eBook
Leverage
the power of
Intelligent
automation and
make incoming
document
management
a profitable
endeavour
2
INTRODUCTION
Inbound documentation refers to myriad types of documents or data received by
enterprises from various trading partners such as customers, suppliers etc. These
documents may include purchase orders, invoices, delivery notes, good receive notes
ASN etc...
For business processes such as procurement, order management, inventory ma-
nagement, logistics, accounting, supply chain management, compliance, accounts
payable etc... inbound documentation plays a crucial role. It enables organisations
to transparently communicate with trading partners, verify data accuracy, collaborate
with internal departments, and even comply with regulations.
The quick-paced business environment of today demands effectiveness, productivity,
and Return on Investment at every turn. When resources are required to complete
repetitive duties, the rigidity of a manual system challenges process scalability, errors
and delays.
LeveragethepowerofIntelligentautomationandmakeincomingdocumentmanagementaprofitableendeavour
3
Content
I. .Modes of INBOUNDDOCUMENTS ������������������������������������������������������������4
II. .The Manual Inbound Documentation Processing������������������������������6
III. .What is INTELLIGENT DOCUMENT PROCESSING (IDP) ���������������������8
IV. .The connection between RPA and IDP ����������������������������������������������� 10
V. .Use of RPA and IDP in different Industries ���������������������������������������� 12
Leverage
Leverage the
the power
power ofIntelligent
of Intelligent automation
automation and makeand makedocument
incoming incoming document
management management
a profitable aprofitableendeavour
endeavour
I.
Modes
of
INBOUND
DOCUMENTS
Modes of INBOUNDDOCUMENTS 5
The modes of inbound
document transfers:
؇ Electronic Documents: Documents or data are
transferred electronically using email, EDI, or
web-based forms. They also include physical do-
cuments that have been digitized using elemen-
tary methods like scanning.
؇ Web Portal: Companies also received inbound
documents via web-based portals. These portals
make it easier for vendors or customers to track
updates online.
؇ Physical Documents: Traditional postal mail de-
livery, though not widely used, is still an available
option.
The choice of the mode of document data exchange Inbound documents can contain both structured
depends on the nature of the documents, the size of and unstructured (predominantly) data.
the files, and the security and privacy requirements
needed. Inbound documents can come in a variety Structured data is organised in a well-defined and
of forms and include various types of information. consistent format. In the case of EDI, it uses stan-
Some common types of inbound documents that dardized data formats and protocols to streamline
businesses may receive are: the exchange of information. This structured data is
typically in a machine-readable format, such as XML,
؇ Invoices: Documents from suppliers or vendors JSON, EDIFACT etc, allowing for automation and inte-
listing the goods or services purchased and the gration with other systems.
amount due.
Unstructured data, on the other hand, is data that
؇ Purchase Orders: Documents from customers does not have a predefined data model or structure.
that confirm their intent and the details of their This type of data is often found in, scanned copies
orders and include information such as the items of documents in pdf, jpeg and Png formats. Excel
requested, quantities, and other shipping details. sheets and text files are some other examples.
؇ Delivery Notes: Documents that accompany Other examples of unstructured data in inbound do-
physical goods and provide details about the cuments include customer feedback, clinical reports,
delivery, including the date, the items delivered, customer preference statistics and many more. Both
shipping and billing address, the reference order structured and unstructured data are important
/PO number etc. for businesses as they provide valuable information
about customers, operations, and processes.
؇ Contracts: Legal documents that outline the
terms and conditions of a business relationship.
؇ Financial Statements: Documents that provide
information about a company’s financial perfor-
mance, including balance sheets, income state-
ments, and cash flow statements.
؇ Health Records: Documents that provide infor-
mation about a patient’s medical history, inclu-
ding diagnoses, treatments, and test results.
؇ Regulatory Documents: Documents that are
required by law, such as tax forms, licences, and
permits.
؇ Shipping documents: These documents typi-
cally include bills of lading, packing lists, and in-
voices, with details of the contents of a shipment,
the recipient, and any associated costs.
؇ Compliance Document: These documents may
include policies and procedures, licenses, and
other legal documents that require strict adhe-
rence to guidelines and regulations.
And many more.
Leverage the power of Intelligent automation and make incoming document management a profitable endeavour
LeveragethepowerofIntelligentautomationandmakeincomingdocumentmanagementaprofitableendeavour
II.
The Manual
Inbound
Documentation
Processing
The Manual Inbound Documentation Processing 7
The challenges of manual inbound document pro-
cessing
؇ Time-consuming: The manual process when
dealing with a large volume of documents has
shown to be a time-consuming process. Manual-
The steps involved in manual inbound ly entering minute details of the order, and revi-
sions in documents like purchase orders cause
document processing: more man-hours to be lost due to the repetition
of the same task. One of the most time-consu-
Receiving the document ming aspects is manually cross-checking and
verifying the documents and their approvals.
Involves physical delivery through email,
in person delivery or any other mode ؇ Error-Prone: The manual process increases the
likelihood of human errors, such as incorrect data
entry, duplication, misplacing or misfiling docu-
ments, causing major hassles in the smooth wor-
king of the process.
Sorting and Organizing
Received documents are sorted on the basis ؇ Limited scalability: The manual process is not
of type of document, date received and scalable and proves to be challenging with an
any other such criteria increase in the volume or complexity of docu-
ments. In addition to the process, e.g.: internal
compliance norms show increased processing
time.
Verification
؇ Lack of Transparency: Low real-time status of
Documents are verified for agreed terms and processes and silo working in most cases cause
conditions, appropriate entries and other duplication of process. It also leads to more time
such details required for coordination and difficulties in the
clarity of document approvals and disburse-
ments.
Data entry ؇ Expensive: Manual processing requires a lot of
The date is manually entered into time and labour to manually sort, organize and
the ERP/CRM system enter data from the document. This can lead to
higher labour costs due to the need for more
staff, longer processing times, and increased po-
tential for errors or inefficiencies.
Printing and Archiving Recurring issues like these result in an inability to
meet demands and can negatively impact the bu-
The document created is printed if required
siness’s competitiveness, market standing, and profi-
and archived to repositories as per
tability.
companies requirement
The ultimate solution to these limitations is automa-
ting the inward documentation process. Automation
Distribution resolves issues by minimizing human intervention,
increasing accuracy, reducing turnaround time etc.
The document is then manually sent to the
respective recipients for approval and record Implementing automation can have a profound im-
pact on productivity and efficiency by eliminating
errors and reducing processing time by 50% or more.
Inbound documentation is not limited by document
formats and layouts, so automating these processes
calls for advanced technology such as intelligent do-
cument processing.
Leverage
Leverage the
the power
power ofIntelligent
of Intelligent automation
automation and makeand makedocument
incoming incoming document
management management
a profitable aprofitableendeavour
endeavour
III.
What
is
INTELLIGENT
DOCUMENT
PROCESSING
(IDP)
What is INTELLIGENT DOCUMENT PROCESSING (IDP) 9
Businesses come across and reap the benefits of However, Intelligent Document Processing (IDP) is
Robotic Process Automation (RPA) which is a tech- often mentioned in conjunction with RPA. But what
nology that automates repetitive and manual tasks is IDP? And is it any different from RPA?
performed by humans in a business setting. It invol-
ves the use of software robots or «bots» to carry out IDP powered by AI and ML technology provides a
tasks, with specific and fixed rules of processing by solution to the limitations of the RPA. Its principal
designing a stipulated workflow. aim is extracting data from unstructured content/
documents. However, IDP systems can interpret the
RPA is used by enterprises to automate a wide range content of the data and accurately identify and ex-
of business processes like report generation, data tract the relevant data. After extraction, IDP systems
updating, sales order processing and many more. By can use machine learning algorithms to verify and
automating these processes, businesses can improve validate the information, ensuring higher levels of
efficiency, and improve data accuracy, freeing up data accuracy and an automated workflow.
valuable resources for other tasks.
This ability to process unstructured data has huge
According to a report published by Statista, the mar- applications, as even digitally advanced enterprises
ket size of Robotic process automation is expected to still receive documents/input data from legacy sys-
reach 13.39 billion U.S. dollars by 2030. RPA however tems yet essential partners and enterprises. That is
can seamlessly function only if the data structure is where highly digitised enterprises make use of IDP.
exact in every instance and the process is not dyna-
mic in nature. The most primitive benefit of the IDP process is its
capacity to improve its understanding of the cap-
RPA is widely accepted and used for various sectors tured data for providing accurate capturing.
of business operations:
Invoice
processing
Supply chain
Inventory
management
management
RPA
Sales
analytics Reporting
Payment
processing
Read our e-book titled “What Robotic Process Au-
tomation Can Do For Your Business?” to learn more
about RPA.
Leverage
Leverage the
the power
power ofIntelligent
of Intelligent automation
automation and makeand makedocument
incoming incoming document
management management
a profitable aprofitableendeavour
endeavour
IV.
The connection
between
RPA and IDP
The connection between RPA and IDP 11
Complete digitization is an aim often interrupted by unpolarized ope-
rational perspectives and the digital standing of partner enterprises.
Both RPA and IDP have the potential to increase efficiency, reduce
errors, and lower costs with different applications, just like taking two
different roads to the same destination.
RPA helps in automating the workflows with the input of data while
IDP plays a crucial role in processing the input data for efficient RPA
workflows.
The very use of both these tools together creates a strong and accu-
rate automation process and efficient document processing.
Leverage
Leverage the
the power
power ofIntelligent
of Intelligent automation
automation and makeand makedocument
incoming incoming document
management management
a profitable aprofitableendeavour
endeavour
V.
Use of
RPA and IDP
in different
Industries
Use of RPA and IDP in different Industries 13
Data is now central to all modern business activities. Sales Order Generation
As a result, many industries are adopting intelligent
technologies to streamline their processes, boost The Sales order is an internal yet important
sales, improve internal operations and make business document in initiating the process. Making
activities more efficient. manual data entries in the company’s ERP can
be a painstaking task. An enterprise can capture
Manufacturing and FMCG incoming purchase orders received through hand or
emails, using IDP solutions to extract relevant data.
The manufacturing sector sees documentation as The solution automatically sends the extracted data
a salient aspect of a product’s life cycle as much for verification if needed and creates a sales order
as manufacturing. The smoother functioning directly into ERP on post-business rules verification.
of processes such as selling, distribution, The timely and error-free creation of SO ensures that
manufacturing, logistics, product designing, and all the other steps of O2C are initiated without delay
compliance all involve documentation at every stage. in the most efficient manner.
The manufacturing sector can make use of
automation solutions powered by AI in regulating
and automating processes such as:
Leverage
Leverage the
the power
power ofIntelligent
of Intelligent automation
automation and makeand makedocument
incoming incoming document
management management
a profitable aprofitableendeavour
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Use of RPA and IDP in different Industries 14
Accounts Payable
By automating the AP process, invoices can be received, processed, compared with other documents and
paid automatically, reducing the need for manual data entry and comparison. This allows faster payment
processing, reducing the risk of incorrect or duplicate payments and outstanding debts.
To gain more insights on AP automation, read our blog: Invoice Automation: What You Need to Know.
Digital form auto
populates with
invoice data
Auto approval to
relevant antities
Approval with
digital signature
Confirmation email
to all entities
Leverage
Leverage the
the power
power ofIntelligent
of Intelligent automation
automation and makeand makedocument
incoming incoming document
management management
a profitable aprofitableendeavour
endeavour
Use of RPA and IDP in different Industries 15
GRN automation:
Automating the data entry process at the beginning of the supply chain can streamline the movement of
consignments, increase efficiency, and reduce error. It can also enable real-time tracking of inventory, making
it easier to manage just-in-time inventory and reducing the risk of stockouts or overstocking. Overall, GRN
automation improves accuracy, reduces errors, and saves time.
2 3 4
1
Code is scanned GRN is uploaded All concerned
for GRN creation to the ERP system authorities are notified
Consignment arrives with
code generated invoices
Healthcare IPA adoption will facilitate enterprises the ability
to:
Inbound document process automation has enabled
healthcare organizations to effectively handle various ؇ Efficiently adopt technological
documents such as patient records, insurance claims, advancements
and billing information, among others. For instance,
by automating the patient registration process, ؇ Ensure accuracy
healthcare providers can reduce wait times, improve
patient experience and minimize the likelihood of ؇ Reduce TAT
errors.
؇ Reduce operational costs in the long run
Why is document automation important for bu-
؇ Make informed and analytical decisions and
sinesses in the future?
improvements
The future and adoption of Intelligent Process au-
In conclusion, IPA will play a crucial role in shaping
tomation are expected to see exponential growth
the future of business operations by enabling organi-
as digital transformations continue to drive growth
zations to keep pace with the fast-paced digital wor-
and competitiveness. With the rise of big data, cloud
ld, and market expectations while facilitating easier
computing, and artificial intelligence, IPA is poised to
collaborations.
play a critical role in enabling organizations to ma-
nage the growing volume and complexity of inbound
documents. The automation of manual, time-consu-
ming, and error-prone tasks will continue to drive
efficiency, cost savings, and improved customer ex-
perience. As a result, businesses that automate their
processes will be better positioned to remain agile
and responsive in a rapidly changing business envi-
ronment.
Leverage
Leverage the
the power
power ofIntelligent
of Intelligent automation
automation and makeand makedocument
incoming incoming document
management management
a profitable aprofitableendeavour
endeavour
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