AG Coop Realizes Quick ROI with FileBound Workflow Implementation

The challenges associated with having over 70 locations are plenty for any business in any industry.

The Accounts Payable department was burdened with an overwhelming task to find and collect all invoices to be paid to vendors.

Accounts Payable staff spent too much time in constant contact with Location Managers and Vendors in resolving outstanding invoices. It was this paper chase that lead the Ag Coop to implement a FileBound Workflow Solution with a PSI Capture Automated Data Capture process.

Customer Profile

The Ag Coop serves the Agriculture Community by providing high quality products and services to growers year round across multiple states. The Ag Coop had over 70 locations and 700 employees with 6 FTE dedicated to the Accounts Payable Clerk position at the onset of the FileBound solution. Currently, the Ag Coop has grown to over 130 locations, over 1,000 employees and has 4 FTE dedicated to the Accounts Payable Clerk position.

Business Challenges in more Detail

With over 70 locations the AP Clerks spent more of their day chasing down invoices to be paid than the job they were hired to do. Invoice Processing times were averaging more than 30 days. Vendor relationships were strained due to late or missed payments. Vendor Discounts for quick pay invoices where being missed and in many cases service fees were being added for late payments. Once Checks were cut a painstaking process was tasked to the AP Clerks to find and then staple all invoices to a copy of the Check for Auditing purposes.

Solution

Upon the decision to move forward with a PSI Capture and FileBound Workflow solution, PSI Capture was implemented to acquire the invoices both in paper and electronic form. Once the invoices were in the PSI Capture system an Advanced Classification and Automated OCR process was able to identify the invoices from defined vendors and extract the invoice header information automatically. Invoices are then routed to Location Managers via the FileBound Workflow processes. Location Managers enter in the appropriate GL Account Information for the Invoice during their approval of the invoice. Approved Invoices are collected and the metadata is in turn exported to a CSV file that is then in turn ingested by the Accounting System. Check copies are uploaded to FileBound and automatically linked to the invoices, eliminating the long standing manual process of stapling invoices to checks for auditing purposes.

Benefits

As a result of the PSI Capture and FileBound Workflow processes being implemented the 30 plus days for invoice processing was reduced to an average of 4-5 days. AP Clerks are now able to identify workflow bottlenecks in minutes using Reporting rather than chasing down Location Managers. Significantly less time is spent by AP Clerks communicating with Location Managers which allows them and the Location Managers to focus on core competencies. Hours per week are saved from the process of matching Check Copies with Invoices Paid. The AG Coop was able to onboard 60 new locations and decrease the AP Clerk Staff by 2 FTE due to the large savings in efficiencies. The AG Coop now takes advantage of large discounts for paying invoices early and on time. Auditors too are satisfied that they can now access these documents in FileBound thus shortening their audit times.