This Success Story was written by our partner:

KNIME Success Story

Automatic Invoice Checking
AutomotiveFinance

ETL

Replacing a manual invoice checking process and reducing human error
Accounting is extremely important for recording the ﬁnancial transactions in each business. And without correct accounting, it’s not possible to display
the ﬁnancial health of the business to stakeholders. Accounting provides vital information regarding cost and earnings, proﬁt and loss, liabilities andassets for decision making, and planning and controlling processes within each business. Optimization of accounting process saves time, ensures quality,and reduces human error.
Over 300 emails per month are received from partners with invoices in PDF format and invoice attachments as Excel or CSV ﬁles. Because there is noautomated process to check these invoices, all attachments are manually checked on a random basis. KNIME Analytics Platform is used to replace thisexisting manual invoice checking process. An automated solution provides a transparent overview of the invoice processing.

Four steps in KNIME Analytics PlatformResults

Using KNIME Analytics Platform a connection to the SQL Server on one side (ground truth)

Upon project completion, a report is delivered thatand imported flat ﬁles (invoice attachments) on the other side is established. Flat ﬁles are

displays all relevant data (including matching result,checked against the database table. The following steps are taken in order to implement it:

month, plus additional information) per partner and1) Transform the flat ﬁle format in order to extract dates in a proper format (using the Time
Field Extractor node)

provides a clear overview of the invoicing data fromthe selected partner. Speciﬁc beneﬁts include:2) Filter the database data by respective month and partner (using the Rule-Based Row
Filter node)• Reduced costs due to automated invoice processing(automated report containing information about all3) Match the data from both sources in order to ﬁnd the same data (using the Joiner, RuleEngine and Group By nodes)

largest partners received within 1-2 hours)• Improved quality of the invoice checking process4) Calculate any missing data (using the Math Formula and Group By nodes)• Early detection of inconsistencies between databaseand invoices

One of the challenges is that many partners deliver different flat ﬁle formats (differentschemas). To overcome this challenge, an individual invoice-checking procedure for eachpartner (of the 18 largest partners) is implemented in a separate metanode that contains all
the steps described above.

KNIME Software
KNIME Analytics Platform makes it possible to create a workflow, which
provides a transparent overview of the invoice processing. It’s possible tocomplete all the steps within a single environment - including connecting
to the Microsoft SQL Server. The ability to create metanodes in the visual
workbench make it easy to duplicate processes over multiple
partners/groups.

Fig. 1: High-level KNIME workflow

KNIME AG · Hardturmstrasse 66 · 8005 Zurich, Switzerland · info@knime.com · www.knime.com©2020 KNIME AG. All rights reserved. The KNIME® trademark and logo and OPEN FOR INNOVATION® trademark are used by KNIME AG under license from KNIME GmbH, and are registered in theUnited States and the European Union.