Facing long payment cycles, manual invoice processing and time-consuming paper audits, AEG Worldwide identified a need for a process and content management solution that tightly integrated with JD Edwards EnterpriseOne. By implementing Perceptive Content, AEG was able to shorten payment cycles and reduce turnaround by approximately 60%, enhancing vendor service and positioning AEG for early payment discounts.
Challenge
AEG processes hundreds of thousands of invoices each year across the U.S. In 2009, company executives realized that internal processes could be improved and they wanted to make accounts payable more efficient. The reason? Too much time and effort involved with manually processing paper. The company also paid for off-site storage, and retrieving records for audits was a hassle.
Solution
To solve these challenges and further its sustainability initiative, AEG chose process and content management technology from Lexmark to complement its Oracle JD Edwards EnterpriseOne system. Brandon Weiss, senior director of financial systems and process improvement at AEG, explained the selection.
“Lexmark’s products, including Perceptive Content, offered strong out-of-the-box features, but also enabled us to customize workflows to meet our needs,” he says.
A hassle-free implementation
Corporate accounts payable was the first AEG department to implement Perceptive Content as part of a phased, company-by-company approach. Weiss was satisfied with the deployment.
“Lexmark’s implementation was great and their solution architect was very helpful,” he said. “She had worked on many other AP projects and applied this knowledge to help improve our best practices.”
The success of any software deployment is in the hands of the users: they either embrace the new system or it becomes “shelfware.” Weiss was pleasantly surprised by how quickly his colleagues took to Perceptive Content.
“We were concerned about executive buy-in, but once we showed them how easy Perceptive Content makes it to view and approve invoices, they were on board right away,” he says. “That made it an easier sell to our other users.”
Simplifying AP processing
The company’s AP staff members input invoice data into Perceptive Content. Invoices are then sent to approvers who use Content or the browser-based client, to review and approve or reject each one.
“Now our staff members can access invoices from anywhere via the web, and approve invoices when they’re on the road,” Weiss says. “This is a huge benefit.”
Many invoices originate in various AEG offices across the country, and then are sent to other offices. Before, some invoices that exceeded certain dollar amounts or met other criteria were approved locally, shipped to LA for executive approval, and then sent back to the originating office. Now, all levels of approval are done electronically, saving time and eliminating mailing costs.
Seamless integration with Oracle’s JD Edwards EnterpriseOne system
When evaluating process and content management software, one of AEG’s key criteria was the ability to enhance the existing Oracle JD Edwards EnterpriseOne system. Lexmark’s dayforward scanning partner, Scanning America, scans and indexes each invoice and uploads it into Perceptive Content. With the help of Lexmark, AEG built an e-form that is nearly identical to the JD Edwards screens that staff members previously used for entering GL codes and other information—making the transition even easier. They can then validate the data in the e-form against JDE in real time before finalizing it.
“The seamless, web services integration between Lexmark products and JD Edwards makes it easy for our accounting team to process invoices,” Weiss says. “They can move between the two systems easily, and when a vendor calls with a question, the answer is just a click away instead of us calling them back after a file cabinet search.”
Another advantage is that AEG can now effortlessly track each invoice at each stage of the process—from receipt through payment. This was not possible before, as invoices could be in transit between the offices, sitting on a desk awaiting review, or in a file cabinet drawer.
To further enhance its invoice process, AEG is now using Perceptive Content to capture images of checks sent out via JD Edwards. These checks are automatically linked to the correct invoice within Perceptive Content for easy retrieval as needed.
Results
Delivering quick ROI
With Lexmark products, AEG can now pay its vendors approximately 60% faster than they could before.
“Lexmark has enabled us to eliminate late fees and take advantage of early payment discounts, which has led to a rapid return on investment,” Weiss says.
Eliminating auditing pain points
A financial audit at AEG used to involve requesting a sample of documents from an off-site storage facility and then waiting for these documents to arrive for the auditor’s review. Lexmark has transformed this process.
“For our first audit with Perceptive Content, we simply gave the auditor view only, online access, so they could look at the required documents without wasting the time of our team,” Weiss says. “Now each step in the process is visible from the time the vendor submits the invoice on.”
With planned expansions to offices in London and Berlin, AEG is just scratching the surface of the potential benefits from its process and content management project.
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