Invoice Workflow: Digitization Without Media Discontinuity

Driven by IT and the specialist departments, the topic of digitization has not just been a top priority at Medicine E since yesterday. One example is the invoice workflow the medium-sized pharmaceutical company implemented entirely digitally and without media discontinuity by replacing an individual solution with standard software.

Digitise The Invoice Workflow: With almost 1,000 employees and annual sales of around 300 million euros, Medicine is one of the most successful owner-managed family companies in the pharmaceutical industry. As a typical representative of medium-sized companies, the company concentrates on the areas of CNS, nephrology, and dialysis medicine in the prescription-only area. Medicine, pharmacies, and consumers, Medicine is well known with brands such as Meditonsin and Dorithricin.

Better Digital: The Invoice Workflow

The technical requirements for digitization in Medicine are proper. The company operates a data centre with a cloud gateway; Microsoft 365 is standard, and the cloud is used where possible. Infor is trusted for the ERP, which also supplies the data required for the invoice workflow.

Up until 2019, paper receipts were still the norm in invoice processing. The result: was time-consuming dispatch with the internal mail and often even ambiguity about where a document was at the moment. They wanted to end this situation. And this time, no longer by re-adapting the individual software used at the time; flexible standard software was needed. The intended goals:

• Central recording of incoming invoices
• Transparency about the status of a document
• Audit-proof documentation of all permits
• Faster document access for authorised persons

Since the solution of a developed subsidiary has been successfully used in Medicine for many years to fulfil the comprehensive documentation requirements in the pharmaceutical sector, the solution of the software house from Gescher was also looked at for this project. The decision was made very quickly since d.velop met all the technical requirements, and Medicine wanted to expand the cooperation with the proven partner.

The DigiDoc

Quickly implemented, the digital invoice workflow, known internally as “DigiDoc,” went live in May 2019 after a fourteen-day preparation and training phase. It also showed the distinction between invoices with and without reference to order and subsequent processes. Since then, the basic process has been as follows:

Paper invoices are scanned, receipts are received via email, and they are forwarded in digital form to the responsible person. This is followed by the clearing by the accounting department, the technical examination, and the subsequent forwarding to the so-called approver for approval. The process ends with account assignment and posting by financial accounting.

Development And Outlook

Four weeks after the introduction, Medicine asked the key users about the new solution. The project manager, Susanne Fröhlich, Business Partner Finance & Controlling IT at Medicine: “We kept hearing: ‘That’s easy.’ And there was only praise for the functionality.” So why not use the advantages on the go, for example, with an app? Said and done. Since then, the app has been used by the entire management and the approvers. In addition, Medicare has rolled out the solution at a subsidiary, and the gradual expansion in an agile way of working is planned. Right at the top of the agenda are the precise reading of invoice data, archiving additional documents, and activating further subsidiaries.