SAP Invoice Management Application by Open Text

Your business operations are running smoothly, and your SAP® software is supporting your business as needed. Now it’s time to look for efficiencies to im-prove business operations even further.

For many organizations, the best course of action is to tackle projects that produce fast return on investment and have high visibility throughout the organization. One of the key places where you can find such opportuni-ties is in accounts payable. Using the SAP Invoice Management application by Open Text goes a long way toward helping you to achieve this objective.

SAP® InvoIce MAnAgeMent APPlIcAtIon by oPen textOPTIMIzINg AccOUNTS PAYAble

SAP Solution in DetailSAP eRP

4 The Opportunity to Optimize Accounts Payable

5 SAP Invoice Management by Open Text

5 The challenge 6 Other Problems 6 How SAP Invoice Management

Works 7 centralization and consolidation 8 electronic Documents 8 Optical character Recognition 8 Automatic Processing 9 Routing 9 Resolution 9 Architecture and Integration 9 Features 11 The Only Invoice Management

Solution from Your eRP Vendor 11 Support for Shared-Services

centers 12 Sarbanes-Oxley compliance 12 Automation

t

13 Realizing Benefits 13 cost Savings 13 gaining efficiency, Redeploying

Staff 13 eliminating Duplicate Payments 13 Moving Operations Offshore 13 Improving Use of Vendor

Discounts 13 eliminating late Payments 13 beyond Increased efficiencies 13 Approvers 13 buyers 13 coders 13 Vendors 14 centralized Services 14 continuous Optimization 14 Immediate Response 14 leveraging of SAP Software 14 captured expertise 14 compliance and Accountability 14 better Management Visibility 14 clarified Outstanding liabilities 14 Assessment of Invoice

Problems 14 Discount efficiency 14 Processing efficiency 14 Improved Reputation with

Vendors

15 Why SAP Invoice Management?

15 Find Out More

16 Quick Facts

content

The dust has settled on your implemen-tation of SAP® software, and now it’s time to optimize business processes. but how do you pick the processes that merit your focus and attention? One way is to choose quick-hit projects that can produce a fast return on investment and have high visibility throughout the organization – for exam-ple, projects involving accounts payable (AP) processes.

The way a company handles vendor invoices directly impacts the efficiency of not only AP but also purchasing, receiving, and operations. Poor pro-cess design and lack of automation can increase:• The cost per invoice• The percentage of late payments• Missed early-payment discounts• Resistance from suppliers to negoti-

ate better terms and pricing• The percentage of duplicate invoices

and payments• Overall supplier dissatisfaction • The risk of noncompliance with regu-

lations, such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act

• Miscommunication between the AP unit and other groups

• The probability of a supplier refusing to deliver goods or services because of nonpayment

As a result of inefficiency, invoice pro-cessing costs in AP are often higher than desired, especially as transaction volume grows. However, AP costs are not the only factors affecting efficiency. Procurement leverage, internal con-trols, reporting, audit capabilities, and productivity impact other areas as well.

eliminating inefficiencies can result in significant benefits for the entire com-pany, particularly for the AP, procure-ment, and receiving departments, as well as for all approvers and coders. benefits like headcount cost reduc-tions, better on-time payment perfor-mance, improved vendor relations, better negotiating leverage, and reduced duplicate-invoice payments are possible when this process is opti-mized. Additional AP improvements can include lower cost per invoice, more invoices processed per person, reduced percentage of problem invoic-es, and more. In some instances, cor-porate credit ratings may be improved through on-time invoice payment. And on-time payment helps ensure that the delivery of goods and services will not be delayed.

the oPPortunIty to oPtIMIze AccountS PAyAble UNlOckINg eFFIcIeNcIeS IN YOUR bUSINeSS OPeRATIONS

For companies using SAP software, one way to reduce the costs of invoice-to-pay cycle time is to intelli-gently route invoices throughout the organi-zation in the most efficient manner.

4 SAP Solution in Detail – SAP Invoice Management Application by Open Text

The SAP Invoice Management applica-tion by Open Text helps you integrate AP, procurement, and receiving pro-cesses throughout all areas of the company. When invoices must travel outside of AP before posting and pay-ment, SAP Invoice Management takes over to help streamline this process. The application routes problem invoices to the appropriate individuals for resolu-tion and approval. It includes functional-ity for Web-based approval, via access through the SAP NetWeaver® Portal component or other portal, for internal users who do not log in to the SAP software system regularly. by making AP information more accessible, SAP Invoice Management encourages increased user adoption of SAP soft-ware, which helps maximize ROI. SAP Invoice Management uses digital imag-ing, workflow, and best-practice design to increase efficiency. POs, goods receipts, invoice transaction screens, invoice images, and transaction notes all are linked in one place to promote timely problem resolution with minimal effort.

SAP Invoice Management benefits not only companies that have a single AP processing center but also those with multiple AP processing centers. With the application, you can link multiple AP shops and facilitate local invoice resolu-tion in the field while maintaining cen-tralized control over the process. SAP Invoice Management can help you to realize the vision of regional or global shared-services centers.

SAP Invoice Management supports companies in the next wave of corpo-rate focus – business process optimi-zation. The application reflects an extensive set of best-practice concepts in process design for optimization. Sev-eral years’ experience and knowledge have been coalesced into 47 intelligent rules and workflows that are configu-rable and come standard with this application.

Organizations that implement SAP software for financial transactions can achieve significant efficiency and cost advantages with SAP Invoice Manage-ment. Major companies in industries such as consumer products, energy, pharmaceutical and life sciences, and telecommunications are enjoying the benefits of optimized, automated invoice-handling processes supported by SAP Invoice Management. These companies have improved efficiencies in invoice processing and enjoy bene-fits such as lower costs per invoice, improved on-time payment perfor-mance, more captured discounts, and reduced duplicate invoices and pay-ments. Also, they have achieved com-pliance with the requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, a better reputa-tion with suppliers, and more leverage for terms and price negotiation.

For companies using SAP software, one way to reduce the costs of invoice-to-pay cycle time is to intelligently route invoices throughout the organization in the most efficient manner. In fact, by optimizing the invoice process with digital imaging, e-invoicing, workflows,

optical character recognition (OcR), and intelligent document recognition, some of our customers have reduced costs by more than 50%.

The Challenge

A typical list of problems faced by those working with invoices includes the following.

From a management perspective:• cost per invoice is too high.• better reports are needed to improve

the problem-invoice process.• Discounts are regularly missed.• Duplicate invoices are a problem.• Individual AP production needs to

improve, as invoices-per-month targets are not met.

• Manual processes are time consuming.

• A negative credit rating can result from late payment.

From the buyer’s perspective:• Resolving problem invoices is not a

core part of the job.• Running a report on the blocked

invoice is difficult.• Resolving invoice issues is not high

on the priority list.• Manual, labor-intensive, nonautomat-

ed processes are cumbersome.• Resolving problem invoices can be

time consuming.• Solving invoice problems is not con-

sidered a value-adding, worthwhile activity.

• Negotiating with suppliers is more useful than solving invoice problems.

SAP InvoIce MAnAgeMent by oPen textleADINg THe WAY TOWARD bUSINeSS PROceSS OPTIMIzATION

5SAP Solution in Detail – SAP Invoice Management Application by Open Text

From AP’s perspective:• Manual keying of invoice data into

SAP software is required.• Resolving problem invoices takes too

much time.• Other departments often blame AP

for late payments or lost invoices.• Spending time on problems reduces

productivity output.• Root cause analyses are not per-

formed, due to lack of time.• Manual, labor-intensive, nonautomat-

ed processes are cumbersome.• Passing around paper and trying to

follow up is frustrating.

From the supplier’s perspective:• Resolving disputes is time

consuming.• customers often can’t provide accu-

rate, timely information for the invoice resolution process.

• late payments affect cash flow.• customers don’t pay on time when

there’s a problem invoice.

From IT’s perspective, you need to consider:• choosing an individual point solution

or an enterprise business software solution

• choosing customized or standard software

• Having a heterogeneous or a homo-geneous hardware infrastructure

• Finding future-proof software from a reliable supplier with reliable technol-ogy and functionality

• Integrating sporadic users into the system

• Finding a solution that does not require lengthy training

• Having operational know-how• Acquiring support with implementa-

tion, help desk, new features, and so on

• Integrating the software into the existing IT infrastructure

Other ProblemsA variety of other problems can affect AP processes. For example, vendors and partners often are unaware of invoice status, when to expect pay-ment, whether action is required on their part before payment can be made, and so on. To find out the status, they call AP, buyers, or the requester. In some situations, they may need to con-tact several persons within the organi-zation for status, which can entail more work for them and those they contact.

Manual processes are problematic. Manual routing often breaks down due to the absence of key process partici-pants, long waits for responses from remote parties, loss of documents in transit, and delayed communication.

Associated transaction documents and other elements may be stored remotely even if AP processing is centralized. These elements may be in varying forms, including e-mail, voice mail, fax, paper documents, attachments, and so on.

Management often is unaware of the types of bottlenecks that exist or where they exist in the process. Man-agers can have difficulty tracking the causes of problem invoices and the reasons why certain vendors submit

problem invoices. Also, management might not be using cost per invoice as a key performance metric. There may be no tools in place to facilitate moni-toring and drive down cost per invoice.

Finally, liability reporting may be inaccu-rate when non-PO invoices have not been entered into the SAP eRP appli-cation. budgets may be off due to non-PO invoices sitting on the approver’s desk longer than the reporting period.

AP managers face mounting pressure to increase efficiency, reduce costs, and eliminate errors. However, they find roadblocks when trying to improve the manual process. SAP Invoice Manage-ment helps you streamline, automate, simplify, and optimize the invoice- handling process. AP personnel are freed from the repetitive, mundane research associated with problem invoices, so they can focus on more productive activities. Since the applica-tion lets you optimize the handling of vendor invoices, AP associates and managers can see the accurate status of transactions, liability, and cash posi-tions. And they can manage working capital to maximize financial leverage strategically.

How SAP Invoice Management Works

SAP Invoice Management resides inside the SAP software environment. It uses industry-standard technologies to provide distributed access to infor-mation contained in SAP eRP (see Figure 1). The application supports the


use of electronic data interchange, electronic invoices, scanned document images, and automated message com-munication. This enables you to notify the appropriate individuals and securely share all relevant information for a spe-cific transaction, tracking the resolution process and escalating issues when necessary. The information is accessi-ble and can be viewed by any stake-holders in the process who are interest-ed in the specifics of a transaction.

SAP Invoice Management uses the SAP business Workflow tool to run predefined invoice workflow process-es. Using a company’s own business rules, the application systematically manages the resolution process based on the specific reason identified.

Depending on the problem, SAP Invoice Management presents users with unique action buttons based on role. buyers who need to change a PO are shown a button for doing so, while receivers who need to update a goods receipt are shown a button for doing this. With the application, you can mon-itor deadlines to help ensure progress and notify responsible parties and man-agement if desired. by implementing SAP Invoice Management, a company can optimize the entire invoice-handling process through automation.

SAP Invoice Management keeps an electronic, historical log of everything that occurs related to each process step. The combination of original and supporting documentation, comments and notes, routing histories, and histori-cal logs of internal and external actions increases transaction visibility for every stakeholder in the process. These logs are available during the process and

for audit purposes once the process is complete (see Figure 2).

The application lets you monitor the invoice process from start to finish, beginning with the initial receipt of invoices (whether paper or electronic) and working through the process to resolution, posting, and payment. key process improvement steps include the following.

centralization and consolidationMultiple AP groups can be consolidat-ed, and all transaction processing can be centralized to a single location. A central site or shared-services center can collect and control invoices from geographically dispersed locations around the world.

Figure 1: Comprehensive Solution for Accounts Payable Optimization

Scanning

OCR* option for SAP Invoice Management

Invoice cockpit

Process all incoming invoices

Automatically post invoices

Process exceptions

clear exceptions

Make comments

Analyze invoicing processes

Recognize characters

Analyze

extract

Normalize

Verify

Resolve exceptions

Automatically post invoices

Payment

Archive server

SAP® ERP

*Optical character recognitionOther components SAP Invoice Management functionality


electronic Documentsbest practices suggest getting rid of paper immediately. If possible, a company should send invoices elec-tronically, stopping the paper flow at the source. However, there still will be paper invoices flowing into the organization.

Optical character RecognitionUsing imaging technology, all paper documents can be digitized. Imaging and OcR add even more value by tak-ing away manual data entry and auto-populating transaction fields for further processing. When you use the OcR option for SAP Invoice Management, even for paper invoices, you can per-form straight-through processing with-

out intervention from invoice receipt to posting, assuming there are no excep-tions. electronic invoices can be trans-formed to a standard, viewable format for user reference. AP associates can view scanned or electronic images side by side with input screens to transfer information quickly and accurately. Image documents are linked to transac-tions in SAP software using SAP Archivelink® software.

Automatic ProcessingInitially, invoice metadata is validated to help ensure that it is complete and applicable. After validation, the data is processed according to a series of client-specific configured business rules. After validation and execution of the

business rules, an attempt should be made to post the invoice automatically. The application includes 47 configu-rable rules for validation and process-exception handling. The rules include requirements for processing invoices in selected countries. Metadata can be revised, if required, during validation. If the implementation of a selected busi-ness rule fails – for example, if the PO shown on the invoice is not released for posting – then the metadata resolu-tion screen is created and routed for review. After initial posting, the soft-ware may block the invoice from pay-ment due to price or quantity discrep-ancies. This payment block triggers SAP Invoice Management to resolve these issues.

Figure 2: Processing Example – Select Electronic Information and Invoice Document


RoutingDepending on the exception reason, the transaction information is routed automatically to an appropriate person for resolution. A work item appears in that person’s in-box, telling him or her that the invoice needs to be resolved. Work items are routed based on estab-lished roles, not individuals, and SAP Invoice Management intelligently deter-mines which person within a particular role is responsible for resolving the problem. Roles are maintained using security-profile and authorization func-tions in SAP software, helping ensure that information is visible only to appro-priate personnel. Routing options include buyers, receivers, coders, AP exception handlers, and others. In the case of approvals, the application auto-matically validates approval limits and continues sending the work item up the hierarchical chain to reach the person with the appropriate spending-level authorization. The routing process also is logged and monitored, and you can associate schedules with each activity and generate reminders if actions are not taken within a specified time frame.

ResolutionWhen resolution is accomplished by the proper person, the invoice is post-ed. If it had been posted and blocked, appropriate action can be taken to change the transactional data, such as the PO or goods receipt. You can can-cel the invoice, short pay the invoice, or pay the invoice as is. comments are noted and a comprehensive record of activities is attached, including perti-nent information such as who worked on it, when that work took place, and

all of the supporting details. All individu-als working on the transaction have a dashboard of information available with the header line item and full detail accessible with one click.

Architecture and IntegrationSAP Invoice Management resides entirely inside the SAP software envi-ronment and works with SAP business Workflow. The application was devel-oped in the AbAP™ programming lan-guage with native SAP technology, including a development workbench, dialog programs, function groups, busi-ness objects, workflow definitions, roles, customizing tables, reports, and so on. None of the software in SAP Invoice Management modifies core code in SAP software, and all code associated with the application exists in a separate name space or as a “z” prefix. because SAP Invoice Manage-ment is built within the SAP environ-ment, upgrading SAP software does not “break” the application or alter its functionality. The application does not cause any performance drain in the SAP environment, and it does not require any new hardware or porting.

FeaturesThe SAP Invoice Management applica-tion includes many features that are derived from years of experience in optimizing AP processes for the world’s leading companies. These include the following.

OCR OptionThe available OcR option for SAP Invoice Management virtually elimi-nates manual data entry. Only when

you deploy this option is full straight-through processing enabled for paper invoices (see Figure 3).

The OcR option captures the following basic data from invoices by default:• Vendor name and ID• company code• Invoice date• Invoice number• PO number• Net amount, gross amount, currency,

tax rates, and tax amounts• Invoice line items

For many companies, dealing

with problem invoices is

still largely a labor-intensive,

manual process. While many

purchases and payments are

recorded in SAP software,

the coordination, verification,

research, matching, coding,

approval, and linking of all

commonly associated trans-

action elements is handled

manually, outside the soft-

ware. These tasks misuse

employee time that could be

applied more effectively to

knowledge-based work.


All of this basic data is validated against plausibility rules and SAP software mas-ter data. For specific countries, additional data is captured. For example, tax iden-tification numbers for the european Union or an eSR number for Switzer-land is captured. (eSR stands for ein-zahlungsschein mit referenznummer, which means “a pay slip with a refer-ence number.”) The ability to support the needs of a corporation that oper-ates internationally is a key advantage of invoice recognition in SAP software.

You can extract and use additional data to enhance invoice workflows or adhere to extended compliance requirements without adding a burden to data entry personnel. For example, you can extract a requester’s e-mail address from an invoice for the purpose of forwarding the invoice during the approval work-flow. capturing freight or handling charges would allow for more in-depth business rules to be defined.

The OcR software uses a built-in knowledge base that understands how invoices are structured and where to find relevant information on them. The knowledge base was created using samples of thousands of invoices from all over the world. With the proven technology of the OcR option and its knowledge base, you can extract most invoice data automatically. You can fur-ther extend the knowledge base using a learning component. The patented adaptive read technology allows for the software to be trained on specific invoice types by clicking on the data that needs to be captured. Once trained, the software will find the corresponding data on similar invoices in the future.

If any data is missed by the automatic extraction, you can key it in using the accompanying validation client. The val-idation client is a dedicated application that is designed for fast and ergonomic manual data entry. Users can type or use the patented single-click entry technology that lets a user enter data by clicking on the image.

Predefined WorkflowsPredefined workflows accommodate a comprehensive set of invoice situations and let you automatically route informa-tion to the appropriate parties for reso-lution (see Figure 4).

Non-PO Approval ScreensNon-PO approval screens accommodate users who are typically outside of the SAP environment. coding and approval functions are accessible through either

the SAP software user interface or through the Web, with or without the SAP NetWeaver Portal component.

Figure 3: How Data Is Extracted from Invoices with Intelligent Document Recognition

Figure 4: Preconfigured Process Workflows for Routing and Approvals

Accounts payable exception handler

Accounts payable processor

Receiver

buyer

Automated reconciliation and postingRecognize characters Analyze extract Normalize Verify

Turn pixels into characters with optical character recognition

Find meaningful entities, and tag them

Find the correct date among all detected alternatives

Decompose string into subunits, and reformat as required

check against business and plausibility rules

Clerk: 12DATe ShippeD OrDer DATe

10/30/10 10/24/10COver CODe pA

Clerk: 12 DATe ShippeDOrDer DATe10/30/1010/24/10 COver CODepA

3


10/30/10 10/24/10COver CODe pA

OrDer DATe =“10/24/10”

Date

Word

Number


10/30/10 10/24/10COver CODe pA

“10/24/10”

Format (US)Day = 24Month = OctYear = 2010

24.10.2010

Export Manualkeying

24.10.2010

Validperiod?

yes no


Duplicate-Invoice CheckingThe software automatically lets you ana-lyze and detect the presence of duplicate invoices and eliminate duplicate payments.

Discount CalculationThe software allows you to automate the monitoring and capture of possible discounts, helping management opti-mize capital. Not only are current dis-counts captured, but also the solution enables procurement to negotiate early-payment discounts.

End-to-End Process AnalyticsThe invoice process can be monitored from start to finish so that nothing falls through the cracks. SAP Invoice Man-agement enables you to monitor bottle-necks, cycle time, first-pass yield, and liability accuracy (see Figure 5).

Centralized VisibilityAll information relevant to a transaction is visible on one screen. Scanned imag-es, links to transactions (POs, goods receipts, invoices, and so on), com-ments, history, and other communica-tions are consolidated in one location with links to more details.

The Only Invoice Management Solution from Your eRP VendorIntegration of non-SAP invoice manage-ment solutions leaves you with some unpredictability. You may find the need to prove to two vendors which applica-tion causes an issue. The invoice man-agement vendor may not support inte-gration with a newer SAP software release or enhancement package for SAP eRP when SAP releases it. Integra-tion may get weaker in the longer term as SAP continuously improves its eRP software. You can opt for peace of mind obtaining SAP Invoice Management from the same vendor as your application.

Support for Shared-Services centerschallenges in shared services include transaction volume and distribution or invoice origination, reconciliation, and approval.

Shared services benefit from imple-menting SAP Invoice Management. You can post large volumes of invoices without human intervention using OcR. exception-handling intelligence, paper-less documents, and distributed access all enhance a shared-services center by creating a virtual, centralized monitor-ing and tracking solution that is acces-sible by any authorized party from any location.

Figure 5: End-to-End Process Analytics

•Scanpaper invoices

•Importelectronicimages

capture invoice data (OcR option)

Validate invoice data

Duplicate check

Apply business rules

Post for payment

Image captured Invoice data captured automatically

Document created in SAP solution

Document posted in SAP solution

Archive image (archive server) exception handling exception handling exception handling exception handling

SAP® Archiving application by Open Text

Application functions


For shared-services centers that post invoices to multiple back-end produc-tion instances, the solution provides a single consolidated view for your AP department to process invoices. From process control through reporting, your personnel can now work from a central-ized instance.

Self-service is one of the best practic-es to improve communication between shared-services centers and vendors. SAP Invoice Management integrates smoothly with the SAP biller Direct application on the buyer side, allowing vendors to track invoice status, credit, and payment in real time. Vendors can download scanned invoices stored in the buyer’s archiving system and

interact with shared-services centers to resolve inquiries. (See Figure 6.)

Sarbanes-Oxley complianceToday, both public and private compa-nies are under more pressure by share-holders, legal authorities, and credit institutions to provide accurate financial information. SAP Invoice Management helps make Sarbanes-Oxley compli-ance much easier.

The regulation requires certification of financial reports by corporate officers, internal audit functions, and additional disclosure. At any time, financial officers can determine status, liabilities, trends, and other statistics that aid in verifying and certifying financial reports. In addi-

tion, all AP information is available for internal or external auditing with a level of detail that leaves nothing undisclosed.

Using SAP Invoice Management, you need no manual handoffs of informa-tion or tasks. With defined workflows based on an organization’s standard operating procedure, the application helps you enforce business rules and ensure that procedures are executed as designed. Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires that com-panies have their financial processes under control. SAP Invoice Manage-ment enables both process control and process visibility.

AutomationWhat is the key to efficient AP pro-cessing? It’s experience – having sea-soned personnel who know how to handle every type of problem quickly. but what if those valuable experts sud-denly are not available? Illness, acci-dents, job changes, promotions – all of these can put AP organizational effec-tiveness in jeopardy in a matter of hours. With SAP Invoice Management, you can mitigate the risk of lost expertise significantly by capturing process logic and intelligence in automated processes.

The application lets you automate responses to problem situations, initi-ate actions based on existing conditions, route workflow with deadlines and fol-low-up, and automate the process of AP problem resolution. In simple terms, the expertise of your most valuable AP processing person is transferred to the AP solution where it remains available for use – even if skilled AP processing personnel are not available.Figure 6: SAP® Biller Direct Showing List of Open Bills


SAP Invoice Management can help companies realize benefits in several main areas.

Cost Savings

Resolving problem invoices can be time consuming, with effort typically expend-ed in making phone calls, sending e-mails, researching, waiting for responses, and following up while the problem is being investigated. Often, there is no electronic tracking solution showing where a problem invoice resides and why it has not yet been resolved. Vendors may call regularly, wondering about payment, while AP lacks an efficient way to track and respond to these inquiries quickly.

According to customer data, SAP Invoice Management reduces the effort to resolve problem invoices from an average of 20 minutes to 5 to 8 min-utes. In addition, the number of vendor inquiries decreases due to more on-time payments. And because the sta-tus is tracked electronically, it can be recalled almost instantly while the ven-dor is still on the phone. As a result, the average time our customers spend dealing with vendor inquiries on prob-lem invoices typically drops from 10 to 15 minutes per status call to 5 to 7 minutes per status call.

gaining efficiency, Redeploying StaffMany of our customers have seen sig-nificant efficiency gains, which have led to staff redeployments.

eliminating Duplicate Paymentsby automatically checking for duplicate invoices, you can eliminate the cost of duplicate payments. This includes the

actual cost of duplicate payments as well as costs associated with employee time and administration.

Moving Operations OffshoreSAP Invoice Management lets organiza-tions locate AP departments anywhere in the world. All information is centralized but accessible from any location via the Internet. You can cut costs by relocat-ing to regions with educated workforc-es but lower costs of living.

Improving Use of Vendor DiscountsWith more predictable cycle times for payments to vendors, the use of ven-dor cash discounts can be balanced against the impact of early payment on cash position.

eliminating late Paymentsbetter management of the vendor invoice process lets organizations take advantage of more early-payment cash discounts. An automated solution means that you can take all legitimate discounts and avoid late payments.

Beyond Increased Efficiencies

cost savings are definitely related to increased efficiencies, but there are also unquantifiable results that come from an optimized invoice process. Most notably, an improved reputation for on-time payment can have a signifi-cant impact on vendor relations, mak-ing the job of the procurement depart-ment much easier. This way, suppliers don’t threaten to put a hold on ship-ments or provide negative information to credit bureaus. The following are areas where organizations using SAP Invoice Management have experienced additional benefits.

ApproversApprovers are freed up considerably from making copies, researching receipt of goods or services, filing invoices, and forwarding documents for next-level approvals. Our customers report that time spent on non-PO and service-invoice approvals is typically cut from an average of 10 minutes to an average of 3 to 4 minutes per invoice.

buyersless time shepherding transactions leads to more time available for manag-ing vendor relationships and proactive partnering. This can result in higher-quality relationships and more leverage in price negotiations.

codersThe mundane task of coding transac-tions for cost-center allocation and ven-dor specification is automated through electronic invoice presentment and OcR, or made more efficient with input screens linked to scanned documents. With SAP Invoice Management, cost-center coding on non-PO invoices is validated within the SAP software envi-ronment in real time to help ensure proper account assignment. Search help is provided to help ensure that the correct coding is entered the first time.

VendorsThrough the use of analytics in the application, supplier inquiries can be researched from a single source to provide a rapid, accurate response.

reAlIzIng benefItSINcReASeD SAVINgS, eFFIcIeNcIeS, AND cOMPlIANce


centralized ServicesFor organizations that do not have centralized or shared services, SAP Invoice Management provides the means to put these operations in place without extensive overhaul or retrofit-ting. With the virtual consolidation of documents, you can control all transac-tions centrally, even when elements of the transaction occur in different geographic locations.

continuous OptimizationA constant window makes the process visible to all authorized parties and helps you drive inefficiencies out of your processes over time. SAP Invoice Management lets you see bottlenecks in routing and highlights areas where internal associates, vendors, or pro-cesses need revision, so that process-es can be improved continuously.

Immediate ResponseYour ability to see all related informa-tion quickly and to reply to a problem online allows for immediate response and quick resolution.

leveraging of SAP SoftwareYour organization’s investment in SAP offerings, including SAP eRP, is main-tained and leveraged for new uses. There is no need for training on a new system or additional applications. SAP Invoice Management helps you lever-age your SAP applications and extend their use to a much wider audience.

captured expertiseknowledge in AP is gained through experience in solving invoice problems. This knowledge resides with key indi-viduals who know how to handle these issues. SAP Invoice Management allows organizations to capture this expertise and retain it for ongoing pro-cess optimization. This way, you can solve problems consistently and stan-dardize processes.

Compliance and Accountability

With the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, there is increasing pressure for both public and private companies to tighten internal controls and ensure accurate reporting of outstanding liabilities. Here are a few of the elements that SAP Invoice Management helps you control and manage.

better Management VisibilityUsing standard reporting provided with the solution, senior management can see the status of all transactions in AP. Advanced reporting functionality provides critical key performance indicators.

clarified Outstanding liabilitiesWith SAP Invoice Management, you know at any given time what the orga-nization’s liabilities are, even with non-PO invoices.

Assessment of Invoice ProblemsYou can see precisely what percentage of invoices have problems. SAP Invoice Management shows you how long it takes to resolve problem invoices, with metrics at every step in the resolution process. The advanced reporting func-tionality aggregates exceptions for review.

Discount efficiencyThe application lets you determine what percentage of available discounts is taken currently and how that percent-age is improving over time.

Processing efficiencyWith the application, you know how many invoices are processed per month per AP associate. You can cal-culate the actual cost per invoice at your organization and compare it to benchmark data. Functionality to man-age aging reports automatically groups invoices according to the number of days the invoices have been in process.

Improved Reputation with VendorsSAP Invoice Management lets you build a better reputation with your ven-dors – a significant benefit. With timely payments and increased visibility into the payment process, vendors are more likely to continue business rela-tionships and to work to enhance them. In markets with tight supplies and changing prices, being known as a con-sistent and reputable buyer can help establish your company as a preferred long-term business partner. This will enable you to negotiate better cash dis-counts on future purchases.


SAP Invoice Management is more than just technology. While it is based on state-of-the-art development tech-niques to optimize your SAP software, it offers another critical benefit – a depth of best-practice knowledge and concepts compiled over the past decade and codified as business con-tent. This content has been obtained by creating and refining invoice-process solutions for the world’s leading com-panies. This stockpile of predefined scenarios, workflows, tips, and best practices from forward-thinking FOR-TUNe 500 companies enables you to take advantage of years of top-notch experience.

One could say that automating a bad process merely results in a faster bad process. The key to success is not automation alone but optimization first, followed by automation of an optimal design. SAP Invoice Management was designed with this principle in mind.

With an optimal design, technical consultants can deploy SAP Invoice Management rapidly with preconfigured workflow solutions. Our customers have reported that implementation from design to going live is completed in two to three months, and ROI is usually fully realized in less than one year.

Find Out More

To learn more about SAP Invoice Management, call your SAP represen-tative or visit us on the Web at www.sap.com/solutions /solutionextensions/index.epx.

Why SAP InvoIce MAnAgeMent?OPTIMIzATION AND VAlUe

The key to success is not automation alone but optimization first, followed by automation of an optimal design. SAP Invoice Manage-ment was designed with this principle in mind.

cost savings are definitely related to increased effi-ciencies, but there are also unquantifiable results that come from an optimized invoice process. Most nota-bly, the improved reputation of paying on time has a significant impact on vendor relations, making the job of the procurement depart-ment much easier.


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Summary The SAP® Invoice Management application by Open Text helps you streamline accounts payable (AP) processes through automation, workflows, and support for best practices. The application helps you eliminate manual AP processes to free up staff for more productive activities.

Business Challenges • lower the cost of processing per invoice• Automate data entry using optical character recognition• Reduce errors resulting from duplicates and other problem invoices• Reduce manual processing to optimize staff activity• Improve vendor relations and payment terms

Key Features• Comprehensive invoice processing – Process invoices with the integrated OcR option

controlled directly from within the SAP software• Centralized architecture – Manage invoice processing from a centralized solution with

single or multiple back-end SAP software instances• Automated processing – Manage accounts payable processes automatically using

47 configurable business rules, from invoice validation through posting • Country-specific processing – Help ensure all legally required metadata and process

steps are handled on the basis of country-specific business rules• End-to-end process analytics – Monitor the invoice process from start to finish with a

clear view of bottlenecks, cycle time, first-pass yield, liability, and productivity

Business Benefits • Cost savings through reduced headcount, elimination of duplicate and late payments,

and offshoring of operations• Improved vendor relations through on-time payments and the ability to provide accurate,

current information• Enhanced compliance and accountability with key regulations, such as the Sarbanes-

Oxley Act, due to tighter internal controls and accurate reporting• Continued knowledge gathering through software that captures experts’ experience

and makes it available even when the experts are offline

For More Informationcall your SAP representative, or visit us online atwww.sap.com/solutions/solutionextensions/index.epx.
