Streamlining the Accounts Payable Process with GovAP
Carver County, MN
Carver County, MN
Population: 108,626
Product: GovAP
Depts: County-wide
Customer Since: 2017
Carver County began looking for a solution to help automate the Accounts Payable processes that would reduce manual data entry, improve vendor and account coding, and provide an electronic audit trail of changes made as the invoice passed through the approval processes. With their current process using paper invoice forms that were routed interoffice mail to each signer, they didn’t know where an invoice was at in the approval process and didn’t have the ability to search for an invoice until manual signatures were finalized and the data was entered into their financial system. They needed a software solution that tracked information real-time and the County selected RTVision’s GovAP application to help them do so.
Brandon Zabel, Account Supervisor at Carver County, described some of the initial goals when implementing the web-based A/P application was to streamline the claims process. He stated, “One of the biggest benefits we’ve seen has been the ability to turn claims around quickly, even when individuals are working remotely.” He continued, “When COVID-19 hit, our processes Countywide, related to claims, changed very little and we didn’t skip a beat.”
The GovAP application integrates with IFS, as well as cost account systems like CPT and New Roads so that information is entered only once and can then be exported into numerous systems after approvals, without the need for data re-entry.
Invoice data can be found in a single, secure, searchable location, and access rights can be set up to identify who can view or edit each field, before and after approval. Multi-factor authentication and invoice data redaction, provides extra security for invoices that may contain sensitive information. Invoice templates provide the ability to quickly process frequently received invoices and field validation rules, reduce coding errors that may not be caught using a paper system.
Vendors also have greater visibility on where their invoice is at in the approval process. Vendors who email their invoices directly into the application, automatically receive a confirmation email that the invoice was received with a link that gives the vendor the ability to check on the status of the submitted invoice.
Brandon Zabel noted, “Everyone is on the same page from the person inputting the claim, all the way to the final approver. Comments left, or changes made, are sent as notifications to everyone… only allowing certain codes to be chosen is also helpful so that potential errors are found before getting to Finance.” He continued, “We are able to give our auditors their own login, and can use reports to efficiently pull invoices that will include all comments and associated data in one spot. This has sped up the turn around time for audit testing significantly.”