Earlier in October, we hosted our last user group meeting of the year at Dave & Buster’s in Dallas, Texas. When Dave & Buster’s offered to host a UGM and speak to their OnBase solutions, we knew we couldn’t say no (and it definitely didn’t hurt that there is a giant arcade!)
Since 2011, they have been running their HR, AP, Purchasing and Payroll processes through OnBase with DataBank. Starting with a migration of close to 10 million documents from ODoc to OnBase with 99% accuracy, their solution has evolved with them from 54 to 101 stores. Here’s a run-down of Dave & Buster’s Accounts Payable Automation solution with OnBase.
Before adding OnBase in their Accounts Payable department and revamping their back office solutions, Dave & Buster’s stores faxed all of their invoices to ODOC where they were manually processed and approved, without being able to backtrack and see who approved what. Payments to other vendors usually came out late.
To tackle the problem, Dave & Buster’s created a complete OnBase solution.
The Intake Process: For every COS invoice, packing slip and BOL that each store scans, they use an MFD device. Each form has a barcode cover sheet that tells them what store it came from, the document type and store number. This way they can process it immediately in the AP department’s Compeat system before moving it to PeopleSoft for payment.
The approval process was also moved into OnBase along with an approver login that meets SOX Audit guidelines. After implementing automated invoice processing, overpayments dropped 75% and the Dallas AP Department now has visibility into all outstanding invoices in OnBase.
Workflows: Dave & Buster’s has workflows set up for lifecycles like store invoices as well as electronic forms like vendor maintenance, invoice adjustments and coding forms. After bringing the documents and images into OnBase, they are automatically classified by document type and indexed based on the store number and department number. From there, they go into a workflow to the AP department where they add in invoice keywords and send them back to the department heads for approval. All of these images and documents from packing slips, PO’s, BOL’s Credit Memos and Je/E’s can all be retrieved right in OnBase.
Purchase Request Process: More recently, in 2016, D&B worked to create a purchase requisition approval process to better comply with SOX Audit Compliance standards. To update this process a workflow lifecycle using a unity form was created to organize all PO’s that needed to be submitted into OnBase. This form automatically looks for the PO amount, checks to see if it is a change order, and allows the submitter to add multiple line items and total it at the bottom. Users also have the ability to attach relevant documents to the form before sending it off for approval.
From there, the approval management process is heavily built out. There is an approval path for each request type and hierarchy where approvers can approve or deny a request with comments. After everything has been approved, the request is directed back to purchasing, generates a PO and is sent off.
With such a large organization, managing these processes without the help of an advanced document management software is time consuming, expensive and nearly impossible. Whether you need to improve your accounts payable forecasting or completely implement a new AP automation solution, OnBase is the tool to use. Stay tuned for our second post coming soon where we’ll expand on Dave & Buster’s second solution in their HR and Payroll departments.
