PIPELINEGuide
Checklist: prepare to automate invoice processing
What you should clarify before requesting quotes on automating invoice processing. The more is decided upfront, the more reliable the quotes will be.
Before committing to automated invoice processing, a quick assessment is worthwhile: which workflow takes the most time, who will manage the system later, and whether the necessary content is even available. The complete checklist is further down.
01 — Checklist
Clarify before the first quote
- What should improve? In one sentence, no jargon.
- How will you know? One number that should change.
- Who decides? One person, not a committee.
- What budget is available? A range is enough — it makes quotes comparable instead of arbitrary.
- By when? And what the deadline depends on.
- Which systems are involved? And who has access to them.
- What do you already have? Content, data, preliminary work — this reduces the cost.
02 — Participation
What we need from you
- A contact person who can make decisions — not just forward them.
- Access to the affected systems, in time and not on launch day.
- Real examples from daily business — the messier, the more useful for testing.
- Two to four hours for coordination, distributed over the project duration.
- An answer to the question of what success means. Without it, nothing can be assessed afterward.
03 — Questions
Questions you should ask
- What happens if the project becomes more expensive than estimated — who bears that?
- Who owns data, access, and, if developed, the source code?
- What does operation cost in the second and third year?
- What does the documentation we receive at the end look like?
- How would you measure whether the project was successful?
- Is there a case in which you would advise us against this?
04 — Questions
Frequently asked questions
Is this audit-proof?
The filing system meets requirements for immutability, traceability, and retrievability. Original document, extracted data, corrections, and approvals are logged with timestamps. The retention period in Austria is generally seven years.
What about mandatory e-invoicing?
Structured electronic invoices are becoming mandatory across Europe in stages, with different deadlines by country. Processing that understands formats like ZUGFeRD and XRechnung from the start saves you from later conversion.
What if an invoice arrives twice?
The system detects duplicates based on invoice number, amount, and sender, and flags them instead of posting them twice — a common, costly error in manual entry.
What happens with an unrecognized invoice?
It lands in a review queue. Nothing is guessed and nothing gets lost. Over time, the queue gets shorter because recurring vendors are reliably recognized.
Will our tax advisor work with this?
Usually yes — standard accounting firm systems accept structured data. We clarify this upfront directly with your firm, because their requirements determine the interface.
Can we set up multiple approval levels?
Yes, tiered by amount — smaller sums go through automatically, larger ones require one or more approvals, depending on how you handle it internally.
What about invoices in foreign currencies?
They are recognized and posted using the stored exchange rate. If needed, you can set a fixed reference date rate or use the daily rate at invoice receipt.
05 — Next
Related pages
- Automate invoice processing — Overview
- Automate invoice processing — Funding
- Automate invoice processing — Team and acceptance
- Automate invoice processing — Workflow
- Automate invoice processing — How it works
- Automate invoice processing — Implementation
- Automate invoice processing — integration
- Automate invoice processing — Alternatives
- Document processing with AI
- Process automation
- Automate Quote Creation
- All guides
Automate invoice processing by region
Next step
Send us a few sentences about your project.
We read every inquiry ourselves and respond personally. No sales team, no callback form into the void.