Accounts Payable IWA

About the Program

Category: Financial Management (Best in Category)

Year: 2014

The Accounts Payable Imaging and Workflow Automation (IWA) solution was implemented to streamline the County’s accounts payable process and obtain efficiencies by lowering invoice processing costs, reducing invoice receipt-to-payment cycle time, and enhancing invoice visibility and control with the goal to eventually publish invoice images in the Transparency website. The solution also introduced a shared services concept with the required change management process that is expected to pave the road towards business process transformations required for the implementation of an enterprise resources planning (ERP) financial system countywide. As part of the Accounts Payable IWA solution, vendor invoices are received at a central location in the Finance Department. Once the paper invoice is received, it is scanned, PO/Vendor information is validated against FAMIS (the County’s legacy financial system), then the invoice is forwarded electronically via workflow to the respective department for approval of receipt of goods/services and payment. Approval notification is returned to Finance via workflow and minor voucher information is then entered into FAMIS as most information is pre-populated from IWA, payment is issued via check or ACH/EFT process, and check issuance information is interfaced back to the IWA solution to “complete” the on-line file. The initial deployment in August 2012 was limited to three ‘pilot’ departments with a phased-in approach: an additional ‘pilot’ department was added in 2013, four departments are planned for fiscal year 2014, and the remaining 32 County departments/offices are expected to be implemented over a period of two years. The Accounts Payable IWA solution has been well received by the departments where it has been implemented as it has eliminated paper handling during invoice processing and retrieval, eliminated multiple department storage, automated the routing of tasks to individuals, and improved invoice visibility and control. One department has been able to handle an increased volume of invoices without the need for increased staffing. Reduction of staff is expected as we roll out the process countywide.