A California transportation authority is the planning commission responsible for transit projects, programs, and services that impact residents, as well as commuters and tourists in the county. Bus and rail lines, rideshares, environmental programs, active transportation, express lanes, and freeways all fall under their purview.
The California transportation authority leadership was interested in the potential of what robotic process automation (RPA) could achieve in the public sector. They expressed a desire to use automation as a major pillar of their digital transformation strategy. With other automations already successfully delivered, the transportation authority partnered with CAI to discuss deepening their existing partnership with additional, more challenging automation and artificial intelligence (AI) service use cases. After discussing multiple possibilities, it was determined that the accounts payable process would be the new focus, as there are many benefits to automating this area of operations.
The drag of manual invoice processing
The California transportation authority receives a portfolio of digital documentation from vendors, with detailed project information including specifications, emails, and artifacts, as well as invoices that must be sorted, stamped, and paid in a timely manner. While each of these documents is critical to a complete project portfolio, the finance team was struggling to print, sort, and stamp the invoice pages and reassemble the portfolios for each project. This required extensive effort to archive, store, and maintain the paper records for each project, as well. This time-consuming and very manual process required one dedicated resource, a backup associate for peak times, and a significant amount of paper and ink just to keep the invoice process moving forward.
This cumbersome process was a top priority for the the accounting operations team, who immediately identified this opportunity for automation. They were well versed in automation, having witnessed the positive impact that RPA and automation can have in the finance realm.
“Implementing RPA for invoice processing has been a game-changer for our team, saving us 20 hours of staff time each week and enabling our staff to focus on more important tasks, such as improving internal controls in other areas of the department and cleaning up aging accounts. RPA is revolutionizing our accounts payable team by enabling us to process invoices quicker, more cost-effectively, and with greater accuracy—enhancing our overall efficiency and financial management.”
The California transportation authority IT management teams were focused on driving the RPA adoption program forward. The transportation authority requested a competitive bid for a strategic partner with extensive experience in UiPath and RPA development to help build their automation program from the ground up. CAI, a global professional services organization, was selected for this monumental task. Together with the transportation authority, the CAI team had already developed automations to assist the cybersecurity group within the transportation authority's IT department.
Having proven the value and benefits of RPA, IT management was tasked with expanding the automation program to business stakeholders. By joining forces and with CAI’s technical expertise, they planned to implement more modern processes by automating the invoice system.
AI invoice processing and UiPath integration
CAI has vast experience implementing invoice processing automations for clients in both the commercial and public sector. Because of this, there was already a firm understanding that no two accounts payable processes are identical. The California transportation authority's process was unique, and required a bespoke solution to elegantly transfer the responsibility of sorting, stamping, and assigning invoices. To meet this need, CAI utilized their strong partnership with UiPath, a best-in-class automation platform, and the RPA execution agent in the tool, UiPath Robots.
The CAI team collaborated with numerous finance team stakeholders to gather requirements and understand the business processes before beginning the development of the automated process. Identifying and removing bottlenecks and streamlining the future process were top of mind, as were trustworthy AI principles. To ensure accuracy and maintain confidence in the solution, UiPath’s Action Center capabilities were implemented. This helped to keep humans in the loop when necessary, inspiring confidence from Finance stakeholders and leaders within the organization. In collaboration with the California transportation authority's technical and finance team stakeholders, CAI designed and developed an innovative, modern solution that utilized UiPath Robots, Microsoft Azure AI, and UiPath Document Understanding to perform invoice management activities. The document extraction AI model performed with 95% accuracy overall, and through augmented intelligence, humans occasionally assisted the automated process to completion.
Bringing communication and transparency to accounts payable
Introducing RPA and AI can be concerning to employees who are new to these technologies. Leadership at the California transportation authority adopted a communication strategy that provided transparency to their associates in both the IT and finance departments. Throughout the project, IT management communicated the vision, goals, and technology boundaries clearly to employees and stakeholders. They also solicited feedback and encouraged suggestions from individual contributors. The CAI team offered options for implementation that complemented the style of the finance team and ensured seamless interaction between finance team members and the AI solution. The success and adoption of the automated invoice process are a direct result of the successful communication and leadership of these key individuals.
Morale and efficiency improvements through automation
The implementation of AI and RPA provided a powerful morale and efficiency boost to the accounts payable team at this California transportation authority. Monitoring the invoice inbox went from being a nearly full-time position to occupying less than 30 minutes per day to handle process exceptions. The introduction of these solutions is not meant to eliminate staff, but rather optimize workflows, and ensure the people behind the projects are not becoming burned out by cumbersome and inefficient processes. With the additional time available, the accounts payable specialist assigned to this task was able to focus on more high-value projects.
With the adoption of this solution, invoice processing times decreased by 64% overall, with additional automation planned to increase throughput in the months to come. The California transportation authority is working hand-in-hand with the CAI team for developer training, process identification, development and implementation of hyperautomation solutions, and to develop an Automation Center of Excellence that will drive innovation forward for the organization. Thanks to a partnership built on trust and shared goals, CAI and the California transportation authority teams are looking forward to many more innovative solutions in the future.
