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Imaging in Accounts Payable Can Have Big Payoffs – Make Sure You Avoid Big Problems

An increasing number of corporations are turning to imaging systems to help manage the growing number of documents that pass through their organizations.

Imaging is a simple concept—replacing paper documents with digitally scanned images stored on optical disks. Millions of documents on servers can be accessed by multiple users.

Any imaging vendor can give you an excellent list of benefits for using imaging systems in Accounts Payable operations. However, imaging in Accounts Payable is unlike imaging elsewhere. You need to avoid what can be big problems!

If you’re thinking about an imaging system for your Accounts Payable operation, make sure you consider the following:

  • A/P receives documents in a wide range of sizes, shapes and colors. Format, content and print quality vary greatly from one vendor’s invoice to another. Expense reports often have many small attachments. Scanners may have difficulty handling the documents you work with.
  • Avoid optical character recognition of invoice images; error rates are too high. With 99% accuracy, every document you try to "recognize" will have at least one error!
  • Screens should be at least 22 inches to allow your staff to accurately interpret information based on document images.
  • Image Indexing should be integrated with entry of information into your payables system to ensure that you’ll be able to find documents when you need them.
  • Image indexes can get very large. Your staff should learn how to search efficiently.
  • Images take up a lot of storage. Make sure you have enough for future growth.
  • Transmitting images from a server to a workstation uses a lot of network capacity.
  • Image retrieval time from a ‘jukebox’ may increase exponentially as the number of users grows.
  • Automatic faxing of retrieval results back to the requestor is desirable.
  • A system should allow selective retrieval when only part of a document is needed.
  • When evaluating vendors, contact references who are using imaging in A/P.

Imaging systems can provide efficiencies and benefits for many. For some, however, the investment is too great. Before making the operational and financial commitment to an imaging system, be sure it is a solution that meets your organization's unique needs.

For more tips and ideas, contact RECAP.