"Just as it does in its education and research, Delft University of Technology aims to be forward-thinking and innovative when it comes to purchase-to-pay. And the university is well on its way to achieving that. Over the past two years, the university has already connected 1,000 suppliers to the Basware Network. Mees Walhof and Sandra Heuvelman explain: “The quality of the purchase-to-pay process has improved significantly.”
With 161 hectares,Delft University of Technologyboasts one of the largest campuses in the world and is the highest-ranked Dutch university in various international rankings. These types of rankings are important for attracting talent both nationally and internationally, ensuring that high-level research can be conducted.
Some 23,000 suppliers provide the necessary resources for this research. This results in approximately 125,000 purchase invoices annually, which the prestigious educational institution aims to process automatically as much as possible. TU Delft has set itself the goal of receiving 80 percent of all invoices via XML. And that has turned out to be quite an adventure.
TU Delft took its first steps toward automating invoice processing as early as 2007 when it began using Basware Invoice Processing. In 2011, Basware Purchase Management was added, and TU Delft soon began migrating to the completely revamped on-premise version of Basware. “At that point, all sorts of other questions came up. Basware could do much more than just invoice processing. We wondered what else it had to offer us,” says procurement manager Mees Walhof.
Deloitte Consulting was brought in to develop a roadmap for optimizing the purchase-to-pay process. Deloitte’s advisory report set out very ambitious goals. “If we were to implement everything in it, we could save ten percent annually,” says Walhof. “However, that was too much, given all the processes and tools we would need to have in place.”
“At the time, many small and medium-sized businesses didn’t know how to send XML invoices. They also lacked the staff resources to spend extra time logging into various portals,” adds Sandra Heuvelman, who is responsible for optimizing the document flow to and from suppliers.
“The adoption rate is high. Nearly 1,000 suppliers are now connected to the Basware Network.”
Basware could work even better in combination with Basware Network. This portal enables TU Delft to receive all incoming invoices as XML, while suppliers can submit invoices in any format they choose (paper, PDF, XML) or manually enter invoice data into the so-called key-in portal. The portal then converts the submitted invoices to TU Delft’s standard format and delivers them, including a PDF image of the invoice and any other attachments.
At TU Delft, invoices first pass through the ICreative Validation Service (IVS) before being delivered. With IVS, 4CEE offers functionality to fully automate the enrichment of incoming invoices with supplier data from the ERP system, such as internal supplier numbers and payment dates. IVS also offers the ability to reject invoices that do not comply with the organization’s business rules or to request additional information.
“Thanks to this service, invoices with additional information are routed directly to the correct department. Incorrect invoices can also be rejected and automatically returned to the supplier,” said Heuvelman.
The validation functionality was one of the main reasons TU Delft chose to partner with 4CEE. Another key reason was the so-called onboarding campaign to connect suppliers to the Basware Network. As part of this, top-tier suppliers were actively approached and informed about submitting invoices via the Basware Network.
However, getting all suppliers on board is quite a challenge. As a result, the onboarding process got off to a slow start at first. “We couldn’t put too much pressure on them because it was new to many suppliers,” says Heuvelman. “We didn’t know much about it ourselves either. That’s why we were glad to have 4CEE’s help, which included providing us with the right documentation.”
After just one year, nearly fifty percent of invoices were already being received via one of the e-invoicing methods. Heuvelman: “By now, everyone has heard about it, and I’ve noticed that accounts receivable departments have a pretty good idea of what we expect from them. In that respect, things have certainly changed.”
As a result, TU Delft can now begin to tighten its invoicing policy. For example, the university has revised its definition of a digital invoice. “So it’s not just a scanned PDF invoice from an email.”
In September, TU Delft wrote to 2,000 suppliers, giving them the choice to either submit their invoices in XML or use the Basware Network key-in portal. And it’s working. “The acceptance rate is high. Meanwhile, nearly 1,000 suppliers are connected to Basware Network. That’s a great result, but of course we’re not there yet. We’d like to see that number multiply.”
TU Delft is placing purchase orders in the Basware Network for an increasing number of suppliers. In such cases, the supplier receives a notification email with a link to the order on the portal. The supplier can then easily convert the purchase order (PO) into an invoice using a so-called “PO flip.”
The advantage of this is that the invoice matches the order and can therefore be automatically reconciled. An even more advanced form of this that TU Delft is working toward is touchless processing: a fully integrated connection between supplier and customer in which orders and invoices are exchanged entirely automatically.