The Problem: Time Wasted with AP Documentation
Streamlining Accounts Payable Processing
The Problem
Too much time spent matching AP invoices with PO’s and receiving documents to verify and approve them for payment.
Key Concerns
- Matching up materials receipt documentation with invoices for confirmation.
- Interruptions in the accounting department to locate documentation for review, usually weeks or months after they had been processed.
- Time spent handling, filing, and re-filing paperwork.
- Frequent issues created by lost or misplaced paperwork.
The INTERAC Document Management System:
- Links documents directly to invoice transactions.
- Integrates documents in both the accounting and manager applications.
- Dramatic savings in man hours spent handling paperwork.
- Eliminates documents getting “lost in the shuffle”.
The Solution
The INTERAC Document Management System addressed all these concerns.
- Most importantly, DMS made all the documentation readily available to the accounting staff through the traditional accounting applications and also to the project managers in the remote field offices through their Job Manager interface.
- DMS effectively eliminated the problems with lost paperwork by immediately scanning them into DMS, making them available to the entire team.
Case Study
- It also eliminated the need to route AP paperwork through the field offices first, or keep copies of the documents in the field offices, allowing for a streamlined approval process in the main office.
- Estimated savings of over $30,000 just from reduced labor in handling the paperwork.
- Additional savings from not having to store and manage rooms full of archives.
Customer Summary
“Founded in 1980, Schmueser & Associates, Inc. is a merit shop heavy civil and industrial general contractor capable of providing new construction, plant maintenance and turnaround services to a diverse range of industries that include; Mining, Oil and Gas, Power Generation, Manufacturing.
Schmueser & Associates, Inc. specializes in the construction of process plants for a variety of industries. Our capabilities encompass a wide range of construction activities from new construction to modification and maintenance of existing plants. Our direct hire construction services include civil, structural, mechanical, process piping, electrical and instrumentation. Our personnel possess extensive resumes` of skills and experience with backgrounds in heavy construction, mining, oil and gas and pipelines.
The primary issue addressed by the Document Management System was the need to manage the Accounts Payable process at the main office in a timely fashion, while having the appropriate field staff review and approve the invoices for payment. Implementing the Document Management System eliminated the need to keep copies of the documents in the field offices, which made it possible for vendors to submit their invoices directly to the accounting office for payment. This significantly streamlined the entire Accounts Payable process. Now the accounting staff have immediate access to all the documents from within the INTERAC applications, so they never have to leave their desk to find what they need.
Area managers and supervisors are now able to review all their invoices through Job Manager, significantly reducing calls and interruptions in the accounting office. All the documentation they need is now directly accessible to them through their Job Manager connection. There is no longer any need to keep copies of everything in the field offices.
There are a number of additional benefits that have been realized as well. With a volume of about 600 invoices and 120 checks per week, DMS has eliminated five double wide file cabinets full of paperwork that no longer has to be filed and stored. This has also helped to eliminate documents that were frequently “lost in the shuffle”. Not only do the documents not get lost, there is no longer a need to locate paperwork in the files and then re-file it when a review is necessary. Once it is attached to a record through DMS, it is always available to anyone who needs it.
Another nice feature of DMS is the ability to email directly from the system. Now when questions arise and documents need to be sent for clarification, it is quick and easy to email directly to the appropriate people straight from the INTERAC application.
The Document Management System more than pays for itself every year, with an estimated savings of more than $30,000 per year just in man hours saved from not needing to file, locate, re-file, and store all those cabinets and boxes full of paper.
Greg Hailey
Schmeuser & Associates, Inc.
