Accounts Payable - Optical Character Recognition (OCR)
Workday has an Optical Character Recognition (OCR) feature that can analyze files in PDF, jpeg, and other formats, find the important fields, convert the values in those fields to digital format, and then use those values to create the appropriate business document in Workday.
For the Accounts Payable (AP) team, this means that they can submit an invoice in PDF format (emailed or scanned) into Workday and Workday will create an invoice in the system based on the PDF. The system will fill in they key fields that it is able to decipher. This means that the AP team does not have to key the entire invoice. Instead, after scanning and uploading, the AP team just has to review the invoice, enter any missing fields, and then click the Submit button. The PDF and invoice entry screen are rendered next to each other, so it is easy for the AP clerk to do the review. This will save the AP clerk keying and ultimately time.
Workday's OCR feature also has machine learning (ML) built in. This is an AI tool where the system "learns" from each invoice. This leads to more fields being filled in based off of what was learned on previous invoices. (Ex: if several Huron invoices are coded to the Workday Project worktag, subsequent Huron invoices will automatically be given the Workday Project worktag. This worktag can be updated by the AP clerk, of course.)
Pat created a 21 minute demo video of the OCR process in the sandbox tenant on 10/4/24: AP OCR Demonstration - 20241004. If you are interested in OCR, please watch this video first. If you think it will be helpful, reach out to Pat to begin the process of configuring it. There are several security items and configuration choices to make.
Pat had set this up in Sandbox on 9/30/24. Of course, Sandbox is refreshed weekly. It makes sense to go through the setup a couple of times to understand the security and processing choices that have to be made. Below are a list of Workday references for configuring AP OCR:
Workday Community - Supplier Invoice Scanning - Setup (including very helpful video)
Workday Community - Supplier Invoice Scanning - Demo Video
Workday Community - Supplier Invoice Scanning - Advanced Video
Workday Community - Supplier Invoice Scanning - FAQ