In today’s fast-paced operations, the efficiency and accuracy of your Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system can make or break crucial processes, especially when it comes to paying your vendors on time. We recently encountered a situation that highlighted the critical need for advanced solutions in overcoming the ERP’s limitations of handling complex scenarios like multi-site invoice processing.
The Challenge of Multi-Site Assignment in Invoice Processing
One of our prospects approached us with a pressing issue: their ERP system struggled to process a high volume of utility bills, each associated with numerous locations and multiple utilities per site. With hundreds of invoices flooding in monthly, the risk of service shut-offs due to late payments is high. While the company aimed for timely payments through direct debits, they faced a reconciliation dilemma and were resourced challenged.
The root of the problems lay in the ERP’s Intelligent Document Recognition (IDR) functionality, which could read and code at the 'supplier' level but fell short when it came to processing invoices at the 'site' level. This limitation proved critical because many sites were linked to a single supplier level, preventing the necessary tri-level assignment matching of Vendor Number, Vendor Pay To Address, and Service Site.
Consider a scenario with a major service provider like Comcast. In the ERP, there exists one vendor entry for Comcast, encompassing multiple vendor addresses aligned with remit-to addresses for Comcast. Each remit-to address may correspond to multiple sites, each tied to a unique Comcast account number. However, the challenge arises as the client's site-level address – crucial for service delivery and listed on each Comcast invoice – is not stored in the ERP's Comcast vendor setup. This necessitates manual intervention, requiring accounts payable team members to cross-reference the Vendor Number and match it against the Vendor Site and remit-to address.
Nimbello's Solution: Revolutionizing Automated Processes
After extensive research and evaluation of various vendors, Nimbello emerged as the sole provider capable of fully automating these intricate processes, mitigating operational risks and enhancing efficiency. Our solution revolves around leveraging our Intelligent Document Recognition (IDR) engine to capture essential invoice details, including the invoice number, date, amount, vendor name, and service site.
Our system goes a step further by conducting a comprehensive lookup to map the account number associated with the vendor, in this case, Comcast invoices, and derive the corresponding vendor site. If applicable, specific General Ledger (G/L) account information tied to the Comcast site number can also be included.
The 'enhanced' data, having undergone multi-site assignment verification, mapping, and PDF image processing, is then transmitted back to the ERP. Armed with all the necessary information, the Accounts Payable team is now equipped to initiate payment remittance without the need for manual intervention.
Nimbello's innovative approach to overcoming ERP limitations is a testament to our commitment to the space and deep industry domain knowledge. By addressing complex challenges like multi-site invoice processing, we enable organizations to streamline operations, reduce operational risks, and achieve greater efficiency. Embrace the future of automated solutions with Nimbello – the experts in automating complex, PO-based invoices.