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R Script Automates Invoice Analysis

R is a programming language used to write code that analyzes data and shows the results. Code written in R can be copied and pasted to easily reproduce results and avoid mistakes. A growing solar company used R code to automatically extract data from scanned PDF invoices, convert it to a tabular format, and combine it to identify overcharges and recoup payments. They recovered over four times what they spent to set up the automated data extraction and analysis process.

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Avtar Arora
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11 views2 pages

R Script Automates Invoice Analysis

R is a programming language used to write code that analyzes data and shows the results. Code written in R can be copied and pasted to easily reproduce results and avoid mistakes. A growing solar company used R code to automatically extract data from scanned PDF invoices, convert it to a tabular format, and combine it to identify overcharges and recoup payments. They recovered over four times what they spent to set up the automated data extraction and analysis process.

Uploaded by

Avtar Arora
Copyright
© All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

1 zettabyte is 1 trillion gigabyte

Excel- artisanal data analysis-Skillfully dealing with data using manual, repetitive process.

R is a tell and show software- u write the instructions in the form of code and then it shows the result of
our instructions

Why use r

Reproducibility, copy and paste the code---it makes it easy otherwise mistakes are common in
reproducing

The first example is from

a growing solar company. This company suspected that it was often being overcharged for electrical
components. However, there were a couple of factors that made it hard for them to verify that

that was really happening. First, it had a variety of people buying a variety of electrical components,
which made it difficult for the buyers to mentally keep track of the costs. Second, even though the
invoices were e-mailed to a single e-mail account, the files were scanned PDF format, which is basically a
photograph inserted into a PDF file. Thus, it wasn't straightforward

to convert the image to a tabular format that can then be used to summarize the variation in prices. A
script was created using R and RStudio. Then a computer scheduling tool triggered the script to

run at regular intervals. The script would access the e-mail account to which the invoices were sent,
download the PDF file, use optical character recognition to convert the text image into a tabular dataset,
and then combine all the data into one Comma Separated Value File. They then use that file to quickly
identify when they were overcharged, and recoup what they paid. They ended up recouping about four
times as much as they spent to set up that script. This is an example of how small company use

technology to gather data, and didn't even rely

on sophisticated data processing to

improve its business.

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