Orders and invoices: Developments in document processing

JACOB is a global leader in modular pipework systems. The company also uses seamless connections to process its incoming invoices and customer orders. These processes have been fully digitalised using solutions from the tangro Inbound Suite. Nikolas Geurten, Head of IT at JACOB, says:

“Automated document processing with tangro saves our accounting department and sales and distribution considerable time.”

Originally it was financial accounting who were the driving force behind the automation project because they were barely able to cope with the huge numbers of incoming invoices. But right from the start, IT took it a step further and brought sales and distribution on board as well as they too were having to process a stream of incoming orders on a daily basis. “In IT, we consider ourselves to be a service provider and see it as our job to introduce innovations to the company,” says Nikolas Geurten, Head of IT at JACOB.

“Given where we are now, we are delighted that we paved the way for digitalisation in good time. With tangro, even during the pandemic, we have been able to process documents without any issues.”

IT and the specialist departments worked together to draw up the requirements of the software for document processing in SAP. For IT and the specialist departments, it was important for the software to be an integral part of SAP. Geurten: 

“We opted for tangro because the solution is embedded in SAP."

A separate product, connected to SAP via interfaces and requiring data to be imported and exported via interfaces, just simply wasn't an option,” says Geurten.  “With tangro, automated document processing takes place in the corresponding environments in SAP.” The S/4HANA capabilities of the tangro solution were also important because JACOB plans to switch to the R/3 successor in the foreseeable future. Document processing can then continue to run smoothly.

Invoices and orders at JACOB Pipework Systems are received by head office in Porta Westfalica with invoices arriving by e-mail and post and, with the exception of a few purchase orders placed by phone, all orders coming in by e-mail. tangro recognises, checks and processes the incoming documents. This makes the processes much faster and more efficient. Nikolas Geurten estimates:

“The speed at which orders are processed in sales and distribution has doubled. Almost half of orders are created and posted fully automatically with tangro.”

According to the head of IT, the software has become indispensable for staff:

“Whenever tangro cannot be used for brief periods, we are instantly asked what is wrong.”

Invoice processing has also been considerably simplified with tangro. This is mainly due to the fact that the invoice entry journal acts as the central pivotal point for document processing. “Central management of incoming invoices via the entry journal makes processing so much simpler,” says Nikolas Geurten.

“The accounting department immediately sees which invoices are still being held by the specialist areas and are still open.”

Incoming invoices are also forwarded from financial accounting to the specialist departments responsible straight from the entry journal. The electronic workflow reliably channels process flows. For example, invoices for purchase orders which originated in purchasing go straight to purchasing and via the team codes are passed to the respective team leader or technician who ordered the goods. “The automated forwarding of documents alone massively speeds up invoice verification and makes the process reliable. This is also because we now also have a sensible stand-in rule.” It is also beneficial that staff who don’t work with SAP can release a document by means of a web-based workflow.

Nikolas Geurten is happy with every aspect of tangro: “tangro is a partner we can talk to and collaborate with on a level playing field."

"Implementation ran without a hitch and the support team is fantastic even now that we’ve moved onto productive use.”

About JACOB

Fr. Jacob Soehne GmbH & Co. KG, based in Porta Westfalica, Germany, is one of the world’s leading suppliers of modular pipework systems. Founded in 1924, the company employs more than 600 members of staff worldwide. The JACOB Group includes subsidiaries in Germany, France, Italy, the UK, Czech Republic and the USA. The company has more than 40 representative offices around the globe.