Leading Worldwide Chemical Manufacturer: Web-Based
A/P Solution

The Client

The client is a leading, worldwide supplier of specialty and intermediate chemicals for a diverse array of consumer and industrial applications. In 1998, the client's sales totaled $ 6.2 billion, they had 23,500 employees, and 104 production sites worldwide. McFadyen Solutions was asked to join their team to design and implement a workflow solution for vendor invoicing through the Accounts Payable department. By working closely with the client, McFadyen Solutions designed and implemented an enterprise-wide, Web-based solution that transformed the A/P process into a centralized system which minimized risk of data loss, increased the retrieval and archive capabilities and improved employee efficiency.

The Business Challenge

Prior to McFadyen Solutions's involvement with the client, the Accounts Payable staff was working with the paper copies of invoices. The previous contractor had attempted to devise a system in which images were scanned and viewed rather than relying on paper copies but it failed due to technical and cultural issues.

Initially with the old system, Invoices were received in the mailroom, grouped according to the invoice processor, and scanned into the system. Assignment of invoices to the processor was by the first alphabet letter of the supplier's name. The processors picked up their queues electronically, bringing up the invoice image and a J.D. Edwards system (accounting software) concurrently on their screen. Invoices were paid and then linked to the J.D. Edwards voucher via an image management software developed by the contractor. The invoice images were archived and available for viewing by all users.
The system was abandoned because bringing up subsequent invoices during payment took close to 15 minutes! Zooming was inconvenient and cumbersome due to small monitors. The issue was worsened by the fact that the video cards in the invoice processor machines were unable to handle resolutions higher than 640 x 480--antiquated by today's standards.

The Return on Investment

McFadyen Solutions worked closely with the client to design a centralized, Web-based Accounts Payable system. Goals for the system included: addressing goals and concerns of the client, making the system comfortable for those involved in the workflow and incorporating legacy components that had proven previously successful.

Within the new system, invoices are received at various sites, and then forwarded via intranet to central Accounts Payable processing. Invoices are grouped, assigned by plant or enterprise to invoice processors, scanned and then forwarded in electronic workflows to their respective processors. Everyday the processors pick up their invoice queues electronically, and use JD Edwards to process them. The invoice image file records are synchronized with JD Edwards. Finally, the image files are archived for storage and viewing purposes. Within the new system, the user can access their images much more quickly and in a much more organized and friendly manner--cultural acceptance was much easier to attain. According to the requirements and goals of the client, the system needed to be flexible to grow along with the business and to be Y2K compliant--the new system achieves these goals.