Docuware provides Paramount Citrus with a document management system that eliminates confusion over multiple copies of invoices and streamlines the approval process.
With multiple locations in California, Texas and Mexico, Paramount Citrus is America’s largest grower that also packs and ships fresh citrus ranging from mandarins, navel and Valencia oranges to lemons, limes, and red grapefruit. Paramount Citrus is a subsidiary of the Roll Global LLC family of companies that includes the world’s largest grower of pistachios and almonds as well as consumer packaged goods such as POM Wonderful® and FIJI® Water.
Initial Situation
Paramount Citrus is rapidly expanding through acquisitions of farm land and packing operations. Their entrepreneurial spirit has spurred the company’s growth, but with it has come the growing pains of merging companies, such as establishing set procedures for accounting processes.
Paramount Citrus’ purchasing department is decentralized and vendor invoices were being received at multiple locations then faxed, scanned or mailed to the central office. The accounting department would frequently receive 4 copies of the same invoice, resulting in confusion and wasted time. With a volume of 5,000 – 6,000 invoices a month and growing, Paramount Citrus knew they needed to invest in a document management system.
Requirements
“Our goal in finding a document management system, was to eliminate the confusion over multiple copies of invoices and streamline our approval process,” said Kevin Adams, Corporate Controller for Paramount Citrus.
For Paramount Citrus, DocuWare’s workflow functionality paired with its ability to integrate with their existing Oracle system made the solution very exciting. But once their local DocuWare reseller, eGennaker, demonstrated the solution’s Intelligent Indexing Service, which works to automate indexing, they knew they had found just the software they were looking for.
Solution
Today, invoices received at any location are scanned into DocuWare using Cannon M160 scanners. The documents are indexed using DocuWare’s Intelligent Indexing Service which automatically searches each document for relevant index terms, such as Vendor Name. The accounting staff confirms the suggested information or improves it by clicking on the information to be indexed. The service uses crowd sourcing so once an invoice from a certain vendor is mapped with index terms, the template is automatically available behind the scenes to help index other documents with a similar layout. The service “learns” how to index documents streamlining the indexing process.
Once indexed, invoices are electronically routed to an accounts payable clerk and through a multi-level approval process based on pre-defined criteria. Invoices that don’t match up with a purchase order are routed back to the purchasing department for correction. Task lists and email notifications keep processes moving forward on schedule and electronic workflows keep everything transparent so managers have current status updates at any given time.
To index other documents such as checks and purchase orders, DocuWare imports data from the company’s Oracle system using a match code to ensure accurate data across the organization. Retrieving needed information is done in seconds with the click of a button.
Benefits
With over 100 employees in multiple locations using DocuWare for invoice approval, Paramount Citrus has seen tremendous benefits from having only one copy of each invoice in the accounting workflow. The new procedures have eliminated invoice re-verification at each stage of approval, vendor confusion and duplicate payments. Cash flow has improved and Paramount Citrus is able to easily answer inquiries about an invoice at any stage in the workflow.
“The biggest benefit we’ve seen is how much easier invoice approvals have become, with only one image of a document that is electronically routed for approval. Avoiding multiple copies of the same document and knowing where it is in our process at any time has really streamlined our workflow and efficiency,” said Adams.
Establishing indexing terms forced Paramount Citrus to better organize their database and develop set procedures for updating vendor names and locations in their system. The accuracy and quality of data across different systems has been enhanced with the newly defined procedures in place.
Conclusion
“DocuWare has had a huge impact in our accounting department. With our recent growth, the number of invoices we process a month has doubled to 10,000. We could not have met this challenge without DocuWare,” said Adams.
Benefits
– Efficient accounting process with only one copy of each invoice
– Electronic invoice approvals are quick and transparent
– Document indexing is automated
– Integration with Oracle provided data quality and accuracy across the organization
– Accounting process can scale as the company grows
