About our client
Ontario Power Generation (OPG) is an Ontario-based electricity generation company whose principal business is the generation and sale of electricity in Ontario.
OPG’s generating portfolio has a total capacity of over 19,000 megawatts (MW) making them one of the largest power generators in North America.
The challenge
Annually OPG receives approximately 110,000 vendor invoices. Although the majority of them are less than 5 pages, their AP department routinely receives invoices with over 100 pages (mainly utility invoices).
OPG had been using a scanning and indexing service for their accounts payable documents which did not provide the required automation and workflow. In mid-2008, OPG initiated an invoice automation project with ReadSoft, utilizing their invoice automation software suite which would be integrated within OPG’s SAP system.
The move to ReadSoft required OPG to find a partner with experience in providing all of the required front-end services to support their AP automation project, which would include invoice receipt, scanning, processing and OCR data capture utilizing ReadSoft for Invoices software.
The solution
Octacom was selected by OPG as their valued invoice processing partner after a comprehensive tendering, evaluation and selection process. Octacom was identified as a company with the necessary experience and process know how to deliver high-quality accounts payable scanning and data capture process.
Octacom now provides a full front end AP automation service for OPG’s invoices, including exception management. Octacom’s comprehensive solution encompassed the following elements:
Mailed invoices are centralized and managed by Octacom through a PO Box service and emailed invoices are directed to Octacom for receipt, acknowledgement and validation.
Invoices are scanned and processed for header data capture, vendor validation, exception reporting and secure upload to OPG’s ERP system.
The high-quality images and data are seamlessly uploaded within 48 hours of receipt for OPG approvals and routing.
The process
Invoice Receipt and Imaging: Invoices are received by PO box, email, courier and portal submission. Invoices are opened, sorted and digitized prior to being processed through Octacom’s OCR and QC processes to validate data encompassed thereon.
Exception Management: Invoices that are invalid, deemed exceptions or that failed vendor validation, as determined by automated comparison to the ERP’s vendor master, are submitted to OPG’s finance department.
ERP Integration: Invoice details are loaded into OPG’s ERP for workflow approval and payment.
The results
Octacom achieved OPG’s project objectives that included delivering a higher automation of repetitive tasks; cost savings (with Octacom’s pricing on a per invoice basis, no investment was required by OPG for the development of in-house expertise) and significant improvements in process turn-around times. Octacom has become a collaborative and highly regarded member of the OPG team.
For more information about this case study, managing vendor invoices and how a similar approach may be beneficial for your company, please contact us.
Click here to download this case study.
"We were undergoing a big change to our Accounts Payable process and needed to find the right company to work with us. Octacom demonstrated very early on that they were interested, innovative and enthusiastic to work as part of our team. Their facility and staff impressed us as did their ability to grasp the technology and integration that would be required."
