Simplifying Invoice Management with Vendor Invoice Management (VIM): A Guide for IT Executives
As an IT executive, streamlining complex processes is undoubtedly at the forefront of your strategic initiatives. In this context, let’s explore Vendor Invoice Management (VIM) by OpenText, an advanced solution integrated within SAP ERP systems, designed to enhance the efficiency and accuracy of your invoice management process.
Understanding the Challenges in Invoice Management:
The involvement of multiple teams in invoice processing often leads to inefficiencies due to repetitive distribution.
The existence of multiple invoice copies can create transparency issues and inconsistencies.
Lengthy, manual processing cycles can result in lost early payment discount opportunities.
Challenges in mitigating duplicate payments, erroneous postings, and misplaced invoices are prevalent.
How VIM Addresses These Challenges:
VIM’s automation capabilities, from paper to post, are enabled by Intelligent Capture, an OCR tool that streamlines the process.
It effectively extracts and validates data from emails and physical mail, initiating efficient workflows and approvals.
Key Considerations in Implementing VIM:
Clear delineation of responsibilities for scanning and OCR validation is crucial for maximizing VIM’s zero-touch approach.
VIM’s reliance on SAP standard workflows necessitates Basis support to enhance system performance and address potential bottlenecks.
The decision to store invoice documents in the SAP database should be made after evaluating the impact on system performance.
A design approach that minimizes customizations can significantly reduce technical support and system upgrade costs.
Avoiding Common Pitfalls:
Adequate training of the OCR system with a diverse set of invoices is essential for accuracy.
Transitioning to a centralized invoice process requires an assessment of its impact and stakeholder buy-in.
Early email server configuration outside of SAP is crucial for the emailed invoice functionality.
Increased accountability within the procurement team is vital for resolving issues and maintaining smooth operations.
Frequent Challenges Encountered by Customers:
Manual maintenance is required for the Chart of Authority and VIM Roles user maintenance, which can often be automated.
Baseline tax code determination in VIM may require customization to meet specific customer needs.
RDS Best Practice Advice:
Adhering to VIM’s standard processes as much as possible during the design phase is recommended.
Your organization’s transition to efficient invoice management is pivotal to operational excellence. We welcome the opportunity to discuss further how VIM can be tailored to meet your organizational needs.
Ask a Trusted OpenText SAP Consultant
Streamline, accelerate and consolidate your enterprise processes with the latest VIM upgrade for your SAP environment. It’s essential that enterprises get the full advantages of VIM’s current version, understand how it can affect migrating to SAP S4/HANA, and strategize how they can get more value out of their VIM licenses.
But your enterprise doesn’t have to do this alone. RDS Consulting is an SAP and OpenText partner with a team of multi-lingual VIM upgrade experts dedicated to the platform. We’ve worked on the most successful VIM projects worldwide and have a proven track record of helping enterprises maximize their VIM solution.