Q: I keep hearing about the benefits of e-invoicing. How will e-invoicing help my department process the growing number of invoices our company receives?

A: ASPEN Accounts Payable utilizes the Ariba Supplier Network to receive e-invoices directly from a company’s vendors and approve them programmatically when rules allow. This completes the accounts payable process faster and more efficiently. The enhanced e-invoicing capabilities also provide a significant cost reduction for ASPEN Accounts Payable customers who wish to do Straight Through Processing. E-invoicing through the Ariba Supplier Network eliminates the expense of scanning and capturing line-item-details from a paper invoice.

Once an e-invoice is received by ASPEN Accounts Payable, the solution matches invoice details to line item PO and Receipt data details using the automatic three way matching process. When exact matches, or matches within predefined tolerances, are met, ASPEN Accounts Payable auto matches the invoice, then completes the transaction using Straight Through Processing and passes the data directly to the ERP system. AP processors only need to work invoices that fail the matching criteria. This enhances the purchase-to-pay process, increases efficiencies, drives out costs and lets AP departments handle increasing volumes without adding people.

If ASPEN Accounts Payable cannot find a match, the exception process takes over. Logical algorithms are used to attempt to narrow down potential matches by evaluating the line item data. ASPEN Accounts Payable will analyze the fields captured from the invoice to programmatically narrow down the possible receipt records that could match the invoice. It follows the same processing logic an AP processor would use if they were manually trying to match an invoice. This exception matching process dramatically reduces the need for the AP processor to search for the matching receipts. Potential matches are identified and ranked based on the confidence level criteria selected.

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