Canadian Blood Services
AP Automation
1
Canadian Blood Services
 Canadian Blood Services is a national, not-for-profit charitable
organization that manages the blood supply in all provinces and
territories outside of Quebec and oversees the country's
OneMatch Stem Cell and Marrow Network.
 We operate 42 permanent collection sites, 11 bone marrow
centres, organize and hold in excess of 21,400 donor clinics
annually, across Canada.
What Canadian Blood Services Does
The Year in Close Up (2013/14)
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Over 979,000 equivalent units of blood donated
80% of our donors are repeat donors and 20% were new donors
42,500 new donors registered with OneMatch Stem Cell & Marrow Network
57 kidney transplants facilitated by the Living Donor Paired Exchange
51% - Canadians who have formally agreed to make organ/tissue donations
4,700 Canadian Blood Services employees who expertly operate one of the
world’s safest blood systems
225,000 hours generously contributed by volunteers to Canadian Blood
Services
P2P lead to Invoice Automation
• Invoice approval required manual signatures
• Invoice signatures required validation
• Invoices were physically handed over to buyers for discrepancy
investigation and resolution
• 600-700 invoices were ‘parked’ in SAP awaiting action by a user
outside of AP
• Extremely intensive accrual process for AP
Why AP Automation?
• Manual signatures evolved into email approvals
• Unassigned vendors were processed when time was available or
urgently
• Payment terms were often missed waiting for documents to be
returned to AP
• Current invoice liability for CBS on any given day was unknown
• The AP Administrator count to process 80,000 invoices was at a
high of 8
The Road to Automated
Invoice Processing
Why ReadSoft?
 Industry leader in AP
Automation
 Proven installations
world-wide
 Certified SAP product
 Project Management
 Defined Roadmap
 Support System
 User Conference
Current AIP process
• Mail is opened, sorted scanned within 24 hrs using the ReadSoft
INVOICES SCAN program
• Email invoices are automatically detached, 24-7, using ReadSoft
COLLECTOR
• A background job INTERPRETS data from each invoice
• All AP administrators perform the VERIFY function and review
each electronic image of the invoice
• A number of vendors are currently set to ‘auto-approve’ and do not
require review by an AP Admin. These invoices automatically
TRANSFER into ReadSoft PROCESS DIRECTOR in SAP.
8
Invoices-Verify Module
9
PROCESS DIRECTOR by ReadSoft (in SAP)
AP Staff were
comfortable with
the new product
as ReadSoft has
the same feel as
SAP.
PROCESS DIRECTOR Selections
Selection Criteria
•
Selection Criteria allows for Corporate
Accounting to have control and
transparency of all documents, for example:
 By total $ unposted
 By specific vendor
 By currency
 By FI doc vs MM doc
 By specific workflow type
 By end user who is approving a document
 At CBS everything is scanned, verified and
visible within 24 hrs of being received.
Control in PROCESS DIRECTOR Overview
PROCESS DIRECTOR Detail
Control & Transparency Gains from
Implementing ReadSoft
• The current AP liability is known at ANY time
• Consistent business rules!
• No off-site storage fees
• Reduction in the number of AP Administrators
• All invoices are assigned to an AP Admin and are immediately
visible and traceable in PROCESS DIRECTOR
• Invoices that are free of errors can be system posted and do not
require human touch points
• Automatic reminders and escalations
Control and Transparency Gains
• Monthly accruals are completed quickly and easily
• End users are all comfortable using the web based approval tool
• Custom tables allow for approval control, auto posting and auto
workflows
• Audit logs document the entire invoice life cycle allowing for
transparency
• On average, 80% of Invoices are posted to SAP within 4 days of
being scanned & 93% within 11 days - allowing for improved
pricing or discount negotiation opportunities
• On average, 48% of all invoices posted to SAP the same day as
being scanned
Custom Control Tables
% Documents Posted the
Same Day as Scanned
60.0%
48.3%
50.0%
40.0%
39.6%
38.1%
FY 2011
FY 2012
30.0%
24.0%
20.0%
10.0%
0.0%
FY 2010
FY 2013
% of Documents Posted
within 4 days of being Scanned
90.0%
80.0%
70.0%
60.0%
50.0%
with 4 days
40.0%
0 days
30.0%
20.0%
10.0%
0.0%
FY 2010
FY 2011
FY 2012
FY 2013
Automated reminder is sent out on day 3
% of Documents Posted within
11 days of being scanned
100.0%
90.0%
80.0%
70.0%
60.0%
within 11
50.0%
with 4 days
0 days
40.0%
30.0%
20.0%
10.0%
0.0%
FY 2010
FY 2011
FY 2012
FY 2013
Automated escalation occurs after 10 days
Compliance to Payment Terms
Lessons Learned
• Never under-estimate the change management
process within your organization.
• ReadSoft provides a great amount of training
documentation, and it continues to be a focus for
them as it improves year after year.
Lessons Learned
• Complete end-to-end testing. Involve stakeholders, i.e.
purchasing and end users if possible.
• Complete any work prior to go-live to make it easier
• Consider a slow or staggered approach for initial go-live.
– CBS went live allowing the system to post approved invoices and
within a short period of time turned it off. It was turned back on after
both AP & Purchasing staff were comfortable in the actual use of the
system.
What’s Next for
Canadian Blood Services
• ReadSoft App for Approvals using Mobile Devices
• Vendor portal for payment inquiries, invoice
creation, vendor master updates and dynamic
discounting
What’s Next for
Canadian Blood Services
• Additional functions which are offered in PROCESS
DIRECTOR that were out of scope for the upgrade
project
• Reversal/Cancellation of documents
• Line item approvals
• General ledger approval and posting
• Work Cycle (Online) Cheque Requisition Request
• Payment Proposal (F110) viewing of invoices
In Summary
• For Canadian Blood Services increasing productivity
means finding even more effective ways to maintain
our uncompromising standards.
• Cost-efficiency is not about getting by with less; it’s a
matter of maximizing the value of limited health-care
dollars and gaining the ability to achieve even more.
25
In Summary
• As trusted stewards of Canada’s blood system, we
have a responsibility to be a nimble and productive
organization, and to help our employees work more
effectively.
• The partnership that Canadian Blood Services has
formed with ReadSoft is a very important piece that
allows our employees to work more effectively and
achieve even more toward this increased productivity
goal at Canadian Blood Services.