Author: Rachel Tilley
DocuWare and Sage Integration is a speciality for DocTech and we believe they make a fantastic pairing.
Whilst many Sage users believe there is nothing needed that isn’t on offer from Sage, we have clients using the two systems together with great effect. Importantly we can integrate with both on-premise and cloud based Sage systems.
The value that our digital document management software DocuWare can add for Sage users is largely around its' world class data capture capabilities, as well as the ability to review supporting documents “within” Sage.
DocuWare takes an invoice from an email inbox or scanned paper document and performs the accurate data capture needed to eradicate data entry into any finance software.
Some of our clients need only header and footer information to be captured, whilst others use our solutions to extract detailed line-item data. DocuWare can instantly present Sage with the information required which benefits organisations greatly through reducing paper use, avoiding human errors from data entry and minimising loss of important information.
This all improves invoice processing times, efficiency and productivity.
A well-known food manufacturer with twelve business locations currently uses DocuWare to automate invoice processing. They told us it took one finance administrator 3-4 days a week to type invoice information into Sage.
Managers were also manually collating data to compile a weekly report which meant looking across multiple sources and duplicating work. As the information had already been keyed in once, staff were wasting a lot of time and their core responsibilities suffered. 
The documents associated with the data in Sage was on paper, in filing cabinets and across network folders which meant sourcing the required information caused further delays.
With a DocuWare and Sage integration, the documents relating to Sage entries can be viewed instantly “within” Sage using a feature called Smart Connect. This application creates a button which sits within Sage and performs a look up to find the corresponding documentation stored in DocuWare.
This means the user doesn’t need to leave Sage and search elsewhere for the required information they need.
Implementing DocuWare and integrating it with Sage has streamlined and automated this manufactures invoice process. Invoices are now scanned at each business location and automatically indexed by DocuWare.
Document indexing is a way of summarising the content of a document to indicate what it is about. When stored in a digital system documents are tagged with this 'summary' making them quick and easy to find.
Intelligent Indexing is a function of DocuWare that learns how to “recognise” index terms wherever they are on a page. As an invoice is scanned, key information such as customer name, product, invoice number or price are extracted and saved as index fields in DocuWare.
It is these fields authorised users are now able to easily use to perform searches on with access to DocuWare at home, in the office or out on the road.
Once captured and indexed, the company's department head can review and correct any missing index terms. With machine learning functionality, DocuWare goes on to remember these corrections to give more accurate results on the next invoice from that same supplier.
After the costs are reviewed an electronic stamp is used to approve the invoice (just as you’d stamp a paper invoice) and it is sent to the Finance Director where it is given a final review before being stored in DocuWare.
There is a tight integration between DocuWare and Sage which gives the finance team quick access to documents stored in DocuWare, right from within Sage. There's no need to switch between Sage and DocuWare or leave their desks to find a paper invoice. A click of the integrated button in Sage recalls the related document from DocuWare and opens it in Sage.
This manufacturing business reduced data-entry time by 40 hours per week allowing staff to focus on other key parts of their job.
The Finance Department can instantly answer supplier payment queries as the information is quickly found in DocuWare.
Staff no longer have to provide information for managers as they have easy access to it themselves.
Their Finance Manager said the biggest advantage of the DocuWare and Sage integration is being able to instantly perform a cost analysis:
“Every month I do an income statement review. I can easily run a report in the system and be instantly aware of what we are spending. With DocuWare we ended up making our processes better and easier, with the end result being we catch things that would otherwise have been too hard to spot. This kind of insight is invaluable to us”.
DocTech have the experience of integrating with a variety of Sage packages as well as many other ERP and Finance packages that are both on premise and in the cloud.
We will happily discuss any bespoke requirements ad well as any specific challenges you face.
If your business is still struggling with outdated, manual or paper processes then you would benefit from DocuWare and Sage Integration.
Book a discovery call with a member of our team, ask any questions and hear how we will streamline your processes to make a positive impact.
