Solution Overview
TMW-Synergize™ Payables for TruckMate® improves staff productivity, reduces costs and enhances customer service by automating labor-intensive approval and coding portions of the payables cycle and providing easy access directly from TruckMate® to approved invoices for posting.
The solution enables all documents and correspondence related to a payables transaction to be maintained in a single, secure location. Workflow ensures that invoices received with or without related PO numbers can be processed, confirmed, approved and paid in a timely manner consistent with corporate best practices.
TMW-Synergize™ Payables for TruckMate® provides Document Capture and Indexing, Direct Access to Documents and Process Management (Workflow).
Document Capture and Indexing
Whether documents are captured by fax, e-mail or scanning sources, all captured documents not otherwise processed automatically are delivered to the workflow queue, [INBOX], for manual indexing. All documents added to TMW-Synergize™ are stored immediately and when approved, made available to TruckMate® and the TM4Web® web portal without any manual intermediary steps
The [INBOX] workflow queue;
a. presents the oldest document in the workflow queue to the indexer
b. prompts the indexer to identify the Document Type, PurchaseOrderID, InvoiceAmt, InvoiceDueDate, InvoiceID
c. confirms the validity of the PurchaseOrderID against TruckMate® (where applicable)
d. retrieves from TruckMate® (by PurchaseOrderID) the VendorID, VendorName, ExpectedAmt
e. advances the document to the appropriate PO or Non PO workflow queue
f. routes the documents with No PO # to the respective confirmers and approvers, based on business rules
g. retrieves the next document for indexing
Documents may also be indexed directly from within the TruckMate® Accounts Payable module using integrated, or “split-screen,” indexing. With “split-screen” indexing payables documents require only enough initial indexing to route them to a Synergize® workflow queue monitored by TruckMate®.
A payables clerk may then access that queue through the TruckMate® Accounts Payable (“APPO”) module, open the first document and with it open on their screen alongside APPO proceed to whatever data entry is required to reconcile the payables transaction. Once APPO has been updated, the index information for the electronic document is automatically updated and the next available document is drawn from the monitored workflow queue.
Direct Access to Documents
Documents are easily retrieved directly through TruckMate®, greatly reducing the time required to access files. In addition to TruckMate modules such as Customer Service, Driver Call-in or Trip Trace, TMW-Synergize™ also makes documents available directly to the TM4Web® web portal, enabling customers to retrieve some documents directly. TMW-Synergize™ supports multiple lookups, each configured within the TruckMate® Codes Maintenance module for ease of management.
For example, when reviewing a transaction in the TruckMate® Purchase Order Entry module, related documents may be accessed by;
a. right-clicking the PO#
b. selecting View Images via Microdea from the context menu
c. selecting the desired document from the Image View Selection menu
Process Management (Workflow)
TMW-Synergize™ Payables for TruckMate® uses document-based workflow scenarios, which converts the current paper and manual process into an electronic workflow that allows your organization to scan invoices in, assign the majority of the indexing electronically, and have the residual information available for keying. The invoices and additional documents are routed electronically to either a PO or Non PO workflow and based on business rules, directed to confirmers and approvers, who then validate the payment of the invoices and make the information ready to be released into the TruckMate® system. The images of invoices, cheques and related documents are retained in a secure TMW-Synergize™ Accounts Payable repository.
Once approved, the Invoice is advanced to the AP Department workflow queue to the attention of the payables clerk. On being retrieved from the queue the invoice is assigned a Batch ID, as generated in TruckMate®, which it maintains as a common key value, and advanced to a workflow queue for processing.
As the invoice advances through its assigned workflow scenario each transition and interaction with it is tracked and logged, allowing management to do real-time review and management of business processes with a flexibility not achievable under a paper-based system. With the whole of the scenario transparent to management an invoice may be easily located and retrieved at any time irrespective of where it is in its life-cycle.
Once the invoice has been approved it is advanced to a workflow queue for final review by the payables clerk and posting to TruckMate®. Upon being posted, key data is extracted from TruckMate® and added to the invoice index data in TMW-Synergize™. This additional index information will allow for greater flexibility in subsequent sorting and retrieval.
Recognizing that each company has its own best practice, the workflow scenario provided with TMW-Synergize™ Payables for TruckMate® is unlocked and available for modification at client discretion. Each modification to the workflow scenario may be saved and activated under a new revision number, ensuring that any changes are easily rolled back if necessary.
Solution Details
TMW-Synergize™ Payables for TruckMate® is provided as a turn-key solution with a defined scope and configuration. Additional user licenses may be incrementally acquired, as well as customization or other professional services.
Features
• Configurable workflow scenario
• Data synchronization with TruckMate®
• Direct access to documents from within TruckMate®
• Integrated indexing
• Multi-criteria search and automatic collation of related documents
• Rules based authorization
Prerequisites
• TMW-Synergize™ Imaging
• TMW-Synergize™ Workflow
• TruckMate® 2009 or more current
Improve your accounts payables process with TMW-Synergize and increase efficiencies, reduce costs and maximize cash flow.
For more information on our Synergize integration with TMW Systems, contact us at 905.881.6071 ext 244 or marketing@microdea.com
TruckMate® is a registered trademark of TMW Systems