance of  an auto manufacturer’s finance department using robotic process automation.

It shows how the company achieved a 70% drop in cycle times, a 43% reduction in invoice processing costs and a 20% increase in invoice volumes, without adding to the 18 people already in finance.

Some of the challenges the AP department had included:

• Invoices could get lost during the manual approval process between 11 plants
• Internal invoice communication was in Outlook (very inefficient and hard to track)
• No visibility to vendor contracts – which increased exposure to making payment on recurring contracts after the expiration date
• Organization made AP the corporate policy enforcers for approvals on invoices, PO’s and expense reports

And issues around indirect purchasing:

• No visibility to indirect spend
• Non-preferred vendors were being used without authorization
• Authorized signatures were not being verified
• PO’s were randomly getting lost on their way to corporate

See how Palette’s AP automation for manufacturing empowered the company’s employees with an approval workflow and a reduction in the manual handling of invoices, purchase orders, and expense receipts.

It covers important topics around purchase to pay, procurement, ap automation, and spend management.

Palette is a major component of EchoVera’s complete solution called ASAP.
Find out more here.

EchoVera technology partner, CloudTrade, has been awarded a patent for invoice data  extraction with AI by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

The patent is for CloudTrade’s Gramatica software, which uses unique artificial intelligence (AI) to search, interpret, validate, and extrapolate semantic meaning from supplier invoices.  The patent covers Europe, the U.S., and Australia.

CloudTrade’s technology allows businesses to send electronic invoices, purchase orders, and other business documents straight into the receiving ERP or accounting system.

“We have solved an old problem of how to get a computer to interpret a human-readable document by matching patterns using AI. That means we can automate document processing saving time, money and paper.” – David Cocks, CEO of CloudTrade

The software is part of EchoVera’s Intelligent Data Capture solution.

Intelligent Data Capture intuitively detects various supplier invoices and other documents based on their layouts, and intuitively performs field mapping and data collection.

EchoVera’s solution helps AP departments transform all of their paper and emailed invoices into data that becomes part of an intelligent approval workflow.

CloudTrade technology captures data from PDF, CSV, XLS, EDI, HTML and more with 100% data accuracy. CloudTrade Logistics does freight invoice processing for clients and uses the same technology for both parcel freight and air cargo freight invoices.