Invoice Automation: reduce the need for manual data entry and have tight control and visibility of cash-flow status

Customer Success Story: Harvest Housing Harvest Housing Group transforms Accounts Payable with Basware Invoice Automation has enabled Harvest Housing Group to reduce the need for manual data entry, have tight control and visibility of their cash-flow status, speed up the payment process, reduce the risk of errors and achieve far greater efficiency in their finance process. Based across 20 offices in the North West, UK, The need for automation Harvest Housing Group is a not-for-profit group of Customer housing associations and companies that owns Previously, many supplier invoices tended to be and manages over 18,000 affordable, high-quality sent to one of Harvest’s 20 offices rather than Name homes and provides a range of housing and the Finance Department, and this meant that the community regeneration services across the office would have to forward the invoice to the Harvest Housing Group North West and beyond. Finance Department, before it could be registered centrally. The problem this created was that the Sector At the heart of managing such a large Group is Finance Department did not automatically know if the Finance Department. Specifically, it is critical an office had received an invoice and at what Housing/Charity that the organization runs a highly efficient, stage of the approval process the invoice was at. organized and cost-effective accounts payable Location (AP) operation, which is not a simple task given Tracey Neale, Financial Transactions Team the volume of supplier invoices handled annually. Leader, Harvest Housing Group, explains: UK Challenge ” O  ur previous process of sending paper copies of invoices from office to office for approval was costly, time-consuming and Gain visibility of the purchase- to-pay process inefficient – plus there was a chance of an Remove the transfer of paper invoice going missing. It was very difficult invoices from office to office for to keep tight control over every stage of approval the process, which in turn made Reduce the time to approval and management of the finances a time- improve cash flow consuming task.” Meet legal requirements to keep invoices for six years, whilst removing the need for costly physical storage "We were aware of the considerable scope for "As soon as the reviewer is happy with the details, introducing a more systematic and automated they send it on to the authorized approver. They Benefits approach to AP. We started to search for a can be located in any office, or even at home, as technology-led solution that would help the secure online solution is accessible from Improved visibility and control in streamline the process as far as possible, whilst anywhere via the internet. An alert is sent via the finance department satisfying HMRC's documentation requirements. email, and with a few simple clicks they can Enhanced relationships with We are legally required to keep invoices for six access the invoice data and give the finance suppliers through prompt years, so digitizing the majority of our invoices department approval for payment.” payment would clearly contribute to reducing the future need for physical storage facilities. The right Automated invoice processing electronic solution would help us save money, reduces risk of lost invoices time and office space as well as giving us a new Reaping the rewards level of financial control and compliance.” Highly accurate data capture "Digitizing the AP process will make a huge reducing need for manual data difference to us. For a start, we will reduce the entry need for manual data entry, which can be error- ” T  he Basware solution is HMRC-compliant, meaning that we will not have to keep physical copies of our supplier invoices in prone and labour-intensive. What’s more, we now have tight control and visibility of our cash-flow status, as well as complete auditability of Reduced mailing costs Secure, auditable workflow the future – this is a huge saving for us.” payment transactions. On a practical level, we process for efficient task routing save postage costs, speed up the payment process, reduce the risk of errors and introduce HMRC-compliant electronic Harvest began to evaluate the available far greater efficiency into the process." invoices archiving eliminates technology solutions on the market, and despite need for expensive storage of Harvest will also reduce its future requirements paper invoices having pinpointed a preferred provider at an early for physical storage. Tracey Neale explains, stage; after attending a Basware partner event in London, Richard Morris, the Head of Finance for the Group, selected Basware’s Invoice Automation solution. Harvest Housing Group chose Basware Invoice Automation above all competitors as they were convinced it would deliver the best, ” A  nother major benefit for us is our supplier relationships. If there is an urgent invoice that needs to be paid on the day, it would Basware solutions adopted Basware Invoice Automation all-round solution to meet their requirements. potentially be scanned and go through the Basware anyERP middleware Working closely with Harvest to understand the whole system within two hours, if precise needs of their busy AP function, a necessary. Before, this couldn’t be solution was developed to include invoice achieved in one whole day, due to the capture, matching, workflow and approval. sheer logistics of moving the paper invoice Tracey Neale continues, "at the same time as the from office to office.