Here are some highlights from a press release we at Metafile recently put together to show that, although the advantages of document management, workflow and einvoicing are evident every day, if you are now dealing with paper-based year-end duties, your holidays are not near as jolly as they should be.

Metafile, a content management firm dedicated to providing streamlined financial innovations, is helping firms avoid the mad scramble of a year end spent locating and gathering all documents necessary to adequately close out their books.

The lack of workflow automation solutions, in most instances, will equate into a significant loss of Days Working Capital (DWC) for all too many firms (and a significant loss of holiday cheer for many AP Managers!).

“The mad dash stemming from closing out the books at year end is a symptom of something much greater,” states Jim Mandt, Metafile’s VP of Technical Support. “It connects directly back to how a firm manages its financial documents.”

Mandt has for decades helped to develop content management solutions, like Metafile’s MetaViewer, designed to alleviate every day concerns amplified by frantic time periods like year end.

Here are some tips for any firm looking to upgrade their workflow processes:

Automate

One of the first tasks we undertake when upgrading a new client is to automate all existing data flow or traffic, such as invoices, POs and expense reports, within one central database. By doing this, we are providing financial departments with accurate information via point and click, rather than dig and shuffle.

Ensure Easy Retrieval

Automation is vital, but if just one expense report is unable to be located, the accuracy of an entire year’s reporting can be put into question. Systems like MetaViewer ensure any information existing in a database can be queried from any office, anywhere in the world, using as little as one keyword of text.

Go Paperless

“Streamlining into a paperless process became a critical necessity, not just a pleasant convenience, especially when it came to closing out our year,” comments Karen Apps, Payable/Fixed Asset Manager from Gate Petroleum, a long standing client of Metafile.

According to the Aberdeen Group, paper invoices cost firms up to 78% more to process than e-invoices. At a frantic time like year end, corresponding costs can rise astronomically.

Quickly Connect The Right Stakeholders

Ensuring each stakeholder within a financial department is able to quickly connect with one another is important anytime of year, but absolutely critical at year end. A dispute over a misread invoice can be a minor problem in July, but can transform into a major dispute at year end when time is unavailable to spare.

MetaViewer’s structure facilitates a year end where rapid communication is vital. An ‘ad hoc workflow’, via text messages to and from departmental managers including all transaction documents, is built into its structure, ensuring all parties stay on the same page with access to vital information.

So remember, when you dream of a white Christmas, it doesn’t have to be due to an endless pile of paper invoices! Happy Holidays from all of us at Metafile.

Last 5 posts by Nick Sprau

• Discover What’s New In Paperless With Metafile’s Latest Whitepaper “Full Spectrum Documentation Management and Workflow Automation” - April 25th, 2008
• ‘Tis the Season… Unless your document management process ensures a year-end spent dashing through a paper-based system. - December 12th, 2007
• Nick Sprau - January 1st, 2007

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