Automated Invoice Processing: Key Steps, Success Factors, Benefits, Costs

Automated Invoice Processing Software Overview - ScienceSoft

Having 16 years of experience in building financial software and practical knowledge of 30+ industries, ScienceSoft offers custom software development services to help businesses implement effective invoice processing automation.

Invoice Processing Automation in a Nutshell

Invoice processing automation streamlines invoice processing end-to-end – from invoice data capture and validation to invoice approval and routing for payment and invoice posting to the general ledger (GL). Automated invoice processing systems are especially helpful for large companies that need to process a considerable number of paper and digital invoices.

Integrations

Automation timelines

Implementation costs

Annual ROI

A payback period

Main Use Cases of Invoice Processing Automation

Invoice capture and validation

Embrace the capabilities of AI, RPA, and OCR technologies to get 95% faster and more accurate invoice data capture and validation with no manual efforts.

Invoice approval

Benefit from 80%+ faster invoice approval with an automated multi-department approval workflow and seamless 24/7 remote access for the approval teams.

Invoice analytics

Get instant calculation and 100% visibility of the invoice processing metrics. Employ ML to analyze historical invoice data and precisely forecast the due payment amounts.

Invoice Processing Automation: Key Features

Each automated invoice processing solution ScienceSoft creates has unique functionality to serve client-specific needs. Here, we have outlined the features commonly requested by our customers:

Invoice capture

  • Support of various digital invoice formats (XML, PDF, digital images, e-invoices, etc.).
  • Support of multi-table invoices, multi-currency invoices, multi-page invoices.
  • OCR-enabled conversion of paper invoices into a pre-defined digital format.
  • Capture of numeric and textual invoice content.
  • ML-powered data extraction from digital invoices.

Invoice validation

  • Automated invoice coding in the general ledger (GL).
  • Automated two- and three-way invoice matching (against purchase orders, supplier contracts, goods/service receipts, etc.).
  • User-defined thresholds for invoice matching tolerance.
  • Rule-based validation of invoice data at the line-item level (invoice number, date, quantity, price, etc.).
  • Invoice verification against the pre-set tax rules, region-specific e-invoicing compliance requirements.
  • Alerts on invoice exceptions (missed, mismatched or inaccurate data, duplicate invoices, tax variances, etc.) that require manual validation.

Invoice approval

  • Automated invoice routing for approval.
  • Configurable multi-department invoice approval hierarchies (based on invoice amount, invoice type, location, etc.).
  • Scheduled email reminders to invoice approvers.
  • A complete invoice approval history.
  • Automated routing of approved invoices for payment.

Invoice tracking and storing

  • Real-time multi-department invoice tracking by validation and approval status, type (PO, non-PO), supplier, period, and more.
  • Centralized invoice storage.
  • Configurable invoice retention rules.

Invoice processing analytics

  • Calculating and tracking essential invoice processing metrics, such as total amount of invoices processed by period, average invoice approval cycle time, total amount of lost cash discounts due to delayed invoice submission for payment, and more.
  • Trend analysis to forecast non-PO invoice amounts.
  • Scheduled and ad-hoc reports on invoice processing KPIs.

Invoice processing security

  • Invoice timestamping.
  • E-signing for approved invoices.
  • Comprehensive audit trail for invoice-related activities.
  • Rule-based invoice fraud detection.
  • Multi-factor user authentication.
  • Role-based access control.

Leverage End-to-End Invoice Processing Automation!

ScienceSoft’s team is ready to plan, build and support a reliable invoice processing system to automate time-consuming and error-prone invoice processing tasks.

A Sample Interface of Automated Invoice Processing Solutions We Create

Converting scanned invoices into a user-defined digital format

Data extraction from digital invoices

Configuring the invoice validation rules

Invoice reconciliation

Invoice approval

E-signing for approved invoices

Audit trail for invoice-related activities

Invoice tracking by user-defined parameters

Analytical dashboards on invoice processing KPIs

Key Integrations for the Automated Invoice Processing System

To maximize efficiency and accuracy of invoice processing workflows, ScienceSoft recommends that the automated invoice processing solution should be integrated with the following back-office systems:

Key integrations for the automated invoice processing system - ScienceSoft

  • Accounting software – for accurate invoice data recording in the accounts payable and the general ledger.
  • Procurement software – for automated invoice matching with purchase orders generated in procurement software.
  • ERP – for automated purchase invoice validation against goods/service delivery receipts.
  • Vendor portal – for faster processing of vendor/supplier invoices uploaded from a vendor portal.
  • Cash management system – for automated payment of invoices.
  • BI solution – for comprehensive invoice data and invoice processing analysis and reporting.

Success Factors for Invoice Processing Automation

ScienceSoft’s experts recommend that the following important factors should be covered to maximize payoff from the automated invoice processing system implementation.

OCR capabilities

to capture and extract relevant data from paper invoices.

AI-powered invoice prioritization

for approval and payment to maximize cost savings.

Mobile access

to enable invoice tracking and approval on the go.

Cloud deployment

to provide secure and scalable centralized storage for digital invoices and enable 24/7 remote employee access for faster invoice approval.

Legal compliance

to ensure accurate invoice processing in accordance with the latest legal standards, such as GAAP, IFRS, SOX, GDPR (for EU), ZATCA requirements (for Saudi Arabia), and more.

How to Automate Invoice Processing

Below, ScienceSoft outlines key steps to introduce invoice processing automation:

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ScienceSoft’s Tech Stack for Invoice Processing Automation 

Programming languages

Back end

Microsoft .NET

Practice

19 years

Projects

200+

Workforce

60+

Our .NET developers can build sustainable and high-performing apps up to 2x faster due to outstanding .NET proficiency and high productivity.

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Java

Practice

25 years

Projects

110+

Workforce

40+

ScienceSoft's Java developers build secure, resilient and efficient cloud-native and cloud-only software of any complexity and successfully modernize legacy software solutions.

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Python

Practice

10 years

Projects

50+

Workforce

30

ScienceSoft's Python developers and data scientists excel at building general-purpose Python apps, big data and IoT platforms, AI and ML-based apps, and BI solutions.

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Node.js

Practice

10 years

Workforce

100

ScienceSoft delivers cloud-native, real-time web and mobile apps, web servers, and custom APIs ~1.5–2x faster than other software developers.

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PHP

Practice

16 years

Projects

170

Workforce

55

ScienceSoft's PHP developers helped to build Viber. Their recent projects: an IoT fleet management solution used by 2,000+ corporate clients and an award-winning remote patient monitoring solution.

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Golang

Practice

4 years

ScienceSoft's developers use Go to build robust cloud-native, microservices-based applications that leverage advanced techs — IoT, big data, AI, ML, blockchain.

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Front end

JavaScript

Practice

21 years

Projects

2,200+

Workforce

50+

ScienceSoft uses JavaScript’s versatile ecosystem of frameworks to create dynamic and interactive user experience in web and mobile apps.

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Front end Javascript frameworks

Angular JS

Practice

13 years

Workforce

100+

ScienceSoft leverages code reusability Angular is notable for to create large-scale apps. We chose Angular for a banking app with 3M+ users.

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React JS

Workforce

80+

ScienceSoft achieves 20–50% faster React development and 50–90% fewer front-end performance issues due to smart implementation of reusable components and strict adherence to coding best practices.

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MeteorJS

ScienceSoft uses Meteor for rapid full-stack development of web, mobile and desktop apps.

Vue.js

By using a lightweight Vue framework, ScienceSoft creates high-performant apps with real-time rendering.

Next.js

With Next.js, ScienceSoft creates SEO-friendly apps and achieves the fastest performance for apps with decoupled architecture.

Ember.js

When working with Ember.js, ScienceSoft creates reusable components to speed up development and avoid code redundancy.

Mobile

iOS

Practice

16 years

Projects

150+

Workforce

50+

ScienceSoft’s achieves 20–50% cost reduction for iOS projects due to excellent self-management and Agile skills of the team. The quality is never compromised — our iOS apps are highly rated.

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Android

Practice

14 years

Projects

200+

Workforce

50+

There are award-winning Android apps in ScienceSoft’s portfolio. Among the most prominent projects is the 5-year-long development of Viber, a messaging and VoIP app for 1.8B users.

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Xamarin

Practice

11 years

Projects

85+

Workforce

10+

ScienceSoft cuts the cost of mobile projects twice by building functional and user-friendly cross-platform apps with Xamarin.

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Apache Cordova

ScienceSoft uses Cordova to create cross-platform apps and avoid high project costs that may come with native mobile development.

Progressive Web Apps

ScienceSoft takes the best from native mobile and web apps and creates the ultimate user experience in PWA.

React Native

Practice

8 years

Projects

300+

ScienceSoft reduces up to 50% of project costs and time by creating cross-platform apps that run smoothly on web, Android and iOS.

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Flutter

ScienceSoft will save you from double or even triple expenses associated with platform-specific coding by creating cross-platform apps in Flutter.

Ionic

With Ionic, ScienceSoft creates a single app codebase for web and mobile platforms and thus expands the audience of created apps to billions of users at the best cost.

Desktop

C++

Practice

34 years

Workforce

40

ScienceSoft's C++ developers created the desktop version of Viber and an award-winning imaging application for a global leader in image processing.

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Qt

Practice

4 years

Workforce

40

We used Qt to deliver a cross-platform desktop app for a global leader in image processing, a desktop version of Viber, VoIP messenger with over 1 billion users, and an anti-procrastination app acknowledged by The Daily Telegraph and BBC.

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C#

Practice

19 years

Projects

200+

Workforce

60

Our C# developers created the world’s largest PLM software. Their recent projects: development of SaaS for vCIO services management and underwriting software for a global aviation insurer.

WPF

Practice

15 years

Workforce

~40

We have delivered WPF-based solutions for a leading market research company and a global leader in image processing.

Objective-C

We use Objective-C to implement native macOS features in desktop apps.

Python

Practice

10 years

Workforce

30

We use Python for rapid development of cross-platform desktop apps.

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Databases / data storages

SQL

Microsoft SQL Server

Our Microsoft SQL Server-based projects include a BI solution for 200 healthcare centers, the world’s largest PLM software, and an automated underwriting system for the global commercial insurance carrier.

MySQL

We’ve implemented MySQL for Viber, an instant messenger with 1B+ users, and an award-winning remote patient monitoring software.

Azure SQL Database

Azure SQL Database is great for handling large volumes of data and varying database traffic: it easily scales up and down without any downtime or disruption to the applications. It also offers automatic backups and point-in-time recoveries to protect databases from accidental corruption or deletion.

Oracle

ScienceSoft's team has implemented Oracle for software products used by GSK and AstraZeneca. We’ve also delivered Oracle-based SCM platform for Auchan, a retail chain with 1,700 stores.

PostgreSQL

ScienceSoft has used PostgreSQL in an IoT fleet management solution that supports 2,000+ customers with 26,500+ IoT devices. We’ve also helped a fintech startup promptly launch a top-flight BNPL product based on PostgreSQL.

NoSQL

Apache Cassandra

Our Apache Cassandra consultants helped a leading Internet of Vehicles company enhance their big data solution that analyzes IoT data from 600,000 vehicles.

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Apache Hive

ScienceSoft has helped one of the top market research companies migrate its big data solution for advertising channel analysis to Apache Hive. Together with other improvements, this led tо 100x faster data processing.

Apache HBase

We use HBase if your database should scale to billions of rows and millions of columns while maintaining constant write and read performance.

Apache NiFi

With ScienceSoft’s managed IT support for Apache NiFi, an American biotechnology corporation got 10x faster big data processing, and its software stability increased from 50% to 99%.

MongoDB

ScienceSoft used MongoDB-based warehouse for an IoT solution that processed 30K+ events/per second from 1M devices. We’ve also delivered MongoDB-based operations management software for a pharma manufacturer.

Cloud databases, warehouses and storage

AWS

Amazon Redshift

We use Amazon Redshift to build cost-effective data warehouses that easily handle complex queries and large amounts of data.

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Amazon DynamoDB

We use Amazon DynamoDB as a NoSQL database service for solutions that require low latency, high scalability and always available data.

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Azure

Azure Cosmos DB

We leverage Azure Cosmos DB to implement a multi-model, globally distributed, elastic NoSQL database on the cloud. Our team used Cosmos DB in a connected car solution for one of the world’s technology leaders.

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Azure SQL Database

Azure SQL Database is great for handling large volumes of data and varying database traffic: it easily scales up and down without any downtime or disruption to the applications. It also offers automatic backups and point-in-time recoveries to protect databases from accidental corruption or deletion.

Google Cloud Platform

Google Cloud Datastore

We use Google Cloud Datastore to set up a highly scalable and cost-effective solution for storing and managing NoSQL data structures. This database can be easily integrated with other Google Cloud services (BigQuery, Kubernetes, and many more).

Big data

Apache Hadoop

By request of a leading market research company, we have built a Hadoop-based big data solution for monitoring and analyzing advertising channels in 10+ countries.

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Apache Spark

A large US-based jewelry manufacturer and retailer relies on ETL pipelines built by ScienceSoft’s Spark developers.

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Apache Cassandra

Our Apache Cassandra consultants helped a leading Internet of Vehicles company enhance their big data solution that analyzes IoT data from 600,000 vehicles.

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Apache Kafka

We use Kafka for handling big data streams. In our IoT pet tracking solution, Kafka processes 30,000+ events per second from 1 million devices.

Apache Hive

ScienceSoft has helped one of the top market research companies migrate its big data solution for advertising channel analysis to Apache Hive. Together with other improvements, this led tо 100x faster data processing.

Apache ZooKeeper

We leverage Apache ZooKeeper to coordinate services in large-scale distributed systems and avoid server crashes, performance and partitioning issues.

Apache HBase

We use HBase if your database should scale to billions of rows and millions of columns while maintaining constant write and read performance.

Azure Cosmos DB

We leverage Azure Cosmos DB to implement a multi-model, globally distributed, elastic NoSQL database on the cloud. Our team used Cosmos DB in a connected car solution for one of the world’s technology leaders.

Find out more
Amazon Redshift

We use Amazon Redshift to build cost-effective data warehouses that easily handle complex queries and large amounts of data.

Find out more
Amazon DynamoDB

We use Amazon DynamoDB as a NoSQL database service for solutions that require low latency, high scalability and always available data.

Find out more
MongoDB

ScienceSoft used MongoDB-based warehouse for an IoT solution that processed 30K+ events/per second from 1M devices. We’ve also delivered MongoDB-based operations management software for a pharma manufacturer.

Google Cloud Datastore

We use Google Cloud Datastore to set up a highly scalable and cost-effective solution for storing and managing NoSQL data structures. This database can be easily integrated with other Google Cloud services (BigQuery, Kubernetes, and many more).

AI

Machine learning platforms and services

Machine learning frameworks and libraries

Platforms

Microsoft Dynamics 365

Practice

14 years

Projects

25+

Workforce

10+

A certified Microsoft partner, ScienceSoft creates CRM and ERP solutions powered by Dynamics 365 and optimizes most effectively a range of business operations.

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Salesforce

Projects

10+

ScienceSoft achieves at least 20% increase in sales and 30% improvement in case resolution with well-thought-out and business-tailored Salesforce solutions.

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Adobe Commerce

Practice

11 years

Projects

20+

Workforce

10+

A certified Adobe Solution Partner, ScienceSoft builds on robust functionality of Adobe Commerce to create highly automated and scalable ecommerce solutions.

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SharePoint

Practice

15 years

Projects

100+

Workforce

20+

Solid expertise in SharePoint services has earned ScienceSoft a place in Clutch’s list of Top SharePoint Developers in 2023.

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ServiceNow

Practice

12 years

A certified ServiceNow partner, ScienceSoft offers a proprietary 4-level implementation model that helps deliver the best value from ServiceNow adoption.

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Power BI

Practice

7 years

ScienceSoft sets up Power BI to process data from any source and report on data findings in a user-friendly format.

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SAP SE

SAP products are powerful and intricate. ScienceSoft will help you understand and realize the full value they can offer to your business.

DevOps

Containerization

Automation

CI/CD tools

Monitoring

Implementation Costs and Financial Outcomes for Automated Invoice Processing

Pricing Information

Based on ScienceSoft's experience, a custom invoice processing automation system requires $140,000–$400,000 in investments, depending on the solution complexity.

Want to know the cost of your invoice processing solution?

Get an estimate

Annual ROI for a custom automated invoice processing system may reach up to 460%. An average payback period for such a solution is about 6 months.

Benefits of invoice processing automation

  • Up to 90%

    reduction in invoice processing cost

  • 4x

    increase in AP managers’ productivity

  • Up to 80%

    shorter invoice-to-pay cycle

  • Simplified

    regulatory compliance and audit preparation

When a Custom Invoice Processing Automation System is Your Best Choice

ScienceSoft recommends opting for custom development in the following cases:

You need an automated invoice processing system to provide specific features, for example, creating custom events to trigger invoice validation and posting to GL or enabling tailored priority rules for invoice routing for approval and payment.

Your invoice processing automation solution needs to meet specific compliance and security requirements (e.g., in the healthcare industry or public sector).

You want to avoid costly and effort-consuming integration of the automated invoice processing system with your existing business-critical solutions.

ScienceSoft’s best practice: If you deal with a moderate volume of invoices and don’t have specific requirements to the automation solution’s UX and UI, consider platform-based development. From our experience, using low-code platforms (e.g., Microsoft Power Apps) can reduce the costs of creating an invoice processing automation system by up to 74%.

Invoice Processing Automation with ScienceSoft

In financial software development since 2007, ScienceSoft helps companies implement reliable invoice processing automation.

Invoice processing automation: consulting

  • Analysis of invoice processing automation needs.
  • Assessment of the existing invoice management processes, tools and their integration points.
  • Suggesting optimal invoice processing automation features, solution architecture and tech stack.
  • Preparing a plan of integrations with the required systems.
  • Implementation cost & time estimates, expected ROI calculation.
Go for consulting

Invoice processing automation: implementation

  • Invoice processing automation needs analysis.
  • Automated invoice processing solution conceptualization.
  • Architecture design.
  • Development of the invoice processing automation system.
  • Integrating the solution with relevant software.
  • Quality assurance.
  • User training.
  • Continuous support and evolution (if required).
Go for implementation

We cooperated with ScienceSoft on the evolution of our Azure-based product for accounts payable management. ScienceSoft was to cover end-to-end development of an intelligent paperless invoice processing module for the product.

The new software module performs stably even under heavy load, which helps provide a high-quality user experience for our customers. ScienceSoft proved to be a reliable tech partner, and we can recommend other businesses to consider ScienceSoft as a software development vendor.

Wadih Pazos, Chief Operating Officer, Paramount WorkPlace

About ScienceSoft

ScienceSoft is a global IT consulting and software development company headquartered in McKinney, Texas. Since 2007, we help businesses implement effective invoice processing automation. Being ISO 9001 and ISO 27001 certified, we apply a mature quality management system and guarantee that cooperation with us does not pose any risks to your data security. If you are interested in getting a robust automated invoice processing solution, feel free to turn to ScienceSoft’s team.