Changes to how we process purchase invoices at Kent

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Introduction

Our new Proactis-UBW Automated Invoice Processing System went live on 14th June 2024. The new system introduces some fundamental changes to the way the University receives, validates, approves and processes supplier invoices. This note gives notifies you of the key changes and provides a high-level overview of the system functionality.

Key Notifications:

Please note the following practical implications of the new system for our ‘Procure to Pay’ processes:

  • Purchase orders (POs) must be raised for all procurement activities in line with the University’s ‘No PO, No Pay’ policy. To ensure that invoice payment queries and delays are minimised, it is important to share PO numbers with your suppliers to quote on their invoices.
  • Approval of a PO now effectively amounts to approval of the resulting supplier’s invoice: The Automated Invoice Processing system workflow eliminates the need for invoices to be separately  approved, provided the PO number quoted on the invoice is an active approved PO on UBW.
  • Relevant Finance teams must be promptly notified of goods/ service received against orders as this will ensure a more seamless processing of supplier invoices.
  • To facilitate the operation of the new system, all suppliers on Finance’s records have been contacted with a request to issue all future invoices to the University through a dedicated Payments Office email address – namely finsupplierinvoices@kent.ac.uk effective from 17th June 2024. The communications to suppliers also provided guidance on their invoicing activities necessary to ensure a smooth operation of new system (eg. the importance of quoting PO numbers on invoices, specification of separate delivery and payment office addresses etc.)
  • To assist with a smooth cutover to the new system, all invoices currently with individual staff, divisions and departments must be forwarded to relevant Finance teams or the Payments Office for processing as soon as possible.

Overview of System Functionality

Below is a brief summary of the system functionality.

  • The system is configured to access electronic invoices in pdf or word format emailed to the dedicated Payments Office email address specified above (or scanned in). The system subsequently uses AI /OCR technologies to capture and validate key invoice data/information against the underlying UBW PO information before transmitting relevant data to the UBW accounting system for payment processing.
  • To facilitate processing efficiency, documents consumed by the Invoice Capture system will be batched into PO Invoices, non-PO Invoices and Credit Notes.
  • Invoices must pass a three-way validation test (against corresponding data on the UBW PO system) in order to seamlessly transmit to the UBW ERP for payment, namely:
      1. Existence of an approved UBW PO number which matches the PO number on the invoice;
      2. Invoice amount matching the PO amount (within a set range of tolerance); and
      3. PO must have already been ‘Goods Receipted’ on the UBW PO system
  • Invoices that pass the above three-way validation will be directly transmitted for payment processing on UBW without the need for it to go through the invoice workflow.
  • Invoices that fail validation on account of any of the above 3 criteria will require manual intervention and will be electronically referred to relevant Finance teams (centralised or devolved) connected with the particular procurement or PO for their immediate attention as necessary.
  • Notably non-POP invoices (invoices received without POs) will require manual intervention involving Payments Office generically coding them initially, and subsequently routeing them to relevant Finance teams for coding amendment and payment approval.
  • Once appropriate actions have been taken, updated invoice transactions will be re-subjected to validation and will be transmitted to UBW for payment processing if all issues have been successfully resolved.

Training and Support

Training sessions have been scheduled for relevant Finance teams and staff who will have practical firsthand day to day use of the system. Managers and staff of the Payments Office and the Financial Information Systems teams have worked closely with the system suppliers as part of the system implementation and will provide ongoing in-house support where necessary. The University will also benefit from ongoing system support from the system suppliers (Proactis and Unit4 UBW).

Overall, when optimally functional, the new system is expected to yield significant processing efficiency, improve visibility of invoice flows, achieve staff time/cost savings, reduce manual processing and admin effort, improve accuracy and timeliness of payments, and minimise supplier queries and disputes.