VPVI-99:Electronic Invoicing and the Impact on Cash Flow
Dawn Dostie, TRC CompaniesRon Noden, EleVia Software
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What Makes EI so Cool
Communication improves – “all under one roof”
Information is easy to find
Accountability improves
Not every forest has to suffer
Process moves from manual to accelerated
Simplify invoicing
EI can positively impact your CA$H FLOW!
What our Clients are Saying
“With EleVia Electronic Invoicing, we shortened our billing cycle by 3 days and eliminated all the
paper we were using to review and approve 500 client invoices a month.”
– Keasha Cooper, VP of Accounting, CallisonRTKL
“The efficiency of the EleVia modules has enabled a 5 -day improvement in our DSO.”
– Dixie Lyght, Vision System Administrator, Mead & Hunt
“Our cash flow has improved dramatically. Our company share price has increased as a result.”
– Melissa Dustin, Revenue Manager, Environmental Science Associates
“With EleVia Electronic Invoicing, we reduced our DSO by 3 days in just the first few months,
which is significant from a cash flow standpoint.”
– Kenneth Malloy, Controller, SGH
© TRC Companies, Inc. All rights reserved
TRC
4 Sectors – Power, Environmental, Oil & Gas, Infrastructure
As of 9/24/19 Just under 25,000 Active/Inactive Projects
(including flats)
1,070 – Project Managers / Project Coordinators
34 Project Billers / Project Manager Assistants
2 Billing Supervisors
29 Project Accountants
3 Project Accountant Supervisors
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© TRC Companies, Inc. All rights reserved
2011
Paper drafts or PDFs are mailed/emailed/hand delivered to PMs
All drafts are printed, PMs handwrite any notes and then scan and email them back to the Billers
Billers finalize, print the invoice, staple the 2 together, give the packet to the Project Accountant (PA)
The PA reviews the drafts to invoice
The Biller files all by project number
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TRC Billing Through The Years
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Early 2012
PDFs are emailed to PMs and we request
that they markup using PDF editing tools.
Some still continue to print and handwrite
Billers finalize, print the invoice, staple
the 2 together, give the packet to the PA
The PA reviews the drafts to invoice
The Biller files all by project number
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TRC Billing Through The Years
© TRC Companies, Inc. All rights reserved
Mid 2012 - 2013
EI is introduced
On boarding begins with a test group
80% loved it – 20% “old school” came around
Work through any resistance
Base all conversations off “WIFM” What’s in it for me?
Automatic reminders
Fewer emails
Check list to work from
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TRC Billing Through The Years
TRC PM – “Going from paper to
electronic format was difficult
simply due to the learning curve.
The more time spent using EI allows
for increased speed and efficiency.”
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2013 - 2018
EI Continues to grow and mature with TRC
Reporting tools are put in place
EI Stages change based on needs
EI Columns change based on needs
Efficiencies begin to form
Teamwork grows – ability to easily jump in to help out
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TRC Billing Through The Years
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TODAY
99% of our PMs use EI
We have created efficiencies in workflows and
approvals
Finance Managers use reporting to manage the
business
We have automated with the use of a BOT the
billing where no changes are needed
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TRC Billing Through The Years
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EFFICIENCY IDEAS
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Set a Schedule for your projects• When do drafts run?
• Were any drafts overlooked?
• Are projects billing in a timely fashion?
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TRC implemented “BILL WEEK” – This is a column in EI that Biller’s can run drafts off and it allows the Supervisors to watch for anything missed. (Projects with unbilled NOT in an invoice stage during their set week)• Weeks based on fiscal month – 1 – 4 • M – Month End• B – Biweekly• W – Weekly• O – On Demand – why bother operations if something is ready to go?
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Bill Vs. Bill Week Report • Goal is to invoice 25% of our forecast each week
• We have always struggled with invoicing at least 50% of all $ the final week of the month
• Pulls back the curtain to see the timing – work to resolve
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Simply run an Invoice Register - Pull in Bill Week as a column – Assign the BILLED IN week based on date
Select any additional choices that make sense for your company
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Bill Vs. Bill Week Report
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By adding a Pivot Chart to this data you have talking point with each Biller
Week 1 Drafts – Majority invoicing week 3• Should we draft 1 week later?• What is causing the delay?
The majority of this Biller’s work is done during week 3.• Do we need to realign some of her
work?
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Bill Vs. Bill Week Report
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Same Data Looking at Invoice $
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How to make sure nothing is missed
• By simply running a project list you can verify that all drafts schedule for that week have been sent out
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How to make sure nothing is missed
• By reviewing projects with activity in the current period you can easily any project where the invoice stage is BLANK and quickly take action.
• Human Error happens this can assist in preventing issues
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Turn Around Time
• Reporting – Projects – EI Time By Stage
• This report will allow you to see how long each role takes to move a draft on to the next stage
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Turn Around Time• Time – Begin Date – End Date –
We use the start of the monthly invoicing process and end the Monday after fiscal month end
• Identify each role
• Identify the ownership of each stage
No Selection is needed19
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Turn Around Time• Set the Expected Timeframe for each role that you will measure against
• With some massaging of the Vision Data and Excel Skills …..
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Turn Around Time – Report
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VOIDS!!!!!!
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Custom Columns in EI !!!
• Voids have a direct impact to DSO!!
• Money you expect to come in suddenly is GONE.
• By using custom columns in EI you can build in a way to track voids.• Driver – Operations Error, Biller Error, Set up Error
• Notes – Clear picture of the issue
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Void Report
With the help of the Billing Supervisors the report above is created based on the EI Custom Columns and data available in Vision
Reporting
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