ABBYY and Röchling to implement uniform invoice processing for SAP

The business now uses ABBYY’s FlexiCapture for invoices at branch offices in four countries to process invoices received via e-mail and paper format. The software captures the documents, extracts the invoice data and sends it to the SAP systems. 

Röchling is a supplier of plastic parts for the automotive industry. The companys subsidiaries in Germany, the Czech Republic, Belgium and the United States receive invoices from around 2,000 suppliers in different languages and formats, totalling up to 50,000 invoices annually. Previously, invoice data was automatically captured at respective locations and imported into SAP workflows and archiving systems. The incumbent solution did not support either distributed capture, which enables the capture at remote locations via web scanning stations and multi-channel input of documents from various devices or electronic invoice processing. Data access was also slow.

Now, paper invoices are scanned locally and e-mail invoices are exported directly into the ABBYY solution. ABBYY capture software extracts header and footer data automatically. Documents requiring manual review or correction of capture results are assigned to the responsible administrative personnel at verification stations. Validated data is then forwarded to the specialist departments for invoice review and approval and imported into the corresponding workflows in the SAP system. In contrast to the prior solution, ABBYY FlexiCapture for invoices offers automatic system training. Typical invoices are manually selected from the system as models for future invoices from a given supplier (to determine the location of additional invoice fields, for example). This enables continuous optimisation of the quality of extracted data and improves the capture of invoices of new suppliers. With the document router of the ABBYY partner, KGS Software, can extract invoice data from PDFs that are directly entered into the appropriate SAP processes for further processing.

In addition, the solution is also adaptable to enable capture and processing of other document types used by businesses, such as forms for customer communications, personnel documents, orders and incoming post, therefore maximising security of investment.