Case Study

Automated AP Invoice Processing & OCR Workflow

A rapidly growing organization found its finance team completely overwhelmed by the daily burden of manually entering every single vendor invoice by hand. They wanted a smart system that could read emails, check budgets, and ask managers for approval automatically, without staff having to run around the office or manually enter numbers into their accounting software.

To solve this huge bottleneck, they partnered with us at Artesian Software Technologies. We built them a fully automated invoice system using Microsoft Power Automate and smart text-reading technology (OCR). Now, the system instantly grabs emailed invoices, reads the numbers, sends them through a clear approval process, and drops the final data perfectly into QuickBooks, all without a human ever touching a keyboard.

Automation Platform

Microsoft Power Automate

Email Trigger

Office 365 Outlook

Document Storage

SharePoint Online

OCR / AI

AI Builder (OCR)

Approval Workflow

Multi-Stage Power Automate Flow

Accounting Sync

QuickBooks Integration

The Challenge

  • Manual Invoice Data Entry: Staff had to open every email, read the invoice, and type the details by hand, making it impossible to grow without hiring more people.

  • Lack of Invoice Validation: Bills were sent for approval without automatically checking if the vendor was real, if the amount was over budget, or if it was a duplicate charge.

  • Fragmented AP Approvals: Approvals were lost in messy email threads and spreadsheets, leaving everyone guessing where an invoice was stuck.

  • Missing AP Tracking Data: Invoices missing critical project codes weren't caught until the very end of the process, delaying final payments and frustrating vendors.

  • Manual QuickBooks Sync Errors: Typing approved invoice data into QuickBooks by hand caused typos, duplicate payments, and syncing errors.

Our Solution

  • Outlook AP Automation: We created a trigger that instantly catches incoming invoice emails, saves the file securely to SharePoint, and logs it for tracking.

  • AI OCR Invoice Extraction: We leveraged AI Builder OCR to instantly extract key numbers, dates, and project codes from invoices.

  • Invoice Validation Engine: The system automatically checks the budget, verifies the vendor, and stops duplicate bills dead in their tracks before they move forward.

  • 4-Stage Automated Approval Flow: We built a clear step-by-step approval path that flags missing information and updates executives instantly when payments are ready.

  • Direct QuickBooks API Sync: Once fully approved, the system automatically sends the perfect data right into QuickBooks and saves a complete, timestamped audit trail.

Business Impact

  • 85% Less AP Processing Time: By automating the data extraction and filing, we cut the time it takes to process an invoice from hours to just minutes.

  • Zero Duplicate AP Invoices: The automated checks stop 100% of bad or duplicate bills before they ever reach a manager's desk, saving costly rework.

  • Full 4-Stage Approval Visibility: Everyone knows exactly where a bill is in the approval process at all times, meaning no more lost invoices or delayed tracking.

  • 70% Faster Payment Cycles: Automatic routing and instant alerts cleared up bottlenecks, speeding up the time it takes to pay a bill from weeks to days.

  • 100% Audit-Ready Financials: Auto-saving every action, approval, and QuickBooks update makes future financial audits completely stress-free.

Client Testimonial

Honestly, before working with Artesian, our team wasted days just tracking down approvals and typing data in by hand. Now, an invoice hits our inbox and goes straight into QuickBooks without anyone lifting a finger. The system they built even catches duplicate bills automatically, which has saved us a ton of headaches. Artesian completely transformed how our finance department runs. — Head of Finance & Accounts Payable

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