Document Processing for Procurement

The Challenge

The manufacturing group sourced materials from international suppliers across multiple currencies and jurisdictions. Each month, the procurement team manually processed over 500 invoices, keying in line items, verifying quantities against purchase orders, handling currency conversions, and routing documents through a multi-level approval chain.

The manual process produced an error rate of approximately 8%, resulting in payment disputes, delayed supplier relationships, and significant time spent on corrections. The approval workflow was bottlenecked by paper based routing, with invoices sometimes sitting in queues for days before reaching the right approver.

Our Approach

1. Invoice format analysis: We catalogued all invoice formats received from suppliers, identifying common fields, variations in layout, and the most frequent sources of data entry errors.
2. AI powered extraction: We deployed intelligent document processing that reads invoices in multiple formats and languages, extracting line items, amounts, currencies, tax details, and supplier information automatically.
3. Validation rules engine: Extracted data runs through configurable validation rules, including three way matching against purchase orders and goods received notes, flagging discrepancies for human review.
4. Automated approval routing: Invoices are automatically routed to the correct approver based on amount thresholds, cost center, and supplier category, with escalation rules for overdue approvals.
5. ERP integration: Approved invoices flow directly into the existing ERP system, eliminating duplicate data entry and ensuring the general ledger stays current.

Ready to automate your procurement?

Let us show you how AI powered document processing can eliminate manual data entry and reduce errors.