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Helping University of Toronto streamline its Accounts Payable process, saving $250,000 per year.

Success Story

KPI's:

  • Cost savings: The department has been able to save $250,000 on AP costs in the first year.
  • Sustainable online solution: the university is removing 80K sheets of paper, reducing office and storage space, etc.

Revenue:
$2.99 billion

Employees::  
> 20,000

Products & Services:
Higher Education

Headquarters:
Toronto, Canada

Business Need

The Facilities and Services Department of the University of Toronto was looking for a AP automation solution to enable more efficient invoice capture and routing so it could reduce errors, eliminate paper-based processes, and shorten the payment cycle to vendors. The department, which is responsible for maintaining the downtown campus of the 4th largest university in North America, wanted to gain greater control over the large number of Non-PO invoices the university processed each month and benefit from better pricing/discounts from its wide network of vendors. Due to the unique audit and compliance requirements of this institution, the university also wanted to improve visibility into the entire invoice lifecycle from capture through posting and payment through the use of unique vendor spend reports.

Solution

After a detailed search for a solution that could meet the university’s needs, it selected FS² Accounts Payable, which enabled the university to achieve significant cost savings through the following key capabilities:

  • Flexible and automated invoice capture to capture invoices electronically, improve invoice accuracy, and eliminate paper
  • Automated approval and exception handling workflows to shorten the payment cycle to vendors
  • Real-time invoice information to improve visibility into invoice processing, including Non-PO invoices
  • Ability to view invoices by vendor to reduce the time spent on vendor inquiries and report on vendor spend
  • Web and email notifications and escalations for approvals and exception handling
  • Ability to delegate approval authority to multiple individuals over a selected time period to accommodate employee sabbaticals
  • Report on utility consumption, spend trend, and more to improve compliance with the university’s policies and regulations

Results

Since implementing the AP automation solution, the university has been able to:

  • Gain complete transparency into invoices on spend by individual, departments, etc.
  • Fast capture and processing improves consistency of payment process, resulting in more discounts and avoidance of penalties
  • Capture of utility consumption is a huge gain for the department
  • Online processing results in no duplication of effort, freeing employees to do higher-value tasks instead of low-value clerical work
  • Sustainable online solution: the university is removing 80K sheets of paper, reducing office and storage space, etc.

The department has been able to save $250,000 in the first year.

Facing similar Accounts Payable Challenges?

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