AP Automation for Yardi Users

Make sure to mark your calendars to attend the next Bean Services webinar to be held on Tuesday, August 24. 

In this session we will discuss;

• Beanbills integration with Yardi
• How we are helping Property Management companies go paperless with Accounts Payable Automation
• Why it won’t cost that much and it’s easier than you think

Date: Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Time: 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM PDT

Register for the Webinar here:   http://tinyurl.com/32cmvaa

Controllers Rejoice, an Invitation to the Backroom Auditors Party

This has been a long requested feature that's finally here. Now in Beanbills you can tell who did what and when in regards to any transaction. Like AP cost allocation changes, user changes or the status changes, including what was changed. Tracking changes to your payables workflow should be simple, and we kept it that way, so the interface is a basic report where you can filter by user, date and transaction. Example, show me all Jim's transactions for last week. Or show me all events that happened to this invoice through its process from day one.

It's very challenging to stop someone from doing something bad. You never suspect someone in your organization usually until it's too late. Unless you have some premonition about what they're doing. The audit trail provides that information dynamically. Obviously if the horrible event happens where an employee has done something bad, or simply gone beyond company policy, the evidence is there in black and white to prove what happened. I can see your auditors now having a party in the backroom. And for those controllers out there, although you may not admit it, you're dancing and have a drink with them.

We plan to extend the audit trail feature as Beanbills evolves. Help us improve it. Any and all feedback are super welcome.

Where's Your Payables Pain?

It's been my experience in working with our clients and prospects that there is a recurring and common theme in discussions regarding AP and invoice processing activities .... Pain. More specifically, it's how can an AP operation refine their workflow through automation? "There has to be a better way" is a common refrain. Well, as pain relief we are helping to alleviate it, to streamline it and to help prevent it from coming back.

When we are asked to help automate the AP and workflow process, we advise by asking clients to identify their "pain points" or more commonly, "where does it hurt?" The responses are overwhelming ... and it usually leads into a self-diagnosis of specific areas where problems and inefficiencies continue to plague an AP workflow operation.

To continue the "triage" theme, we help clients to identify their pain points, to think in terms of their major areas of workflow and invoice processing ... these are common themes:

• Inbound Vendor Invoices by snail mail, fax and e-mail; we know cold and flu season is upon us but it seems the pain always starts here ...

• Data Entry; we know our mothers always told us to eat slowly but sometimes, we have so many invoices to consume and not enough time or resources to help with the volume ... indigestion, etc, the most painful of all ...

• Approvals and Routing; we know that if we are waiting on others and we don't get our invoices paid on time, we miss out on early payment incentives ... yes, you guessed it, more pain ...

• Payment and Inquiries on Payment; it seems that this pain comes back to visit us? The when and where is it pain ....

  Archiving, Reporting & Document Management; How do we make sure that this pain doesn't come back? Do we have to dig through cabinets for audit reports?

Guess what ... We have been able to identify causes. For example, are increasing volumes of monthly invoices starting to overwhelm your AP data entry staff?

Have you calculated the cost of "pain" per invoice for each physically handled piece of paper? Are your approvers, project managers, budgetary advisors and distant office locations holding up the approval process? We have a cure ... workflow automation, improves processes and web based technology would be a step towards better AP workflow health. It can also help with vendors inquiring on approval and payments.

After all that is said and done, we have been successful in determining our clients sources of pain. We have advised on a path to better health and we can safely say, the "patient" is well on their way to full "pain" relief.

Bring on the AP Automation for Timberline

We're pleased to announce that beanbills is now fully integrated with Timberline Office. Thanks to our friends at Constructive Solutions who helped implement the solution. Our customers using Timberline can now take advantage of all the benefits of Accounts Payable Automation by exchanging data directly with their Timberline software.

Great Article on AP Automation - Jul/Aug09 Issue CMA Magazine

If you've never heard of AP Automation and wondering if there're a way to streamline your back office and get more efficient. Here's a great article that talks about all the hard cost benefits automation and what's possible given today's technology.

 

Follow this link to read the article.

 

KISS applies to Accounts Payable

Accounts payable is not rocket science. However complexities in the process seem to be common place.  Complexities cost mucho time and effort ultimately taking a big bite out of the bottom-line.

 

Most organizations payables processes grow organically or through acquisition along with the needs of the business. Over time, with added volume and locations, those processes often become cumbersome and unmanageable.  By this time, they review their options and either turn to a pricey accounting system upgrade or live with the current setup.  It’s up for debate on which ultimately costs more, however it’s usually the later as resistance to change is generally the road most travelled.

 

Let’s take another look at these home grown complexities. The belief that each company runs their ap differently “we are unique” is standard fair amongst operations. Sure there is uniqueness to industries, or how business is conducted. But the objective and outcomes are always the same, place an order, receive a bill, code and approve it, and pay it.  Really companies are running the same process in slightly different and mostly manual ways.

 

When the Ford model T was introduced to world through standardized production, it made a huge amount of sense and continues to be a massive factor in everything we serve and produce today.  Are the benefits of standardization not available to the ap process? If the objectives are the same, and the outcome is the same, why are businesses not looking to standardize and take advantage of the same efficiencies and economies.

 

Truth is most are not… yet. Most companies are not in the accounting business, nor should they be. It’s a necessary evil. They don’t have time to focus in on process improvement while running their business.

 

Incorporating accounting best practices right from company inception is ideal but hardly realistic, at least not until recently.  Today, there are solutions that expand the functionality of conventional accounting applications and many of them are web-based and affordable to the small and medium sized businesses.  These solutions offer built-in best practices to help businesses with compliance and efficiency to allow them to concentrating on the core competencies of the business rather than the paperwork involved with running the business.

 

Creating efficiencies on your own, without the expertise and tools is impossible. Standardizing and incorporating best practices right from company inception is ideal but hardly realistic, at least not until recently. Today, there are solutions that expand the functionality of conventional accounting applications. Many of them are web-based and affordable to the small and medium sized businesses. These solutions offer built-in best practices which help standardize processing, boost efficiency, and focus businesses on their core instead of the time consuming paperwork that surrounds their core.

 

Standardization is becoming essential to create efficiencies in business process. As my beloved marketing prof repeatedly broadcasted, "KISS, Keep It Simple Stupid" in other words don't get caught up in the complex when there are proven simple ways to process your ap.