Turn 700 invoices a week into zero manual work
A West Coast manufacturer processed 700 to 800 invoices a week entirely by hand, with 5 to 6 people touching every one before it posted. We replaced that with an AI pipeline in 12 weeks. Finance now handles exceptions only.
- Client
- West Coast manufacturer
- Function
- Accounts payable
- ERP
- Deacom
- Delivered
- 12 weeks
Five people touched every single invoice
Every invoice arrived in one shared inbox and then needed a manual download, review, GL code, PO match against the ERP, and for commodity vendors, a check against scale records. At 700 to 800 a week the team was fully consumed by data entry, with no capacity left to catch anomalies or audit vendor patterns.
Now the pipeline watches the inbox continuously. GL codes apply by rule, POs match, quantities verify, and the invoice posts to Deacom untouched. That last step is the heart of the Deacom automation: it writes straight into the ERP with no human in the loop. It all runs on the client's own AWS account, on credentials and code they own.
- 5 to 6 touchpoints per invoice
- GL coding from memory and reference sheets
- PO matching by manual ERP lookup
- Paper invoices scanned and routed by hand
- Inbox monitored and processed automatically
- GL coding applied by a rules engine
- PO matching and quantity checks automated
- Exceptions routed with full context and audit trail
Manual invoice touches per week, 700 to 800 invoices at 5 to 6 touchpoints each.
Built on infrastructure the client owns
The whole Deacom automation stack runs in the cloud on the client's account. They hold every credential and login. If CalTech Web disappeared tomorrow, the pipeline keeps running.
AWS EC2. All processing, logging, and temporary storage runs here. The client owns every admin credential.
Cron-based polling every 5 seconds. Each invoice spawns an independent agent session, so 100+ invoices process at once with no bottleneck.
Primary: EDI flat file via Deacom data profile architecture. Fallback: browser automation for post types the EDI profile does not cover.
Automated extraction from the scale records system cross-references weights against commodity invoices, removing a manual lookup.
Invoice data, logs, and extracted files stay in the client's AWS environment. Nothing transits a third-party AP platform.
Low-confidence OCR fields are held, never guessed.
Unknown vendor or line item routes to AP lead.
Quantity or amount outside tolerance stops the post.
Commodity weight cross-check against scale system.
Every action on every invoice is logged permanently.
Repeat exceptions become new rules, so the share of invoices needing a human keeps shrinking.
Off-the-shelf AP software rents you a fraction of this
Platforms like Tipalti, Bill.com, and Coupa solve pieces of the problem and charge per invoice forever. A custom build owns the entire workflow, end to end, at a fixed cost.
Invoice data lives on the vendor's servers, under their retention and access policies.
Everything stays in your AWS environment. No third-party access.
Per-invoice fees or a percentage of spend. Cost scales forever as volume grows.
One-time build fee, flat monthly retainer. Cost is fixed regardless of volume.
Coding logic is trapped in a rigid mapping interface, limited to their data model.
Rules are built to your exact GL structure, cost centers, and posting logic.
Switching platforms means full re-onboarding, data migration, and retraining.
You own the code and credentials. It runs with or without CalTech Web.
Kickoff to full go-live in 12 weeks
Built in three phases so the AP team runs their normal process in parallel right up to cutover. Errors surface before go-live, not after. From month four onward it is ongoing rule-building, new vendor templates, and ERP refinements.
Phase A runs live while Phase B is still being built, so the AP team never loses coverage.
A $37K first year against $300K of freed payroll
Priced as a one-time build fee plus a monthly retainer covering support, exception rule-building, and optimization. Savings are based on California market data: four AP staff freed from manual processing at a fully loaded cost near $75,000 each.
- Inbox monitor and OCR pipeline
- GL coding rules engine
- PO matching and 3-way verification
- ERP connector and fallback automation
- Training, SOPs, and handoff docs
- Exception rules as new patterns emerge
- New vendor template additions
- ERP configuration updates
- Monitoring and uptime oversight
Want to build something like this?
Every build starts with a 30-minute scoping call. Tell us the workflow and we will tell you honestly whether it is a fit.
- 100+ invoices per week, any volume
- Invoices arrive by email or document scanner
- Consistent vendor set with repeatable formats
- Deacom or any ERP that accepts EDI flat files or has an API
- Finance team spending real time on data entry