Processing of suppliers’ invoices is a time consuming activity for most companies and it requires well trained, experienced, and thus expensive, staff. Yet companies are often processing invoices for the same products from the same suppliers. The level of repetition is high yet little automation has been applied to this business process in anything but very large companies.
The Shireburn Inventory Management System (SIMS) has offered an invoice importation feature for many years but this has typically been used by companies with their largest suppliers, often when they operate as franchises as it required specific customisation for each supplier.
With the number of companies in Malta using the Shireburn Inventory Management System (SIMS) having reached such large numbers, Shireburn Software have focused their attention on improving productivity around the supplier invoice process enabling two companies that use its SIMS solution and its EDI module (Electronic Data Interchange) to exchange invoice data very smoothly, bringing invoice automation into the realms of possibility for even smaller companies and across more suppliers.
A sales invoice generated by company A is able to be generated as an XML file and e-mailed to Company B which is then able to drag and drop it onto their implementation of the SIMS EDI software. The electronic data exchanged includes the full details of the client, including the VAT Number, and the details of each stock item being sold on that invoice. This includes stock code, description, category, price, VAT code etc. The transaction details are of course also included showing the quantities, price etc.
If Company B has not traded previously with Company A, the details of the company and even the stock items will not be found and the Shireburn EDI module allows the recipient to automate the creation of Company A as a supplier in its SIMS and the details of the stock cards, even automatically creating cross-coding where the categorisation, VAT and other codes used in the two companies differ. The Shireburn EDI module is a self-learning system and the next time Company B receives an invoice from Company A, these details will be on file and the process will be fully automated.
The self-learning aspect of the Shireburn EDI module ensures the minimisation of data entry and streamlines the effort involved in processing supplier invoices, increases the accuracy and reduces the time spent checking postings, all of which reduces costs.
For details about the Shireburn Inventory Management System call Shireburn on 2131 9977 or visit www.shireburn.com.