Automation of processes

Automation of Invoice Processing for the Ministry of the Interior of the Czech Republic.

assignment

The Ministry of the Interior of the Czech Republic (MVČR) faces several challenges in processing invoices for telecommunications services. Currently, there is a lengthy email communication between the telecommunications service provider and the relevant department of the MVČR before the invoice is officially accepted into the registry. The supplier sends a preview of the invoice that needs to be subjected to a detailed review. The MVČR conducts an analysis of formal and content requirements and verifies whether the invoiced items correspond to the concluded contracts. In case of any discrepancies, the supplier is requested to rectify them, which prolongs the time needed for processing and response.

OUR SOLUTION

Based on the identified problems, we proposed the implementation of robotic process automation within the project, focused on the sub-process of validating invoice previews sent by the data services operator. The main activity of this automation will be a detailed analysis of the received invoice previews for telecommunications services and their assessment based on predefined rules and procedures.

Our goal was for the automation to be able to effectively process data from invoices and compare it with information from contractual documents and penalty records. The automation process requires that invoices be in a machine-readable format, ideally PDF, so that the robot can easily extract the necessary data.

If discrepancies are found in the process, the robot automatically generates an email notification for the relevant MVČR staff, containing information about the processing result and a suggested text for the response to the supplier. This way, the client center operators can quickly and effectively respond to supplier requests.

RESULTS

The implementation of the PoC project allowed MVČR to thoroughly evaluate the benefits of artificial intelligence in the invoice processing process. Automation contributed to a significant increase in the efficiency of internal processes, leading to faster invoice approvals and the elimination of errors that occurred during manual processing.

An important result is also the reduction in the time required to process invoices, which improved overall communication between MVČR and telecommunications service providers.