Case Dutch Hospital Association – Invoice processing
The Dutch Hospital Association worked in one Excel file with three employees. When an invoice came in, an employee looked at the corresponding obligation in Excel. This method turned out to be inconvenient if someone was free or ill. After compiling a list of requirements, they started to compare different suppliers online.
After Visma | ProActive won this race convincingly, they wanted to get started as soon as possible. They collected the necessary data with two employees and contributed to a superfast implementation.
After Visma | ProActive won this race convincingly, they wanted to get started as soon as possible. They collected the necessary data with two employees and contributed to a superfast implementation.
NVZ - Digital invoice processing
“When the liabilities administration in Excel no longer reflected the invoices, we had to start looking for an efficient solution for linking liabilities and invoices,” Monique van de Haar, Financial Administration Officer at the Dutch Hospital Association (NVZ), explains. “First we had to figure out what we exactly wanted. Then our quest began.”
“Before the Spend Cloud, both invoice processing and liabilities administration worked completely manually. When invoices arrived, I or one of my two colleagues checked the Excel file for the corresponding liability. In this way, we kept the status of liabilities up to date and checked the invoice at the same time.”
But three staff members editing a single Excel file isn’t exactly the best way of working. “If a colleague was absent, I didn’t know precisely where he’d finished. As a result, the administration was no longer accurate and I didn’t have an overview to present to the management team, while that was exactly what I was supposed to be doing.” So things really needed to be changed, but where do you start?
It starts with Google
The selection team – comprising a secretary, the secretary to the management board, the controller, the Operations Manager, and Monique – drew up the following preconditions:
- the software ensures a fast and efficient process
- the software has options for saving invoices digitally
- the software links invoices to liabilities
- the software is user-friendly
- the software interfaces with Exact
Are you just starting out with digital invoice processing? Or are you ready to step it up with XML?
Either way, you can find more information in the Invoice Processing factsheet!
Monique van de Haar
Financial Administration Officer
“Thanks to the reports, I can provide specific guidance for the second half of the year.”
“Separately we Googled the possibilities for linking invoices and liabilities. This gave us a list of suppliers. Then came our second decision. After looking at various websites, we had found a number of suppliers and started to compare them more closely. What are the benefits? And which benefits correspond with our conditions?”
Implement and get started as soon as possible
“After a unanimous decision in favor of Visma | ProActive, we wanted to get started as fast as we could. We asked if a quick implementation was possible and received a clear overview stating the details we needed to provide. Two of us got to work, ensuring that implementation was completed in no time.”
To set up the liability administration, the NVZ has a simple work method: substantial investment or a meeting of one of the departments, all expenditure above €1,000 requires a quotation to be requested. The administration registers the quotation selected as a liability and feeds it back to the department. This means we know how much budget we have left with every new liability.
“We also have a project pot for each department that we monitor using liabilities, such as the innovation project, for example. We link a liability with a project code to all quotations we receive for the project. This allows us to see easily and quickly see which liabilities belong to that project.”
“Our suppliers support our new work method, with 60% now submitting their invoices digitally, and more to come. We are now even ready to convert to XML, but our suppliers still panic a little when we mention this.”
Guiding towards the future
“I can state categorically that we have fully realized our objective. Everyone is easily working in this new, more efficient way. We have more structure in our processes, and we have a clearer picture of budget use. A life without liabilities would make my life a lot more difficult.
Thanks to the reports in the Spend Cloud, I can provide specific guidance for the second half of the year. I check the budget, review the reports, and pass on which expenditure they could best keep limited. Our next goal is to realize monthly reports. At last, we have time for that.”
Are you just starting out with digital invoice processing? Or are you ready to step it up with XML?
Either way, you can find more information in the Invoice Processing factsheet!