Bury St Edmunds, UK – November 15th , 2011 – EASY SOFTWARE UK, Europe’s foremost supplier of document management solutions has today announced that its since implementing EASY ENTERPRISE for SAP™ at Worcester County Council it has been able to eliminate paper from the council’s invoice processing, while improving efficiency and reducing instances of documents going astray.
Worcestershire County Council provides a huge range of services to more than 545,000 citizens living within the county’s boundaries. One of the largest and most progressive employers in the region, the organisation has over 19,500 staff and an annual turnover in excess of £750 million.
Over the last decade, the Council has been a pioneer in electronic invoice processing, a strategy which will now serve the organisation well as the next wave of Government funding cuts take effect, requiring that the public sector operates at maximum efficiency.
In 2001, Worcestershire was one of the first local authorities to implement an integrated business management system, by combining SAP software with a document scanning and archive platform from SAP certified partner EASY Software, EASY Enterprise for SAP. This has had a huge impact on business efficiency and supplier remuneration, given that Worcestershire processes almost 400,000 separate invoices each year.
The process of scanning invoices, which are captured using a Fujitsu scanner, enables simple verification of supplier invoices, supports the approval process within the council, and has improved the visibility and control of expenditure.
Since implementing the system, the Council has been able to eliminate paper from invoice processing, improving efficiency while reducing instances of documents going astray. “All invoice documents come straight into the central revenue section where they are scanned and added to the SAP system,” says Dave Bessant, Worcestershire’s financial systems manager. “From this point on, documents are handled and archived electronically.”
Payments happen swiftly, because the process of reconciling invoices with purchase orders is so quick and easy, that a budget manager is only involved if goods haven’t been received, or prices or quantities don’t tally. “Even then, the budget manager can quickly drill down into the SAP system where he or she can easily see the invoice, enabling immediate follow-up,” Dave notes. “The revenue section no longer needs to send out paper documents to satisfy this type of query.”
The expected benefits of this improved process were so tangible that the business case was self-evident, he adds. “The integration with SAP was particularly popular, because it meant an ability to quickly retrieve an invoice a few months down the line, without having to go down to the basement to dig it out.”
Read the full Worcester County Council case study on www.easysoftware.co.uk
