Automating Invoice Processing with RPA to Slash Time and Errors
Deep Raval

Automating Invoice Processing with RPA to Slash Time and Errors

Challenges

The client handled an astounding terrain of around 824,000 invoices annually, depending on labor-intensive human efforts that devoured valuable time and carried great risk for costly mistakes. The major issues they were facing were;

  1. Prolonged Processing Time: Manual invoice processing slowed down financial activities and created bottlenecks, impacting overall efficiency.

  2. Heightened Error Rates: When a human validates and enters the data manually, it increases the chances of errors and inconsistencies. The client had to hire extra resources to revise financial documents. Such errors were threatening the integrity of our client's financial data.

  3. Resource Drain: Instead of focusing on the strategic tasks, the finance team found themselves spending too many hours on repetitive work that didn't even require human intelligence. These issues limited the employees to help the company flourish using their intelligence.

Solutions

After analyzing the requirements and exploring possibilities, our RPA consultant designed, and our automation experts started immediately. We had just one goal in mind: to implement a tailored RPA solution to automate the client's invoice processing system and deliver it on time. Our team's expertise with cutting-edge tools came in very handy to address the challenges.

  • - Automation of Data Extraction: We used UiPath bots to extract important data fields such as invoices, numbers, data amount, etc., from diverse formats, replacing manual efforts with automated precision.
    ABBYY FineReader improved this process by turning scanned bills into machine-readable data that ensured accuracy across paper and digital inputs.
  • - Seamless System Integration: Using Microsoft Power Automate, we integrated the obtained data into SAP ERP. With that, we enabled real-time updates to financial records without human intervention and streamlined the flow from invoice receipt to ledge posting.
  • - Process Optimization: To eliminate bottlenecks, prioritize high-volume invoice batches, and automate validation checks like matching purchase orders, we redesigned workflows with UiPath. It reduced the processing delays and errors, which was the prime concern of the client.

Similar to other projects, we were extra careful with quality, correctness, and prompt delivery in this project, as the data our team was working on contained vital financial information. Over time, our clients shared transformational results generated by this robotic process automation project.