IMaging and WorkFlow Automation:
The Case for Accounts Payable Automation
People have dreamed of a paperless workplace for decades. In the 1960s, for example, futurists predicted that organizations in the new millennium would exchange information on a fully electronic manner. This sounds quaint from our current vantage point, but who knew that getting rid of paper would be more difficult than putting men on
the moon? The unfortunate reality is that corporate processes remain mired in paper, and no one knows that better than accounts payable professionals.
The survey also revealed that accounts payable professionals have a keen interest in technology solutions that will streamline and automate some or all of these functions. Asked about the relevance of a range of technology tools and potential initiatives to Their payables workflow automation strategy, 40.0 percent of respondents said that workflow
tools to automate approval processing are critical (see Figure 2). Solutions for Webbased invoice receipt and imaging and document management were close behind with 32.1 percent and 27.4 percent of respondents respectively deeming them essential.
However, to squeeze more paper from the invoice receipt-to-pay cycle these solutions must overcome the challenge of converting invoices into standard electronic documents that enterprise and accounting systems can understand. In the past, the highly variable nature of invoices has made this impossible. Today, solutions are leveraging
technology for processing so-called semi-structured documents to bridge this gap.
What is Imaging and Workflow Automation?
Imaging and Workflow Automation (IWA) solutions streamline the invoice receipt to pay cycle by enabling organizations to convert paper invoices into digital images, store them in a Web-enabled repository for rapid retrieval, and extract data from them to enhance approval processing. Imaging Workflow Automation solutions may provide document and data capture, workflow, or both in order to create an end-to-end imaging and workflow solution that integrates with enterprise and line of business applications (see Figure 3). We define the components of the imaging workflow automation universe as follows:
» Invoice Receipt. The steps required to receive and prepare invoices for capture, including removing staples, repairing tears, photocopying small items onto 8 x 11 paper, performing initial data entry, and sorting (e.g. by
source or cost center). Most solutions also require a separator page to be inserted between invoices as well as between the invoice and its attachments.
» Document and Data Capture. The process of converting paper invoices and transaction-related documents, such as proofs of receipt, into digital images and index data. Document scanning and data extraction could be Source: PayStream Advisors centralized or remote based on the organization’s needs. Specific steps include
scanning, image enhancement, indexing, validation, and data extraction based on bar codes, Optical Character Recognition (OCR), Optical Mark Recognition (OMR), Intelligent Character Recognition (ICR), or
manual data entry.
» Content Storage and Management. Refers to the delivery, storage, management, and disposition of electronic documents and data. Depending on the complexity of the solution, this may include Enterprise Content Management
(ECM) or Business Process Management (BPM) capabilities for managing the transactional content across its entire lifecycle. This stage also addresses the archival and retrieval as well as backup and recovery options
offered as part of imaging workflow automation solutions.
» Imaging Workflow Automation Management. The routing of tasks according to pre-defined business rules and based on individuals’ roles and access rights and includes human-to-human as well as human-to-system interactions. Workflow provides a tool to track and manage approval processing at the invoice and aggregate level. Common features include automatic notifications to users when specific actions are required (e.g. invoice approval), reminder messages, and escalation procedures based on approval hierarchies.
» Posting and Payment. The steps to post approved transactions to the general ledger within an organization’s Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) or accounting system. Imaging Workflow Automation solutions do not extend to payment, but they do deliver critical transactional data into financial systems for the purpose of generating payments. The critical aspect is the level of integration with existing ERP and other legacy applications as well as the ability to support current banking and payment relationships.
» Queries and Analytics. The process of analyzing key invoice receipt-topay metrics. Queries & Analytics includes the generation of standard and ad hoc reports detailing invoices pending approval, unpaid invoices past due, average invoice processing time, and so forth. Some solutions offer robust reporting capabilities bundled with the imaging workflow automation solution, while others only allow for download of transactional data to third party reporting tools. Supervisors can also monitor individual users’ actions for quality control and load balancing.
