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By C. Roy Payne
Workflow is one of those words that has become essential to any serious discussion about quality, time and cost efficiencies and, ultimately, customer satisfaction. There hardly may be another word used more frequently, and for good reason. Today, without workflow there is no work. And there are opportunities for automating routine processes using automated workflow solutions that shouldn't be overlooked - largely because of the positive impact they can have on your bottom line.
One area in any organization that can seriously benefit from automated workflow is the accounts payable department. Incoming invoices can be scanned, indexed and routed for approval using predefined workflows. Upon approval, they can be "pushed" into the appropriate accounting systems for payment. When it comes to processing invoices, there are tremendous opportunities for creating what can be dubbed a "zero touch" environment in the AP department.
In this issue of The AccuView, you'll find articles, ideas and solutions related to automated workflow, and some specific information about using workflow to automate invoice processing.
We look forward to discussing an automated invoice processing solution for your business. Please call 615.242.7226 for a consultation today!
Best regards,
C. Roy Payne
roy.payne@accuimagellc.com
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This Month's Topic: Invoice Processing
Transform Your AP Department
Historically, the typical AP process has been heavily dependent on a series of paper-based, time-consuming manual tasks. While other areas of the company may have been transformed by automation, traditionally the AP department is the last to be automated. In the current economic environment, however, we should re-think the "way we've always done it" and remember that some traditions are made to be broken. Learn how to be an agent of change in a critical economy by transforming and automating your AP department.
When Invoice Processing Becomes Zero Touch
AP departments are under increased pressure to strengthen controls, drive out costs and increase efficiencies. This can be difficult to accomplish when considering the distributed nature of AP processes. In addition, departments face increased pressure from compliance issues to better manage paper-based processes. As this article discusses, by automating paper-intensive processes with imaging and workflow solutions, AP departments are able to optimize the approval and payment process.
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Outsource Your Document Imaging
Our document imaging service bureau performs a variety of document conversion services for our customers throughout the United States. Our dedicated scanning, OCR/ICR/OMR, indexing and quality control processing stations and delivery methods maximize efficiency in producing the quality work you demand in the timeframe you need.
We'll take your paper or film-based information, regardless of quantity, and quickly transform it into easily managed electronic documents, accurately indexed and at the fingertips of anyone in your organization who is authorized to view them. The digital images can be stored on an external drive, hard drive, the Internet, CD/DVD or even imported into document imaging or line-of-business systems.
Industries we Serve
Government
Healthcare
Manufacturing
Distribution
Retail
Education
Financial
And Many More!
Types of Documents
Accounting Files
Medical Records and EOBs
Student Records
HR Files
Insurance Documents
Contracts
Bills of Lading
Oversize Drawings
And Many More!
The advantage of leveraging our document imaging service bureau means no huge investment by you! There is no need to purchase unnecessary software or hardware to get your information electronically. We welcome the opportunity to provide you with a competitive quote. Please call 615.242.7226.
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Jennifer Ray, Senior Systems Engineer
Born and raised on Florida's Gulf Coast in the small, quaint town of Niceville, Jennifer Ray decided 11 years ago to move to the big city, choosing Nashville, Tennessee, as her new home. There she soon secured a position with an international corporation supporting a high-volume content management system, which eventually led her to find employment with AccuImage.
Jennifer's fascination with new technologies makes her position as senior systems engineer ideal for her, allowing her to explore not only the latest technologies, but new ways to employ old ones.
In her spare time, Jennifer is an avid bookworm, a music and movie enthusiast, enjoys cooking, and appreciates a good wine-tasting. She reads almost any genre, prefers science fiction, fantasy and action-adventure movies, and leans toward classic rock and folk musically, although she enjoys music from many other genres.
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Custom Invoice Processing Solutions
Accounts payable automation solutions enable you to scan, classify and index paper documents as well as electronic invoices - thereby improving the entire accounts payable process. Processors, approvers and managers save time and improve accuracy with tools such as queue-based workflow and automatic notifications - and complete integration with enterprise resource planning (ERP) and line of business (LOB) systems. The result: you reduce costs and cycle times; improve accuracy, visibility and service levels; strengthen internal controls; and maximize cash management.
The key benefits of these solutions include ...
End-to-End Management - Integrate all key processes, from receipt and approval to archiving and auditing - and provide complete visibility into the entire process.
Control and Compliance - Retain and archive documents in compliance with government and company policies.
Streamlined Work - Provide users with a streamlined user interface that offers seamless integration between data from ERP/LOB systems and full views of all supporting documentation.
Vendor Responsiveness - Quickly retrieve up-to-date, accurate vendor information, and respond promptly to vendor inquiries.
Elimination of Paper Storage - Eliminate the need for physical paper storage; digitize all documents and take advantage of records retention and storage capabilities.
In short, AP automation solutions can help you optimize the entire accounts payable process - from receipt of invoices to approval and archiving.
AccuImage can help you determine how best to maximize the latest document imaging, content management and workflow technologies to streamline your AP operations. Contact your AccuImage account manager or call 615.242.7226 to discuss a custom invoice processing solution.
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Now Featuring: ApplicationXtender Workflow
Organizations are under increasing pressure to reduce costs and improve workflow. The manual, paper-based processes used today to manage the majority of AP transactions are inefficient and time-consuming, and result in unnecessary costs. To drive business value for maximum return on investment, enterprises need automated workflow to streamline their business processes, eliminate delays and bottlenecks, and maximize productivity. EMC Documentum ApplicationXtender Workflow for Accounts Payable helps businesses streamline processes, eliminate delays and bottlenecks, and maximize productivity.
EMC Documentum ApplicationXtender Workflow for Accounts Payable provides automated workflow management of documents and processes for the AP organization. Together with EMC Documentum ApplicationXtender, this solution provides complete management of AP documents, while automating the routing of routine AP tasks. ApplicationXtender Workflow for Accounts Payable improves throughput and productivity of AP personnel, improving business efficiency for competitive advantage. Individual users can view and manage their tasks from within the ApplicationXtender client.
ApplicationXtender Workflow for Accounts Payable helps organizations improve AP efficiency and productivity by automating the flow of information through the enterprise. With its unique collaborative model for workflow, combined with the power of ApplicationXtender content management software, ApplicationXtender Workflow for Accounts Payable can significantly increase the enterprise's business efficiency.
Powerful Administration
- Allows you to monitor, administer, control and track performance metrics for all AP processes so you can quickly identify bottlenecks and assign resources and work as needed.
- Increases efficiency of business processes by providing work reassignment to address changing business needs.
- Provides a customizable reporting system for management and performance monitoring.
- Enables administrators to view status of user inboxes for supervisory review and for reprioritizing of existing work.
Flexible and Extensible Workflow Solution
- Accommodates additional user requirements by easily extending AP processes.
- Supports sequential, parallel, conditional, rendezvous and rule-based routing, as well as process negotiation and exception handling.
Collaborative Work Management
- Allows AP users to collaborate and negotiate "real world" conditions during the workflow to realistically represent how people work together to accomplish tasks.
- Increases productivity with automatic reminders of due dates, including follow-ups for replies, past due alerts and escalation.
- Allows you to view current, pending and completed work, as well as work history.
For more information about ApplicationXtender Workflow for Accounts Payable or any other EMC product, please call AccuImage at 615.242.7226.
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Systems2win
Lean, Kaizen and Six Sigma continuous improvement projects often lead to content management and workflow solutions available from AccuImage. They also require numerous forms, templates and intricate flow diagrams to be successful.
Systems2win offers a comprehensive library of Microsoft Office-based tools to address numerous project requirements for value-add analysis, work balancing, procedures and more. Online training is also available. To learn more about Systems2win, visit www.systems2win.com, call 615.553.2336 or e-mail info@systems2win.com.
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EMC ApplicationXtender
One feature within the EMC ApplicationXtender document management system that is often overlooked is the Cross Application Query function. This feature allows users to search for content with similar attributes across multiple applications.
For example, a query can be performed across multiple applications to search for specific employee information. This query could include two applications (for example, PAYROLL and HR) and the fields NAME and SSN. A query called EMP INFO could be created using the Configuration tab that defines these parameters. A search can then be performed to find specific employee data from these two applications using the Cross Application Query feature.
Sound interesting and beneficial?
If so, please feel free to contact us at 615.242.7226 and we will discuss this best method for configuring this function within your EMC ApplicationXtender document management system.
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What We've Seen and Heard
Two-thirds of AP departments that have automated their invoice process say they achieve significant cost savings in the routing and approval phase.
An automated workflow solution has the ability to look up the correct approvers for a given invoice based on various criteria, such as the department, type of order, dollar amount or other variable.
Did you know? 15% of all paper handled in a typical business gets lost. 30% of all employees' time is spent looking for lost documents. Each lost paper document costs the business about $120.
Windows 7 will be available on October 22nd. Please contact us to inquire about compatibility and support with your existing hardware and software.
AccuImage End of Support Schedule
www.accuimagellc.com/eos.html
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