Freeway Fleet Systems has developed intelligent document reading software to automate the handling of paper documents relating to the fleet.
Employing Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques in conjunction with Optical Character Recognition (OCR), incoming documents such as supplier invoices and vehicle inspection reports are read by computer rather than by a person.
The system identifies unique reference text per supplier such as VAT number or telephone number to ‘learn’ where to find purchase order, invoice number, net, VAT, and tax date. The software even learns to read different types of document correctly to reduce human intervention and improve automation.
The Freeway software is expected to be of particular benefit in reconciling invoices with purchase orders. On scanning the document the software captures key information matching it to the appropriate record held in the Freeway system. The software is smart enough to read line items and amounts to check and correctly apportion specific items.
“Many Freeway system users are switching away from paper by using our mobile apps,” says Patrick Tandy, Managing Director of Freeway. "However, they still receive paper documents from external sources frustrating the switch from paper to digital. Now we have a solution that eliminates much of the paperwork handling to boost automation and efficiency.”
The software can be set up with different parameters to alert if certain conditions have not been met. For example, invoices that are a few pounds out from the original PO can be passed for payment. However, if there are significant anomalies the software flags up the issue so it can be checked.
Overcharged invoices can be set to automatically mail suppliers requesting credit notes as well as being auto e-mailed to the Purchase Order creator and authoriser for their authorisation of over-spend.
Aside from the obvious accounting documentation, the software can be used for any documents relating to any asset, such as vehicle inspection reports, compliance and safety certificates, time sheets and third party maintenance reports.
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