350K

Invoices Per Year

$1.5B+

Annual Spend

9K+

Users

Challenges

• Complex Approval Hierarchies to support Field and Corporate transactions requiring Operations and Finance Approvals based on line level GL allocationsWith over 40,000 vendors and 2M transactions per year, too many resources were dedicated to responding to vendor questions about invoice status.
• Too much time spent collecting information from vendors for payment disputes took away from time available to resolve the disputes.
• Despite 75% of the transactions received via EDI or other electronic means, “missing invoices” treated as “one off” issues significantly impacted departmental efficiency.
• Vendor Onboarding was plagued with out of data forms due to decentralized responsibilities.  The forms lacked completeness with no way to enforce any requirements resulting in a cumbersome, disorganized vendor onboarding process.
• Complex program and rebate structures with vendors made it difficult for vendors to fully reconcile payments.

Solutions

• AP Workflow – NonPO
• Vendor Portal – Invoice Inquiry
• Vendor Portal – Invoice Submit
• Vendor Portal – Disputes
• Vendor Portal – Vendor Onboarding
• Vendor Portal – Custom Inquiry

Results

• Flexible approval hierarchy and automation allows the system to determine and manage required approvals across all areas of the business as required by US Foods Bill of Authority.
• Directing all vendors to an Invoice Inquiry portal allowed vendors to get the answers needed while reducing resources in the vendor support center.
• Requiring vendors to submit disputes through an interactive form on the vendor portal allowed the required information to be collected and integrated with a case management system without involvement from the vendor support center.
• Invoice Submit functionality through the  Vendor Portal that integrated with the PO/Inventory system allowed vendors to submit over 2,500 invoices weekly without requiring AP to participate in the capture process.
• Vendors are required to use the standardized online forms through the Vendor Portal.  Once submitted, data driven workflows enforce review and approval requirements and ensure adherence to US Foods requirements.
• Custom Vendor Portal Inquiry that allows vendors to download data associated with deductions taken on injunction with the agreements between US Foods, its vendors and customers.