Case study - Electronic invoice

Goal:

Automatic processing of incoming invoices in electronic form and documents associated with invoicing. The electronic form is an XML file, the result of processing the file is an accounting document in the SAP-FI module and in some cases it can be the simultaneous entry of technical data into other systems, such as recording the status of electricity meters and readings in SAP-ISU.

Overview of document types:

Tax document – Invoice
Tax credit
Tax debit note
Payment calendar

At the same time, there is a graphical form of the accounting document in PDF format for each XML file.

Problems:

Manual entry of supplier invoices into the accounting system
Higher time consuming process of document registration
Possibility of “document loss” between the post office / filing department and the accounting department
Prolonged manual control of data on documents

Our solution:

Our solution is to use the standard SAP functionality as much as possible. The whole solution works in the SAP environment, the only external environment is an XML message repository implemented using an FTP server. Process of the document processing takes place in two phases.

1. Phase

The first phase is the import of electronic documents into SAP, where in the first step the XML file is loaded and the appropriate IDoc is created. In the second step, the IDoc is processed, the correctness of the technical data is confirmed. Individual states of IDoc as well as Idoc itself can be monitored with standard tools, for example transaction BD87, WE05. A new transaction is created for the needs of user monitoring. The standard feature of Idoc is that all states of its processing are recorded with the identification of the person who performed the action and a time stamp.

2. Phase

In the second phase, the accounting document is processed, where on the basis of defined rules a preliminary accounting document is created, which is completely recorded in the system after the process of approval and possible supplementation of additional information.

Benefits & Results