Thousands of invoices a month, processed without the data entry
Why New Zealand software provider Fusion5 built Xtracta’s AI data capture into ApprovalPlus — its procure-to-pay solution — to cut cost, tighten spend control and speed up month-end.
“Xtracta has an inherently better OCR capability and a better learning process.”
Bevan Wright
ApprovalPlus Solution Manager, Fusion5
3-4K
Invoices each customer processes a month
— with no manual data entry
Of the cost of the legacy
OCR approach it replaced
Zero
Layout templates to build
— the AI self-learns every format
the need
Automation and control, built into the product
Automating repetitive work frees people for higher-value tasks. Tight control over spending heads off nasty month-end surprises. Done well, both flow straight to the bottom line.
That’s the thinking behind ApprovalPlus, Fusion5’s procure-to-pay solution. It takes in the documents that drive accounts payable — invoices, purchase orders, credit card statements and expenses — codes them, runs them through approval, and passes them to the finance system for payment.
But the whole workflow depends on getting data off the document first. With each customer pushing three to four thousand invoices a month, keying that by hand was never going to be a cost-effective use of people. Fusion5 needed data capture good enough to disappear into the background.
the CHALLENGE
Traditional OCR was fiddly, and rarely solid
Conventional data-entry automation leans on OCR that needs experts to hand-build layout templates and rules for every document type.
Early on, Fusion5 brought in photocopier vendors to handle the OCR piece. It was time-consuming and fiddly to integrate and keep working, and other extraction tools they tried needed custom coding before they reliably detected invoices at all.
The friction showed up in sales, too. Because the OCR component was so awkward to stand up, it made it into only about a third of ApprovalPlus deals — leaving most customers without the automation that made the product sing.
OLD APPROACH
Hand-built layout templates per document type
Setup
Photocopier-led OCR — fiddly to integrate
Other tools
Needed custom coding to detect invoices
Attach rate
OCR in only ~1 in 3 ApprovalPlus deals
the APPROACH
Capture, learn, match, pay
Four years ago Fusion5 switched to Xtracta and wired it into ApprovalPlus through the API; pushing and pulling data between the two systems, no templates required.
Invoices arrive by email
Suppliers’ invoices are forwarded to an Xtracta address. In most cases Xtracta grabs every field it needs and passes the invoice to ApprovalPlus without anyone touching it.
The AI reads any layout
No templates to maintain. Xtracta self-learns each supplier’s design and matches fields against its built-in library of terms — a genuine set-and-forget engine.
Teach by example when needed
If something like an invoice number is missing, an AP user drags a box around it on the scanned image. Xtracta learns from that one example and catches it next time.
Match, approve and pay
ApprovalPlus codes the invoice or matches it to a purchase order, isolates unexpected charges for re-approval, then routes everything through to the finance system for payment.
IN THE CLIENT’S WORDS
“With Xtracta, data entry is eliminated.”
Bevan Wright
ApprovalPlus Solution Manager, Fusion5
the outcome
A solution that pays for itself,and proves itself
Removing data entry was only the start. The real win is the control and confidence the combined solution gives finance teams — and the way it’s lifted ApprovalPlus itself.
Cost cut to a fraction
Ongoing charges run at roughly a tenth of the old OCR approach, with data-entry labour taken out of the process entirely.
Control over every dollar
Customers now enforce purchase orders and set procurement parameters — fewer surprises, far less spend slipping through unchecked.
Audit-ready, faster close
Every invoice carries a stamped audit trail and month-end speeds up — so finance can report sooner, with confidence.
