A team of employees manages invoice processing and payments for their organization.

The best opportunity for automation in the manual process described is to leverage Optical Character Recognition (OCR) and workflow tools. OCR can automatically extract data from the invoices received via email, and the workflow tools can automate the review process, checking the data for accuracy, processing payments, and prompting employees only when exceptions are found.

OCR and Workflow Tools Overview:

OCR technology converts the text in scanned documents or images into machine-readable data, which can be automatically processed.

Workflow tools in Appian can then route the extracted data through a series of steps, automating tasks like data entry, validation, and payment processing.

Automating these steps reduces manual effort, minimizes errors, and ensures that invoices are processed more efficiently.

Why Not Other Options?:

A. Robotic Process Automation (RPA) for thank you messages: This is a less critical part of the process and does not significantly reduce manual work.

B. Creating a task for manual input: This still involves manual data entry, which does not fully utilize automation potential.

C. Macro in the shared spreadsheet: This provides minimal automation and doesn't address the root of the problem, which is manual data entry.

References:

Appian Documentation on OCR Integration: OCR in Appian

Appian Workflow Automation Guide: Automating Processes in Appian

By using OCR and workflow tools, the organization can significantly reduce manual processing time and increase the accuracy of invoice handling.

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