Issue

Syensqo currently use Readsoft as an Invoice Management tool

This tool handles hte processing and approval of Inbound Supplier Invoices - eg who has to approve an Invoice higher price than the PO? Or perform a missing GR if required.

With the transition to S/4 HANA Private Cloud edition this will need to be reviewed. The options are

• use a new 3rd party tool
• use the SAP recommended tools - Readsoft or OpenText 
• do not use any Invoice Approval tool

It is not practical to not use an Approval tool and none of hte other 3rd Parties tools will reliably integrate into S/4 HANA without modification.

So the real choice is between OpenText and Readsoft.

Recommendation

The recommended option is to use the recommended SAP option for S/4 HANA Cloud - Opentext/SAP IM due to its greater compatibility with S/4 HANA Cloud editions. 

Background & Context

Supplier invoices coming into Syensqo will need a process to approve invoice in the following scenarios

• PO Based Invoices where there is a price discrepancy
• PO Based invoices where there is a quantity discrepancy or no GR has been entered
• Non PO Based Invoices that need to be coded to a cost object and approved by  the cost object owner

Assumptions

The volume of invoices that will require some kind of approval will be too high for a purely manual process.

Constraints

The Invoice Management tool should be 

• Able to handle invoices coming into the system from a number of sources - eg eMail PDF scans, Government Portals, SAP Business Network, EDI Inputs
• Able to ID the correct approvers and transmit Invoices to them with minimal manual input

Local governments can mandate the use if an Invoice Portal for all invoices to be passed through - so the system will need to be compatible with this.

The system should be able to receive inbound invoices from multiple sources - eg Portals, SAP Business Networks, EDI etc 

The system should be compatible with S/4 HANA Cloud Private edition before system build.

Impacts

If the invoices are not processed and approved in a timely fashion then the suppliers of Syensqo may begin to refuse to supply Syensqo and so cause disruption to the business

If the Invoice Management tool is not reliable or does not integrare ot SAP smoothly then invoices payment may be delayed

If hte tool is not reliably integrated with S/4 HANA Cloud then errors and lost data coudl occur causing disruption and delays to payments to suppliers.

Business Rules

All PO related Invoices that have differences outside of tolerance levels will require approval. 

Invoice payments on time are tracked and monitored for compliance with local prompt payments standards so timely payment is a requirement. 

Local governments can mandate the use if an Invoice Portal for all invoices to be passed through - so the system will need to be compatible with this

Options considered

The following options were considered

Option A: Use Readsoft

Use one of the tools already recommended by SAP and (where possible) approved or validated for working with S/4 HANA Cloud

Note that currently only OpenText is validated as the preferred tool for S/4 HANA Cloud - but the actual selection of Readsoft or OpenText can be handled at Detailed Design 

Option B: Use OpenText 

Use one of the tools already recommended by SAP and (where possible) approved or validated for working with S/4 HANA Cloud

Note that currently only OpenText is validated as the preferred tool for S/4 HANA Cloud - but the actual selection of Readsoft or OpenText can be handled at Detailed Design 

Evaluation

	Use SAP Readsoft	Use SAP OpenText
Functionality	Pro  Covers the required SAP Invoice approval and management functions  - PO Invoice Financial Price Difference   - PO Invoice Financial Quantity Difference  - No PO Coding and Approval  Customisable Workflows Reporting tools Code exists inside SAP	Pro  Covers the required SAP Invoice approval and management functions  - PO Invoice Financial Price Difference   - PO Invoice Financial Quantity Difference  - No PO Coding and Approval  Customisable Workflows Reporting tools Code exists inside SAP
Syensqo Knowledge	Pro  Syensqo are already using Readsoft Process Director so are familiar with the tool and what it is capable off  Pro  Capability to "lift and Shift" current approval logic and flows (possibly with some adjustment due to upgrades	Con  OpenText is currently not used by Syensqo so there will be a learning curve Con  Will need to define the approval processes and build them in OpenText
Adaptation to Cloud	Con  Generally, Process Director is compatible with S/4 HANA, but Kofax (which acquired Readsoft) is  working on ensuring compatibility with S/4 HANA cloud environments and some features or customizations might need to be adjusted or re-implemented for the cloud environment.	Pro  Is the recommended option for S/4 HANA Cloud Private option. Currently labelled as SAP IM (Invoice Management) Pro  OpenText is the strategic partner for SAP and has "Cloud-Native" Architecture
Standard Fiori Apps	Con  Readsoft is developing Fiori Apps for Process Director	Pro  OpenText already has Fiori apps as part of standard suite

See also

Change log

Workflow history