#Invoicing process manual#
#Invoicing process software#

Some AP automation providers will use OCR, but they may use manual processes for the data extraction part, which is more time-consuming. What OCR invoice processing platforms are available to me?Īs you start to explore the AP automation market, it’s still a good idea to ask providers if they utilise OCR technology in their digital system, as this will save your accounts payable team constantly scanning, uploading, and checking the validity of paper documents.īut as OCR has now become a standard piece of technology in accounts payable automation technology, it’s really about what kind of AP platform your business wishes to use. OCR is reliable, almost always accurate, and as such has been used for processing like the swift and secure approval of invoices for a long time now.īecause of this, there are plenty of different vendors and types of OCR technology available on the market today. OCR technology then goes about converting the scanned documents, which can be any kind of image containing written text (typed, handwritten, or printed) into something that is digitally readable.

#Invoicing process software#

OCR software works by first scanning documents to understand certain fields - such as supplier account number, total invoice amount, or VAT applied - as these will match up with the same fields in the ERP system so that they can be recorded, recognised, and compared against each other. Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software is a technology used to take paper documents that need to be digitised - in this case, supplier invoices - and upload them into a system where they can be processed. What is OCR software for invoice processing? So how do we do this? Enter OCR software. Organisations have been moving towards electronic invoice processing for some time now, where the invoice data is transformed from whatever document and format it is currently in and turned into data which can be read and understood by accounts payable professionals. Again, this doesn’t sound like a big deal, but having several different formats also means different document layouts and styles - Purchase Order versus PO number, for example - which can slow down the approvals process. Sounds simple, right? But there are no end of problems that can slow down the processing of supplier invoices.įor example, the format invoices are received can vary, such as Word documents, PDFs, or electronic invoices. Within a business, invoice processing is typically handled by the accounts payable (AP) team. Invoice processing is simply the ability to process and approve payments in a business’ ERP system by taking an invoice from a supplier or partner, checking it is valid and correct, and signalling for payment to be sent. But how? The answer is automated invoice processing. Invoice processing is in desperate need of a tech injection. One of the key areas for improvement in business remains the humble accounts payable process, which is still being bogged down by manual processes, paper documents, and too much human interaction. Unfortunately for us mere mortals, technology holds the key to providing these benefits, but only when combined with the key skills provided by humans - advancing our roles to become the best we can be.

In addition, the invoicing process classifies invoicing documents from a business and accounting perspective by means of the invoicing types assigned to it.In today’s fast-paced world, businesses are prioritising productivity, efficiency, and speed. You can configure this control dependent on the invoicing process in which the invoicing function is performed. Most invoicing functions have their own control options (for example, item selection for account maintenance or interest calculation). Other invoicing functions are optional and are only executed in invoicing processes for which they have been activated. To ensure data and program consistency, some invoicing functions are always active.

Using this selection you define the type and scope of the functions to be supported in an invoicing process. You can assign an individual grouping variant for automatically grouping source documents, for which a joint invoice is to be created, to each invoicing process. Grouping of source documents into invoicing units Selection of the source documents to be invoicedįor each invoicing process, you can define which categories of source documents (for example, billing document, SD billing document) are selected by and processed for this process.