AP Invoice Automation: 700+ Invoices a Week, Zero Manual Work
A West Coast manufacturer was processing 700–800 invoices every week entirely by hand, with 5–6 people touching each invoice before it reached the ERP. A custom AI-powered invoice pipeline was implemented in just 12 weeks. Today, standard invoices move from inbox to ERP automatically, while the finance team focuses only on exceptions.
A manual AP workflow handling hundreds of invoices every week became an automated pipeline that processes standard invoices without human touch, while directing exceptions to finance with the context needed to resolve them.
Five people touched every invoice
Every invoice arrived in a shared AP inbox and required a series of manual steps: downloading and reviewing the document, extracting information, assigning GL codes, matching the invoice to a purchase order, and, for commodity vendors, checking quantities against scale records.
At 700–800 invoices per week, the AP team was spending most of its capacity on repetitive data entry and validation. That left little time for exception handling, auditing, or identifying recurring vendor issues.
The goal was simple: automate the standard invoice workflow end to end, while keeping people involved only when something actually needed their attention.
- 5–6 manual touchpoints per invoice
- GL coding based on memory and reference sheets
- PO matching through manual ERP lookup
- Paper invoices scanned and routed by hand
- Inbox monitored and processed automatically
- GL coding applied through a rules engine
- PO matching and quantity checks automated
- Exceptions routed with full context and an audit trail
Based on 700–800 invoices per week and 5–6 manual touchpoints per invoice.
An AI pipeline built around the client's existing workflow
Rather than introducing another AP platform, Orbis built a custom automated pipeline around the client's existing systems and processes.
Invoices are continuously pulled from the AP inbox, processed independently, validated against business rules and purchase orders, and posted directly into the client's ERP. When confidence is low or a validation fails, the invoice is routed to the appropriate person with the relevant context already attached.
- 01Invoice arrivesAP email inbox
- 02AI extractsOCR and structured data extraction
- 03GL codedRules engine applies coding logic
- 04PO matchedThree-way verification
- 05Posted to ERPEDI flat file posts directly to the ERP, with no human involvement on standard invoices
As new exception patterns emerge, they become new rules, reducing the number of invoices that require human intervention over time.
One workflow, built around the client's business rules
Off-the-shelf AP platforms can automate parts of invoice processing, but a custom build can be designed around the client's exact ERP, GL structure, approval logic, vendor patterns, and operational requirements.
A $37K first-year investment against $300K of freed payroll capacity
The engagement was structured as a one-time implementation fee plus a monthly retainer covering ongoing support, exception rule-building, vendor templates, and optimization.
The savings estimate is based on four AP staff being freed from manual invoice processing at a fully loaded annual cost of approximately $75,000 per employee.
- Inbox monitoring and OCR pipeline
- GL coding rules engine
- PO matching and three-way verification
- ERP connector and fallback automation
- Training, SOPs, and handoff documentation
- Exception rules as new patterns emerge
- New vendor template additions
- ERP configuration updates
- Monitoring and uptime oversight
