AUDIO INTERVIEW

"You can now look up any document in seconds!" "ACOM, by far is one of the easiest applications to implement." "ACOM's application… is very user friendly."

THE CLIENT

With 150 employees and $50M in revenues, this growing food producer needed to automate their accounting processes, get information to auditors faster, and eliminate costly storage.

THE PROBLEM

Hundreds of invoices were mis-filed every year, causing problems with Teasdale's year-end audit. And rather than having to buy more file cabinets, and another truck trailer in which to store archived files - executive leadership wanted to go paperless.

THE SOLUTION

The ideal software would offer the most seamless integration with Sage 100 Advanced ERP and the least amount of training for employees. EZCM was implemented in mid-2010 and was so easy that it was installed remotely and went live within a week.

THE RESULTS

Processing invoices has been automated and streamlined. The need for file cabinets and external storage has been eliminated. Lost invoices and costly replacements have been eliminated. Saved over $40,000 by not having to buy a new truck trailer for their archives. Audits will be much easier and less expensive. No need to hire additional accounting clerks to handle increases in invoices and PO volume. The system has also been rolled out to accounts receivable, with HR to follow.

One-click Access to Documents, Automation of Invoice Processing and Order Entry

TEASDALE FOR TWO:

Going Paperless & Cutting Costs with EZContentManager (EZCM) for Sage 100 Advanced ERP

The motto of Teasdale Quality Foods is, "Simply the Best." Inspired by the rich agricultural Central Valley of California, Teasdale Quality Foods is the Western United States' premier packer of Hominy and Dry Soak Beans under both the Teasdale and Aunt Penny brands.

Teasdale Quality Foods was previously known as Davis and Atwater Canning, and dates back to the 1930s. Today, Teasdale employs a staff of 150 and generates about $50 million in annual revenues. The accounting department receives 25 invoices and 30-35 orders per day. Teasdale needed to find a way to automate the processing of these 15,000 documents per year. Of the 6,500 invoices, approximately 260 (one per day) would be mis-filed, requiring the accounting staff to contact the vendor to acquire a replacement invoice—a process that could take anywhere from 30 minutes to two weeks, wasting over 500 hours and approximately $25,000 in opportunity cost per year.

Once these documents were processed, Teasdale also wanted to find a way to replace six file cabinets in the accounting department, several more located in storage upstairs, and even more in a truck trailer holding records dating back several years.

Teasdale utilizes Sage 100 Advanced ERP for their accounting and enterprise resource planning system. When their trusted Sage 100 ERP consultant was asked for the best way to automate accounts payable and to go paperless, EZCM from ACOM came highly recommended.

Another document management solution was considered, but it was EZCM that was chosen for three reasons:

1. One-click, batch scanning invoice capture for Sage 100 Advanced ERP
2. Complete invoice processing automation, from validation to authorization
3. Ease of use and implementation

 

ONE-CLICK IMAGE CAPTURE

Now, when Teasdale generates a PO, an open payables file is created and placed in a drawer next to the desk of the AP clerk. When the invoice arrives, the clerk grabs the packet, types the invoice number, scans the invoice and PO at the same time with EZCM and an $800 desktop scanner, and then she shreds the paperwork — EZCM does the rest.

No more filing, mis-filing or migration of archived files to storage upstairs and later out to long-term storage in the form of a truck trailer. The best part: auditors can pull up these images themselves as part of Teasdale's year-end audit, making the audit much easier, faster and less expensive.

 

WORKFLOW AUTOMATION

When the invoice is scanned, EZCM's ReadSoft Capture optical character recognition (OCR) technology automatically extracts the invoice number and dollar amount, matching it with data in Sage 100 Advanced ERP via database lookup, and the PDF image of the PO, invoice and any related documentation is merged with the accounting record. More fields can be matched from the scanning image of the invoice, but two are more than sufficient for Teasdale. The invoice is then automatically routed for approval to the CFO, who is automatically notified by email. The invoice is either approved and flagged for payment, or gets kicked back to the AP clerk with instructions for following up with the vendor.

According to Alfred Tinoco, Teasdale Director of IT, "The other vendor we considered didn't offer workflow or batch scanning for Sage 100 Advanced ERP, and their technology wasn't as convincing."

 

EASE OF USE & IMPLEMENTATION

"A lot of our users have very limited computer skills, and EZCM is really user-friendly and a simple system. They don't have to go into different windows to file an item and it's easy to create a new workflow process. The system is so user-friendly that it didn't require any training by ACOM," stated Tinoco.

After the planning process was completed, how long did it take to implement EZCM for Sage 100 Advanced ERP? Four hours, and it was performed remotely by the ACOM team.

 

ON DECK: HR

Teasdale's automation of invoice processing with EZCM was so successful that, within months, the accounts receivable process was also automated. Tinoco is now setting his sights on human resources: "My goal is to have HR scanning all employee documents and routing them automatically to an online folder for each employee, and I believe EZCM is the right solution for that."

 

SUCCESS

"I've implemented several systems here over the last 15 years and this was one of the easiest. I am very pleased with the results and I think ACOM is a great company."

- Alfred Tinoco, Director of IT, Teasdale Quality Foods