The efficiency of your revenue operations directly impacts your bottom line. For many businesses, a major bottleneck can be the manual process of invoicing customers through their dedicated supplier portals, such as Ariba and Coupa. These portals, while great for the customer, can create significant administrative burdens, delays, and errors. The solution? Automating the electronic transmission of invoice data directly to these portals. 

Source: Federal Reserve, U.S. Adoption of
Electronic Invoicing

The Business Benefits and Challenges 

Automating the process of electronic invoicing offers substantial business benefits. In certain areas of industries and geographies it has become a standard way of transmitting information. First and foremost, it reduces payment cycles. Manual data entry into multiple portals is time-consuming and prone to error. By automating, you get your invoices into the system faster and more accurately, leading to quicker approvals and payments. This improved cash flow is a game-changer for any business, especially for small to medium-sized organizations. It also enhances data accuracy and reduces errors. When you eliminate manual data transcription, you remove the risk of typos, incorrect amounts, or misplaced invoices, which can cause frustrating payment delays and require hours of corrective work. 

Despite these benefits, many companies still struggle with electronic invoicing. A primary challenge is the number of different portals, each with its own unique requirements for data fields, file formats, and submission methods. There is no one-size-fits-all solution. Another issue is the constant evolution of these portals; a change on the customer’s end can break your manual process, requiring a scramble to update workflows. The lack of standardized communication protocols between different systems makes true end-to-end automation complex without the right technology. 

Key Considerations for Implementation

Moving from a manual, time-consuming process to an automated one requires careful planning. Here are the most important considerations for electronic invoicing: 

  • Automation: The goal is to set up a system that automatically generates an invoice from your core financial system and sends it directly to the customer’s portal with minimal human intervention. This requires a robust integration platform capable of handling various data formats like cXML, JSON, or flat files. 
  • Control: While automation is key, maintaining control is just as important. You need a system with a dashboard or a simple user interface that allows your finance team to monitor the status of invoices, view submission histories, and easily troubleshoot any failed transmissions. This ensures visibility and accountability. 
  • Vendor Specification: Each customer’s supplier portal is unique. You must have a clear understanding of each portal’s specific technical requirements, including required data fields, API endpoints, and authentication methods. This initial research and setup are crucial for a successful implementation. 

Workday Functionality to Support Electronic Invoicing 

Workday Financial Management provides powerful functionalities that make this kind of automation possible. The Electronic Invoice Connector within Workday is a key feature, offering native support for the cXML standard used by many supplier portals. This eliminates the need for complex and expensive custom integrations. The connector can be configured to automatically pull invoice data from your financial transactions, format it into the required cXML structure, and transmit it directly to the specified customer portal. You can store supplier portal credentials directly in the system so that staff turnover does not impede invoice delivery. 

This streamlined approach allows you to automate much of your invoicing process, manage all settings and credentials in one place, and significantly reduce the administrative overhead associated with manual data entry. 

How Teamup9 Can Help 

At Teamup9, we specialize in helping businesses like yours streamline their revenue operations. We can assist you by: 

  • Evaluating your business requirements: We’ll analyze your existing invoicing processes, identify the portals you use, and document the specific requirements for each one. 
  • Performing the technical implementation: We will configure the Workday Electronic Invoice Connector to support your unique business needs, ensuring a smooth and accurate data flow from your financial system to your customer’s portal. 
  • Providing ongoing support: Our team can help you monitor the automated process, troubleshoot any issues, and adapt to changes in your customers’ portals to ensure your invoicing remains seamless. 

By partnering with us, you can move away from manual data entry and toward a fully automated revenue operation that drives efficiency and improves cash flow.