OCR: Why a must have in your building software?

OC... what?

OCR stands for Optical Character Recognition. But what exactly does that mean? Optical character recognition ensures that a text on PDF or other format is converted into a digital text. Innovative Accounting was quick to introduce this technology for digital processing of purchase invoices.

Purchase invoices you receive in many ways through the post, in your inbox and sometimes you have to look for them yourself in an online customer portal. The process of collecting all your invoices does not seem easy that way, let alone having to type them all into your administrative software afterwards. In that case, you would rather pay your accountant a bit more and hand him a stack of classics with purchase invoices, right? Or would you?

Save costs and give your accountant time to do what he is really good at: your financial advice! 
Process all these purchase invoices by forwarding them to your digital inbox where they are processed via OCR. No more over-typing! Your purchase invoices are already 90% correctly created!

In this article, we would like to explain more about how OCR works, what you need to do to activate it and why it is an interesting investment for your company.

 

Step 1: create a digital version of each invoice.

We have to admit it, we at Robaws are not fans of still receiving invoices via correspondence in the letterbox. It is a waste of paper, it is confusing, it is expensive for the supplier and it is also very outdated. 

So make good agreements with your suppliers. Many suppliers find it an advantage that they no longer have to organise this correspondence, but too often they feel obliged to do so. If you receive all your invoices digitally, you can leave the scanning process to them.

Step 2: activate OCR and perform the 'pre-accounting'

To use OCR in your administrative software, it is best to inquire well with the support desk. Also bear in mind that there is usually a fee per document for using OCR, this fee is minimal.

With Robaws, you activate the use of OCR in the settings, you get a personal digital mailbox for sending purchase invoices via e-mail. Go through the settings carefully, paying attention to the following: 

  • You can opt to specify valid e-mail addresses that are allowed to use the mailbox.
  • You can block an invoice that has already been added from passing through OCR again.
  • If you send an xml version, you can give it priority over OCR. This is free of charge and is immediately processed in Robaws.

Do not forget to provide your articles with the correct general ledger account, VAT rate, cost centre and cost centre. When OCR links your article to the purchase invoice, you will also immediately have the accounting information on the invoice.

Step 3: Send, wait, edit!

Settings set right?

forward the invoice to your digital mailbox and let OCR do the work, 
Be patient, many partners offering OCR need several hours to process these invoices all digitally. 

The next day you wake up to find that your purchase invoices have been added digitally in your ERP. OCR offers a 90% success rate of correctness which means you only need to spend minimal time on edits.

Step 4: pay up!

Forget the hassle of paying invoice by invoice, rechecking 20 times whether the structured communication and account number are correct. Be surprised by payment tools in modern ERP. 

Pull a payment file of all outstanding invoices and pay everything at once in your banking app.

 

 

An absolute must-have

That it costs something is a fact but that it also pays off is definitely true!

  • For OCR, you pay 50 cents per document at Robaws. But what is 50 cents when you calculate how much time you would have to put in if you had to input everything manually. Then you might think 'then I'll just put it in a class door that I hand over to the accountant'.
  • But. The accountant will not continue to do this on paper forever. The standard is increasingly being set on complete digital records. Why not invest in a revamped approach now? That way you're already on the digital train.
  • Moreover, by processing your purchase invoices digitally, you also get a continuous and up-to-date view of your income and expenses, your post-calculation simply rolls out of your ERP without separate calculations in an Excel. This continuous insight into your revenues and costs ensures that your company is economically healthy and can better assess and prevent risks.
     

In short: OCR really is an important tool for quickly processing purchase invoices digitally and you will only gain as a company!