Automated invoice processing enhances efficiency at

Wollongong City Council

For a council that aims to be a “city of innovation”, it is no real surprise that Wollongong City Council is one of the first councils in Australia to have an automated paper-driven business process solution. The Client Industry With a population approaching 200,000, (AP) department is one of the more • Local Government Wollongong City Council is Australia’s ninth labour-intensive areas, processing an largest city Council. Wollongong is located average of 50,000 supplier invoices per Organisation 80km south of Sydney, the gateway to the year. • Wollongong City Council South Coast of NSW and renowned for its To increase efficiency, Wollongong City State economic and community initiatives. Council commenced a project with • New South Wales With continuous growth of new businesses Xcellerate IT and went live with a Solution and population in the Illawarra region, so solution for AP Automation in May • Kofax Capture was the pressure of the Council and its 2008. employees to maintain a high level of • Kofax KTM customer services. The accounts payable • Kofax VRS Date solution deployed • May 2008 The Challenges The Solution “Our invoice processing procedure was quite The AP Automation solution adopted time consuming and prone to human error by Wollongong City Council is the due to the manual input of data” said Kofax Capture platform, integrated Emanuel Sarkhosh, Systems Accounting with TechnologyOne Financials and Officer. The processing lag had the potential its purchasing module. to create budgetary implications when the The invoices are scanned in a recognition of expenditure was significantly centralised environment, processed delayed. The issues were not limited to through the recognition module and invoice processing but were affecting the validated by AP personnel for compliance with other procurement exceptions. The validated extracted processes. information is then passed to the The accounts payable staff was often in Release Module where it is uploaded constant under pressure, handling increasing to TechnologyOne Financials with the amounts of paperwork. Invoices were images stored into SharePoint. manually handled and manually routed Wollongong City Council’s invoice around the organisation for approval. processing solution is based on the “As a growing council, the objectives were to key elements of the Kofax Capture adopt a solution that was able to reduce the platform, including: manual keying, integrate with our financial · Kofax Capture, which automates system and provide us with a more efficient data capture from scanned paper or use of employee resources” added Emanuel. imported documents.

· Kofax VirtualReScan (VRS), used to enhance the quality of digital images produced. “The solution added value to our AP functions by providing us with a more efficient use of employee · Kofax Transformation Modules (KTM), which resources. The suppliers are paid now on time and streamlines the transformation of business documents we reduced significantly the processing times by into structured electronic information by automating the eliminating data entry” processes of document classification and data extraction.

Emanuel Sarkosh, The Benefit – “A more Systems Accounting Officer efficient use of employee resources” By switching from manual processing to an electronic Xcellerate IT solution, accounts payable personnel are now able to With over 16 years of experience in the document delivery and spend their time on more valuable tasks. capture marketplace, Xcellerate IT is a leading Australian The introduction of the latest functionalities from provider of business process automation solutions. Technology One has led to a reduction of work hours dedicated in handling invoices, with all the exceptions Xcellerate IT’s solution provides an essential link between dealt with in the Technology One application. enterprise applications “Systems of Records” and the way in which your customers and suppliers engage with your business “The solution added value to our AP functions by “System of Engagement” resulting in an optimised customer providing us with a more efficient use of employee experience and greatly reduced operational costs. resources. The suppliers are paid now on time and we reduced significantly the processing times by eliminating Xcellerate IT’s solutions are widely used across multiple data entry” said Sarkhosh. industries in manufacturing, finance, local and state government, healthcare and a wide range of companies that Howard Boretsky, Managing Director from Xcellerate IT require the capture of critical information from paper, said “Wollongong City Council was one of our first major electronic documents and forms. local council projects and we are proud of our successful For further information visit our website relationship. It is an ongoing partnership, as we continue to work closely with the accounts payable department www.xcellerateit.com.au providing support and upgrades to improve the way they streamline their processes”. Xcellerate IT Pty Ltd

Level 2, 201 Miller Street North Sydney NSW 2060 T + 61 2 8228 6600 F + 61 2 9929 6966