Automated invoice checks and validation

Automated invoice checks and validation

The process of automated invoice checks and validation involves several steps. First, the system extracts data from the invoice, such as the supplier name, invoice number, date, and total amount. This data is then compared against existing data in the company's database to verify that the invoice is legitimate and matches previous transactions with the supplier. Next, the system checks for errors or discrepancies in the invoice data, such as incorrect pricing, missing information, or duplicate entries. Any errors are flagged for review and correction by an accounts payable clerk or other staff member. Finally, the system can also perform additional validation checks, such as verifying that the supplier is registered with the company, checking for compliance with tax regulations, and ensuring that payment terms are being met.

Automated invoice checks and validation can save businesses significant time and resources, as they eliminate the need for manual data entry and review. They also help reduce errors and fraud, as the system can detect inconsistencies that may not be immediately apparent to human reviewers. Additionally, these systems can provide valuable insights into a company's accounts payable process, allowing for ongoing improvements and optimization.

Delivery check ("PO-Flip")

The delivery check is a process from the past, which forces vendors to tell the customer that goods have been delivered. This process is entirely obsolete with the usage of B-Op by these tools, which are used depending on purchase order type used by the customer:

• De-Minimis orders - customers have to option to define certain order types to be "De-Minimis orders", e.g. uniform orders or office stationaty mailorders to the home office. De-Minimis orders are orders which do not require manual goods intake action by the receiving customer at all. The shipment notice automatically sent from the vendor to the customer organization through the B-Op dataphere trade is defined by the customer to be sufficient.
  B-Op automatically sends out shipment notices to a customer digital when shipments have been made. The customer organization just reveses the regular goods-intake process: The goods are considered delivered after a certain amount of days (definable), except the ordering party negates the goods-intake.
• Warehouse targeting orders - Regular deliveries which target a warehouse undergo the regular goods-intake process in a b-op application like ZUGSEIL Warehouse Management System (WMS), where the customer counts the recieved items and typically performs a quality check as well.
• Regular non warehouse targeting orders - Requested deliveries, which are not bound to a warehouse but office or other item, need to be confirmed in a b-op application like ZUGSEIL Shop to have arrived at the customer.

Advanced invoice checks and validation

Beyond automation with all its errors (OCR faults) and flaws, the B-Op technology offers the next level of order validation as:

• contracts are exchanged over the B-Op network automatically: Each purchase order is covered by a contract, which is mutually signed and exchanged over the network with all details.
• the invoice validation happens already on the vendor side: Vendors are only permitted to send bills into the network when they have a purchase contract exactly matching the billing details.
• bills are enriched by customer background information: As the purchasing process is handled entirely digital on the customer and the vendor side, all details on the customer side (which are not known by the vendor) can be matched and can be used for automatic validation.
• delivery check: As B-Op is not a standalone purchasing tool, but also includes warehousing and inventory managment functionality, it also is able to gather information from the other processes, which entirely removes the necessity to verify the effective receipt of goods in the procurement tool.