Kirklees Council
6 min
What our client needed
Kirklees Council were looking for ways to reduce their operating costs due to tightening budgets and increasing financial pressure. They’d identified the back office as an area of potential opportunity for further savings, in particular the management of their financial processes. They appointed Paragon as their invoice processing outsourcing partner at the beginning of 2018. Our first step was making sure our systems aligned, and our implementation team worked hand in hand with the client’s project sponsor to ensure a seamless kick off and integration. We now process all of Kirklees Council’s invoices, which are received by either post or email.
What we gave them
We implemented a comprehensive invoice processing solution for the Council, including the setup of a dedicated PO Box and email inbox to receive all postal and electronic invoices directly from suppliers. All incoming documents are opened, visually validated, prepared and scanned at 300 dpi, with key data captured including invoice date, invoice number, purchase order number, gross and net amounts, VAT and currency code.
We also implemented an agreed exceptions handling process to manage any discrepancies efficiently. Paper documents are securely stored for four weeks before confidential destruction, while all database entries are retained electronically for a two-year period.
What was the impact
- 472,500 electronic invoices and 8,500 postal invoices processed to date
- Same-day processing of physical invoices received by 11am and electronic invoices received by 2pm
- All data is transmitted to the client daily by 5pm
- Improved data matching and input accuracy
- Reduction in manual data entry and intervention through automation
- Reduce costs, improved cash flow and increased control over their invoice processing