Case Study:
Stonegate Group
Learn how we revolutionised Stonegate Group accounts payable processes, enhancing efficiency, visibility, and scalability while saving hundreds of hours annually through automation.
Stonegate Group
Background
Initially formed in 2010 with 333 pubs, Stonegate Group is now the largest pub company in the UK. Following 12 major acquisitions, their vast portfolio is now home to over 4,500 hospitality venues, operating brands such as Slug and Lettuce, Yate’s and Popworld.
Such rapid growth introduced operational pressures, particularly within the accounts payable function. As the business continued to scale, the volume of supplier invoices received by the finance team increased exponentially to over 150,000 documents per annum. Manual processes demanded incredible time and resources until the team identified that they would need to leverage automation to keep pace.
Challenges
Stonegate needed to centralise and standardise processing across its vast network of venues. Invoices were often received locally at site locations, leading to processing delays and impeding timely approvals.
Lost documents, lack of visibility and human error risked late payments, posing a significant threat to supplier relationships and the overall health of their supply chain.
Valuable time and resources within the finance team were being lost to manual activities. Hundreds of hours were being spent physically keying invoices onto Unit4 Coda Financials, leaving no free time for strategic tasks.
Key Requirements
ELITE thoroughly assessed Stonegate Group’s challenges and collaboratively established the criteria that would define the project’s success:
- Seamlessly integrate with Unit4 Coda Financials
- Centralise and standardise processing across all locations
- Remove reliance on paper and printing
- Eliminate the manual input of supplier invoices
- Improve visibility and reporting across the AP process
- Reduce processing delays and ensure timely approvals
- Enhance accuracy and reduce human error.
- Strengthen supplier relationships by enabling timely payments.
The Solution
ELITE proposed DocuWare Cloud to automate and streamline Stonegate’s accounts payable processes.
DocuWare’s Intelligent Indexing feature would capture invoices received by scan and e-mail. Invoice data would be accurately extracted, eliminating the need for any physical input into Coda.
DocuWare’s Workflow would 3-way match PO-related invoices, with
successful matches automatically validating and posting to Coda without human intervention. Unmatched invoices would be directed via an exception workflow for user review.
Once resolved, they, too, will flow through to Coda.
Non-PO invoices would be coded and automatically distributed to the correct approvers, with AP gaining full visibility across the process.
Remote approvals would be enabled via DocuWare Mobile, and automatic reminders and escalations would ensure timely processing.
All documents would be indexed and securely stored within DocuWare, eliminating the risk of lost invoices and giving the finance team instant access to the information they need.
The integration with Coda would include the exchange of reference data for vendor and PO validation, invoice posting and URLs for invoice images to be accessed from the ERP.
Outcomes
The implementation of DocuWare brought about significant improvements for Stonegate Group, addressing their operational challenges and delivering tangible benefits across their accounts payable processes:
Increased efficiency
Automated processing reduced manual input,
saving hundreds of hours per annum
Enhanced visibility
Centralised processing and reporting capabilities
gave the finance team full process transparency
Improved processing times
Automatic workflow, approval reminders and
notifications greatly accelerated the invoice cycle
Scalability
DocuWare enabled Stonegate to grow without proportionally
increasing headcount
Trusted by
Ready to get started?
Get in touch and we’ll help tailor the best-fit document management solution for your business.
