Freight Bill Invoice Processing

The Challenge Of Efficient Logistics

Being a logistics service provider, whether a freight forwarder, warehouse, LTL carrier, or other type of provider means gaining and maintaining customers in a very competitive environment. Your business tends to be high volume, low margin, so you live or die on efficiency, price and service levels. To compete, you need accurate, up to date ASN/order information so you can manage your resources accordingly. Processing problems can mean empty trucks, shipping delays, and loss of profit margin. Over time, these issues cost you profitability and customers.

The Problem: Accepting BOL Orders In Multiple Formats

After years of integrating EDI processes and networks in an attempt to automate the BOL receipt and entry process, you still receive hard copy orders via fax, email and/or mail. Whether these hard copy BOLs represent 10% or 90% of your overall volume, processing them is time consuming, expensive, and prone to errors.

In Search Of The Perfect BOL

Unfortunately, for most companies, manual BOL processing means errors, delays, and rework. Whether it’s a machine printed or hand written BOL, entering hard copy orders come with a variety of challenges. These include:

Incoming Order Capture

• Hard copy BOLs arrive in via multiple methods – fax, email, and/or mail
• Transmission delays and paper handling errors slow down and hold up BOL entry
• Inventory Control challenges tracking every BOL in hard copy form

BOL Order Processing

• Manual data entry is slow and costly
• There are no standard formats (every BOL is different) – Adding data entry staff is difficult, often requiring months of training
• Key entry errors cause shipping delays and in some cases erroneous delivery points.
• Incorrect or incomplete BOL information prevents processing

Exception Handling

• Information on BOL does not match internal systems data (e.g. Bill-to, Ship-to, Account information)
• Order processing rules typically reside in the minds of data entry staff (or on yellow post-it note stuck on the sides do their computer monitors)
• Correction of flawed and incomplete BOLs is time consuming and labor intensive
• Processing delays can lead to changed, postponed, and/or canceled orders For most companies today, the bottom line is that receiving and entering BOLs is a complicated mix of manual steps with relatively little benefit from automation. This mix slows down shipments, costs money, and creates errors.

Paper-to-EDI Solves This Problem

Paper-to-EDI provides advanced, automated BOL entry and management services that speed up order entry, increase accuracy, and reduce your costs.

Paper-to-EDI BOL Management Process

Paper-to-EDI’s BOL processing services utilize advanced “free-form” OCR document/character recognition combined with intelligent human verification to provide maximum efficiency for hard copy (fax, email, and mail) BOL entry processing. Our solution includes:

Incoming BOL Management

Fax and e-mail orders are captured directly by Paper-to-EDI’s systems and routed through a series of automated processing steps. Our advanced inventory control capabilities track every page of every BOL to ensure all documents are processed.

Automated BOL Entry

Utilizing advanced “free-form” optical character recognition and document classification technologies, Paper-to-EDI is able to directly capture most BOL data automatically. Our double-pass human review steps, as well as relational data validation lookups finish off the process ensuring highly accurate data.

Exception Handling

Those few orders that fail Paper-to-EDI’s validation edits are sent to workflow queues on Paper-to-EDI’s web-based exception servers. There, customer service specialists from your organization can clear exceptions via a customized web interface.

Paperless Processing

Incoming BOLs are rapidly and efficiently processed by Paper-to-EDI to create a complete data and image record. Paper-to-EDI can upload EDI files directly into your Freight Scheduling system(s), faster and more accurately than ever before. Additionally, images of the original documents are indexed and uploaded to image archive systems for long-term secure storage and instant retrieval.

Automated BOL Processing Services Conversion Of Fax & Email BOL Orders to EDI Bill OF Lading

Advantages of Paper-to-EDI’S BOL Processing Services

 

• Administrative Cost Reductions – 30% - 60% hard dollar savings
• Real-Time Order Processing – 20 - 30 minute turnaround
• Leveling of Peak Processing – Consistent turnarounds regardless
• of peaks
• Significant Reduction in Error Related Loses – Reduces returns
• and charge backs
• Improves Your Customers Satisfaction – Consistent, accurate,
• on-time deliveries

What Sets Paper-to-EDI Apart?

V2 Technology Platform

Paper-to-EDI services are supported by the most sophisticated and advanced data extraction and workflow technologies. Our proprietary V2 production platform represents best-in-class technology. Some of V2's unique features and capabilities include:

"Free Form" OCR Technologies

At the heart of the V2 technology platform are the most advanced recognition systems available. We have developed best-in-class free form OCR, ICR and OMR engines, forms factors and recognition tools to create a world-class automated recognition system.

Data Translation

V2 can map BOL data to virtually every Freight Scheduling system. Not to mention any and all standard EDI data formats, as well as custom file formats.

Inventory Control

Utilizing a centralized inventory control database, Paper-to-EDI tracks every page of every order through every step of our production processes. The sophistication and precision of our inventory tracking is the reason we can offer SLA guarantees of 100% inventory control.

Quality Program

The Paper-to-EDI Quality Program starts with our commitment to our customers. Understanding our customer’s expectations and knowing how well we fulfill those expectations drives everything we do. Like many best in class organizations, we measure our organization’s success by the number of promoters we create among our customer base. Customer input also helps us prioritize our process improvement efforts. When process problems are identified, we use quality improvement methodologies such as LEAN and SIX SIGMA to continuously improve those areas. Whether it’s a cycle time improvement opportunity where we can apply LEAN concepts to take out waste and non-value added work, or a defect reduction project that may benefit from the statistical and analytical rigor of SIX SIGMA, we use proven tools to improve both the speed and effectiveness with which we deliver services to customers.

SLA Guarantees

Our SLA (Service Level Agreement) Guarantees are customized to meet the specific needs of each of our clients. In most cases our SLAs focus on three specific quality measurements: DATA ACCURACY, TURNAROUND and INVENTORY CONTROL.

Data Accuracy

Minimum Data Accuracy Rates of 99.5% or Better TURNAROUND 20 – 30 Minute Delivery of BOL Data and Indexed Image Files INVENTORY CONTROL 100% of Documents Accounted for and Recorded

Security

We take the safety and security of your data very seriously. We understand the consequences to our clients, of a security breach. In 14 years of processing financial documents, we have never had a security breach. This is because Paper-to-EDI utilizes the most advance security protocols available. Highlights include: • All data and image files are stored and managed from highly secure Class A data centers. • Unlike others, we do not transfer data or image files overseas, to at-home staff, or remote data editing centers. • Each employee is subject to thorough background screenings utilizing nationally recognized investigation bureaus. We run complete background and credit checks on all new hires. • We conduct monthly security audits in conjunction with our SAS70 Type II certification.

Dependability

Dependability in BOL data lift services means consistently meeting accuracy and turnaround time commitments and maintaining high system uptimes. Paper-to-EDI provides you the most dependable performance anywhere. But our view of dependability goes beyond these measures. We also believe that being highly responsive and quick to resolve customer requests is paramount. Come experience the dependability of Paper-to-EDI.

About Paper-to-EDI

Paper-to-EDI is an outsourced solutions provider specializing in automated data extraction and document management solutions. We enable our clients to benefit from cutting-edge technologies without the financial, IT, and personnel resources traditionally required. Our services create efficiencies that generate savings in operating budgets. We are paid with a portion of these savings.