Business outcome
Use this capability when the framework identifies repeatable work, approvals, exceptions, or handoffs that should move faster without losing evidence, ownership, or human control.
Services
Workflow & Exception Automation · Process Automation · Invoice & AP
Invoice & AP Automation
Move clean invoices through AP and send discrepancies to the right owner.
Accounts-payable teams reconcile supplier invoices against purchase orders, receipts, quantities, prices, freight, coding, tax, and approval rules. We automate matches within approved tolerances and route unresolved differences to accountable owners with the evidence needed to decide.
A strong fit when
- AP staff manually comparing invoice line items against POs and receiving documents for every transaction
- Invoice exceptions handled through email threads with no SLA tracking or escalation
- Early-pay discounts missed because invoices sit in an approval queue nobody monitors
- Duplicate invoices paid because there's no automated detection before payment runs
Why this service exists
Connect the technology decision to the work the manufacturing business must control.
System responsibility
Workflow engineering connects governed records, business rules, decisions, approvals, alerts, and exception paths to the systems where accountable work occurs.
Ownership and control
The manufacturer must control the process rules, decision rights, evidence, review thresholds, exception response, measures, and change path rather than burying them inside an automation tool.
01
The Problem
Supplier-invoice exceptions are buried inside manual matching and email follow-up.
Automation problems begin when a tool is introduced before the normal path, exception path, decision rights, evidence, and human-control points are explicit.
What leaders see
Routine work still waits for individual follow-up.
Documents, orders, approvals, alerts, and exceptions remain trapped in inboxes and personal work queues.
What is actually happening
Rules and ownership are not executable.
Inputs, thresholds, approvers, escalation, evidence, and closure conditions vary by person or situation.
What gets worse
Automation scales an undefined process.
Work moves faster without becoming more reliable, explainable, or accountable.
02
What changes
Make the operating responsibility visible and governable.
Accounts-payable teams reconcile supplier invoices against purchase orders, receipts, quantities, prices, freight, coding, tax, and approval rules. We automate matches within approved.
01
Operating outcome
Move clean invoices through AP and send discrepancies to the right owner.
02
Work, decisions, and evidence involved
requests, documents, approvals
03
Decision and exception path
Which repeatable work can move automatically, which decisions require review, and how exceptions are assigned and closed.
04
Ownership and continuity
Automation needs stable rules, trusted inputs, accountable owners, human-control points, and a defined response when conditions fall outside the normal path.
03
Architecture
Build the service around the business record and decision.
Which repeatable work can move automatically, which decisions require review, and how exceptions are assigned and closed.
01Source record
02Governed connection
03Validation
04Business system
05Accountable owner
Work, decisions, and evidence involved
requestsdocumentsapprovalsalertsexceptions and audit history
04
Engineering scope
What Metrotechs engineers for Invoice & AP Automation.
The exact scope follows the approved business objective, source records, dependencies, controls, and delivery sequence.
01
Automated Three-Way Matching
Match invoices against purchase orders and receiving records using approved price, quantity, freight, tax, and coding tolerances. Exceptions stop straight-through processing and show the conflicting evidence.
02
Invoice Data Extraction
Extract proposed supplier, line-item, amount, purchase-order, tax, and payment-term data from supported PDF, email, scan, or EDI formats, with confidence and business-rule validation.
03
Exception Routing & Resolution
Unmatched invoices routed to the right approver with the specific discrepancy highlighted, PO context attached, and a resolution workflow. SLA tracking ensures exceptions don't sit in queues.
04
Duplicate Detection
Evaluate invoice number, supplier, amount, date, and line-item evidence before payment. Suspected duplicates are held and routed for review according to the payment controls.
05
Payment Optimization
Identify documented early-payment terms and present eligible timing within cash, approval, supplier, and payment-policy constraints. Track accepted and missed opportunities against the actual agreements.
06
ERP Integration
Post matched and approved invoices to the ERP through a governed interface. Payment proposals follow terms, approvals, cash rules, validation, audit logging, and recovery procedures.
05
Delivery sequence
From operating reality to a solution the business can own.
AP Workflow Audit
Document current invoice volume, matching process, exception handling, average processing time, and error/duplicate rates. Quantify the cost of manual AP operations.
Matching Rules & Tolerances
Define three-way matching rules, price/quantity tolerances, exception routing logic, and approval hierarchies based on your procurement policies.
Automation Build
Build the extraction, matching, routing, and ERP posting pipeline. Integrate with your ERP's AP module and vendor communication channels.
Parallel Validation
Run automated matching alongside manual processing for a validation period. Compare match rates, exception accuracy, and processing times.
Production & Optimization
Deploy with dashboards tracking match rate, exception rate, processing time, duplicate prevention, and discount capture. Tune tolerances based on production results.
Related services and systems
Continue through the connected operating environment.
Use these connected services and references to understand the records, workflows, and systems surrounding this work.
06
FAQ
Questions to answer before implementation begins.
Clear answers for manufacturing leaders evaluating the work, operating responsibility, and delivery path.
The match rate depends on purchase-order coverage, receipt discipline, supplier formats, extraction quality, tolerance policy, tax and freight complexity, and coding requirements. We baseline those conditions and validate straight-through matches against approved examples before setting a target.