SAP Invoice Management is now well implemented
Proper implementation, optimization and management of SAP Invoice Management (SIM) requires specific knowledge. Utrecht University therefore called on the expertise of Avelon. "The processing of incoming invoices is now really excellent," says Rob Plattèl, director of the Administrative Service Centre (ASC) at Utrecht University.
"We were able to significantly scale down the Outgoing Funds team"
The 'Outgoing cash flow' department of the Administrative Services Centre processes around 110,000 incoming invoices per year. In many cases the invoices linked to an purchase order are already processed 'touchless'. In most cases, however, the ASC must provide the invoices with a unique code, after which they go via a controller to a budget holder and are finally paid.
SAP Invoice Management
The University of Utrecht has been using SAP Invoice Management to handle incoming invoices since 2018. With this solution, the educational institution hoped to make the process less labor-intensive and to reduce the number of errors. At first, however, the operation of SIM was not fully satisfactory. Utrecht University was even forced to expand its outgoing cash flow team to include temporary staff.
"For example, the routing table that ensures that an invoice goes to the correct assessor after assigning the correct code did not function correctly," explains Plattèl. "Invoices were randomly sent into the organization and thus ended up with the wrong people. And if an invoice was routed correctly, it often got stuck with an approver and SAP Functional Management had to give a push manually".
According to Marielle Tonk, at Utrecht University Department Manager Administration Services, the disappointing performance of the new system was the result of an unfortunate concurrence of circumstances. According to Tonk, the cause of the problems lay partly in the processes, and partly in the technology. "In any case, the most important thing was that a turnaround was needed. That's why we started looking for an IT partner who could take care of that in a 'second phase'".
"The SIM (process) experts at Avelon were fantastic. They solved a lot of problems with endless patience and provided peace of mind"
In sprints to improvement
Halfway through 2019, Avelon started with a 're-design' of both the processes and the technology. The SAP partner in process optimization did this by solving the identified pain and improvement areas - over two hundred in total - in seven sprints of a month. "Because you always design, build, deliver and communicate a solution to the users in a short period of time, such an approach can be quite challenging," says Martijn Wever, SIM project leader and managing partner at Avelon. "However, Utrecht University already had experience with this way of working and made sure that the right people were hooked up at the different times".
"Thanks to the agile approach, we were able to check with the organization much more quickly whether we were making the desired changes. That is incredibly important," says Tonk. "An agile way of working also provides clarity and structure in the process, which promotes communication between business and IT. And by achieving successes on a regular basis, you get the feeling that you are jointly capable of carrying out a good project. That provides the energy that is so important".
According to Tonk, Avelon's 'independent view from the outside' also contributed to a smooth process. "Martijn was the director overall who, with a clear goal in mind, ensured that all noses went in the same direction. But Avelon's SIM (process) experts were also fantastic. With endless patience, they solved a lot of problems and ensured peace of mind".
Successful project
After completing the seven sprints, Tonk and Plattèl can look back on a successful project. The number of errors has decreased, resulting in fewer invoices coming back. Customer satisfaction has also increased.
"Where previously we had to deal with a turnaround time for incoming invoices of about five days, now it's one day. This is partly due to the current set-up of the SIM system, and partly due to the good team that is on it", concludes Plattèl. "But we have also been able to scale down the outgoing cash flow team considerably, from 18 permanent employees and 12 temporary workers to 13 permanent employees and 1 temporary worker. For me, that's the real proof that SIM is now well implemented".
More information
For questions or information about the application possibilities of SAP Invoice Management (SIM) within your organization or for questions regarding SAP Workflow, Fiori or SAP Master Data Governance (MDG), please contact Martijn Wever.
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