AP automation implementation can stall when teams fear disruption, delay and complexity. Ours don't. With guided workflows, role-based training, and a dedicated onboarding team, we take you from kickoff to go-live in weeks.
Lightyear is built for SME finance teams, and our implementation approach is as specialised as the software itself. Whether you are switching from manual or an existing automation platform, our methodology is designed to help you land value fast.
Our dedicated onboarding team maps your AP workflow, so you go live with a setup that reflects how your finance team actually works.
Get invoice capture, multi-tier approval and automated statement reconciliation, embedding AP best practice from day one, not month six.
An intuitive interface means new staff pick it up quickly. Guided training sessions, real invoice walkthroughs and ongoing support make adoption easier.
Get 24/5 support from real people via live chat, phone and email. Not a ticket queue with a long wait time.
“Lightyear, I'm pleased to say, has been one of the least stressful implementations. The onboarding team was fantastic.”
Scoping & Welcome Call
Your dedicated onboarding consultant runs your welcome call. Together, you plan the whole project before anything else begins.
Solution Design & Account Setup
Your onboarder configures Lightyear around your business and connects your accounting software. Your account is fully set up and ready before your first training session.
Data Migration
Your data is imported and validated by your onboarder. Your historical records stay safely in your existing system.
Training
Your team learns through live, hands-on AP training sessions. The training can be run as a group, a recorded video, or self-led, whatever works for your team.
Testing & Go-Live Readiness
You work through a structured testing checklist with your onboarder. A pre-go-live catch-up confirms you're ready. Any test data is wiped clean before your system goes live.
Go-Live
Your onboarding consultant is with you on the go-live day. Once everything is running smoothly, you're handed over to the long-term support team.
Our support doesn’t stop at go-live. Post the hypercare period, our team will provide you with long-term support from people who already know your setup, workflows, and team.
FlightPath is our proven implementation methodology. It's specialist-led, outcome-focused, and designed to get your team live and confident as quickly as possible, with full transparency on timelines, effort, and what success looks like.
Need more? Add specialist configuration and training for additional Lightyear modules alongside your core implementation.
Configuration and training for the PO module
Configuration and training for expense management
Configuration and training for inventory management
Custom configuration, health checks and master data support
Implementation eBook
Business case template
Implementation template
Implementation timelines vary depending on the complexity of your approval workflows and the number of entities involved. For most businesses, Lightyear goes live within 4-6 weeks.
During the scoping stage, our dedicated onboarding team will agree on a realistic timeline with you, book in all milestone sessions, and manage the process end-to-end. This is to ensure there are no delays caused by your team having to figure things out on its own.
Before anything is configured, we take the time to understand how your finance team actually works. The onboarding team maps your supplier list, GL coding rules, approval thresholds and routing logic directly to your existing processes. Lightyear's approval workflows are fully customisable, so you can set rules based on invoice value, supplier, or keyword, with up to 8 tiers of approval. The result is a system that reflects your business instead of a generic one.
If connected through a live API, Lightyear automatically pulls in your chart of accounts, supplier records, tax codes and tracking categories, keeping both systems in sync in real time. If there is no API, then
One thing is constant: there is no complex data-mapping exercise, no manual exports, and no heavy IT involvement required.
Your historical data stays exactly where it is: in your existing accounting or ERP system. Lightyear doesn't replace your system of record. It sits alongside it, automating invoice capture, coding and approvals. From go-live onwards, every invoice processed through Lightyear is stored securely in the Lightyear Cloud for your full regulatory period with a complete audit trail attached to every document.
Your team's involvement is structured and time-efficient. At scoping, we need your input on approval workflows and business requirements. During configuration, your administrator works closely with our onboarding team to validate the setup. We then run dedicated training sessions for both administrators and end users, designed to get everyone confident before go-live. After that, the platform is intuitive enough that new staff can get up to speed quickly without ongoing hand-holding from your IT or finance leads.
After go-live, you move straight into a dedicated Hypercare period, with regular check-in sessions over the first two weeks to catch any early issues, answer questions, and ensure adoption is on track. After Hypercare, you have ongoing access to Lightyear's customer support team via live chat, telephone and email, 5 days a week.
Yes, whenever you need a quick answer (and outside of our support hours), our Knowledge Centre is available 24/7 with step-by-step guides and video walkthroughs covering everything from day-to-day tasks to more advanced configurations.
