2024 OpenText Deep Dive
Martin Nooteboom - Senior SAP Invoice Management Consultant
In June 2024, the 2-day "OpenText VIM and Capture Deep dive" event took place at the OpenText office in Grasbrunn. This year Avelon, as VIM market leader in the Netherlands and long-time partner of OpenText, was invited again. As every year, the Vendor Invoice Management (VIM) Roadmap was shared including some sneak previews of new developments. The full range of components of VIM were covered, the Invoicing solution, Beyond invoice and Capture.
In this blog, we review the roadmaps for these various components and highlights of new developments.
Tip: The slides in this blog have been made "zoomable." Clicking on a slide brings up the high resolution and all the details are easy to read.
VIM Inbound and Beyond Invoice scenarios
As shown in the release strategy below, there are three versions depending on the underlying SAP version. For ECC there is the 7.6 version, for S/4HANA 2022 and earlier there is the 20.4 version and for S/4HANA 2023 there is the 23.4 version. The VIM versions for the "older" versions of SAP will continue to be supported until the end of 2027 as indicated, but the new developments and functionality will basically be released only for the VIM23.4.
For 2024, OpenText has focused on the following six points:
Adding AI functionality to increase automation and efficiency.
Increase opportunities to expand and tailor workflows to the customer.
Adoption of SAP Clean Core principles.
Arrive at a user interface of only Fiori apps.
Delivering Out of the Box Analytics
Develop on Clean Core principles.
Using this focus, OpenText has the following roadmap for the Foundation (the foundation for the VIM solution) focusing on the architecture and integration capabilities of the solution:
For VIM Beyond Invoices, the focus for this year is on usability, with a shift to analytics and automation in the future.
For version 23.4 SPS1 of the Foundation, Inbound and Beyond Invoices solution, the following developments stand out:
Release of local ABAP APIs that enable compliance with SAP's Cloud ABAP standard
A new Fiori app that allows maintenance of the staging table (the intermediate table for OCR) for for addresses of business partners, suppliers, customers, branches and company numbers.
A new API for the VIM Inbound.
Processing incoming orders via XML/PEPPOL format
Open VIM
In line with the SAP Clean Core philosophy for S/4HANA, OpenText is now working on what they call Open VIM. This means that now the first released interfaces will be delivered according to the Cloud ABAP standard. In addition, more CDS views and Fiori apps based on RAP (RESTful Application Programming Model) will be developed.
Especially in the area of Released APIs, OpenText's commitment to the Clean Core is easy to see:
Related to this, OpenText has the following strategy for SAP BTP (Business Technology Platform) and AI:
Invest in AI capabilities (e.g., the PAL Library).
Providing "Open VIM" capabilities:
The API for document reception.
Support for external workflows.
ODATA servcie.
Embracing new technologies and services:
Generative AI Hub.
SAP SIGNAVIO Value Accelerator.
Business Process Automation.
Capture
The OCR solution consists of two variants with similar functionality: Core Capture, which is offered as a Cloud service, and Intelligent Capture, which is offered as a so-called on premise installation.
The release strategy for the OCR solutions run in line with the VIM releases.
Arabic is added to the languages supported with the upcoming 23.4 release. The new Fiori Validation web application allows users to validate specific documents.
The following developments are on the 2024 and 2025 automation roadmap:
Use of the latest AI technologies:
For better "out of the box" recognition.
For recognition of handwritten text, and vertical text.
For improved "out of the box" recognition for sales orders, packing slips and the like for all countries.
Automatic "pre-learning" based on historical SAP documents and linked documents.
Extracting multiple documents from a single PDF.
Detecting attachments.
Usability improvements:
Ability to create a recognition profile for all character sets, languages and countries per scenario.
Translation of document text in the Fiori Validation Workplace for the user.
Defining control rules in natural language with AI/LLM (Large Language Model).
Retrieve reporting information in natural language with AI/LLM.
The complete roadmap is as follows:
Invoice Solution
The following slides outline what OpenText is focusing on in the short and long term. For 2024, the theme is "Delivering intelligent automation with enhanced rule matching, with the ability to process TM invoices and a great user interface for the end user."
A few more improvements are planned for versions 7.6 and 20.4:
But most of the new developments come in version 23.4 as already indicated.
The "great user interface" mentioned in the theme is planned in the above roadmap as the new Fiori UI5 tool in which, among other things, validation will be integrated (similar to the Single Click Entry in the SAP Gui).
In addition, improvements to "PO item matching" are also being worked on where so-called Confidence matching and Fuzzy search for line text can be used. A PO matching profiling program is planned for 23.4 SPS2 that will help analyze matching and how to improve it.
Within the Invoice solution, two developments were highlighted during the Deep Dive:
Analytical cards for Invoices
A new Fiori Cockpit for accounts payable has been developed where the employee can use different inputs (called Cards) to determine which invoices to pick up. Six different cards are currently available with new cards in the planning for future releases. The following cards are available:
Most Urgent Invoices, based on due date.
Most Valued Invoices, based on gross amount.
Invoice Exception Analysis, showing the most common exceptions.
Blocked Invoices, sorted by gross amount.
Invoice Life Cycle report.
My VIM Apps, links to the most commonly used billing apps.
Users can customize the layout, and choose which maps are available in the Cockpit.
Integration from the cards to the Accounts Payable Workplace Fiori app will be available from version 23.4 SPS1.
SAP Transportation Management Integration
With VIM 20.4 SPS2, the first integration was delivered for the Invoice Solution with SAP Transportation Management *(TM). This consists of a new Document Processing Type, special business rules (including an exclusive rule "Check for Transportation purchase order PO") and a new role TM Processor.
The index screen has been extended with a new block of TM-specific fields on the header. Rules can be proposed based on Transportation Management purchase orders.
TM-specific fields have also been added to BDC2200 for background books.
The OCR also includes the TM-specific fields on both header and line that are trained with the validation.
New to the integration in the next version is the ability to navigate from the index screen, Workplace and Analytics to Freight Order, Freight Settlement, House Bill of Lading and Airway Bill in both the embedded TM solution and the standalone version.
In addition, booking on Freight Orders with rules is supported.
Future versions will include the following new extensions to the solution:
Expanding the integration with the ability to start the Dispute Management process in TM from VIM, with the VIM process waiting for feedback from SAP TM.
A new business rule for determining a dispute or difference.
Support for IDoc types with specific TM fields.
The list view of the Vendor Invoice report tabs in the AP workplace Fiori app is expanded to include the TM-specific fields.
Summary
A summary of this blog is listed below:
OpenText Deep Dive on VIM and Capture Solutions: The blog describes OpenText's roadmap, new developments and focal points for its Vendor Invoice Management (VIM) and Capture solutions for various SAP versions.
VIM Inbound and Beyond Invoice scenarios: OpenText has three versions of VIM depending on the underlying SAP version, with the latest version (23.4) containing the most new functionality. The focus is on adding AI, increasing workflow capabilities, adopting SAP Clean Core principles, providing a Fiori interface and Out of the Box Analytics.
Open VIM: OpenText is working to provide interfaces according to SAP's Cloud ABAP standard, use CDS views and RAP (RESTfull Application Programming), invest in AI capabilities, support external workflows and embrace new technologies and services.
Capture: The OCR solution consists of two variants: Core Capture (Cloud) and Intelligent Capture (on-premise). OpenText is working on improving recognition, machine learning, extracting multiple documents from a single PDF, detecting attachments, translating document text and defining control rules with AI.
Invoice Solution: The Invoice Solution offers a new Fiori Cockpit for accounts payable, integration with SAP Transportation Management, enhanced PO item matching with Confidence matching and Fuzzy search, and a new Fiori UI5 tool for validation.
More information
For further questions or information on this topic, or for other questions regarding SAP Workflow, Fiori or SAP Invoice Management (SIM), please contact Martijn Wever.
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