How Allendale Constructed Smarter Workflows with Invoice Automation

Based in Mt Albert, Auckland, Allendale Electrical was founded in 1990 by Mike and Tracey Bakker. Over the last 20 years, Allendale grew as Auckland’s premier electrical contracting and construction company, known for trust, quality, and excellent service.

With a busy finance team, Allendale's biggest challenges were hours of manual data entry and securing timely approvals. Seeking to streamline these processes and improve efficiency, the team adopted an invoice automation solution that integrated with Xero accounting software.

Xero

accountancy software

1000

docs/mo.

Hammering Out the Hurdles

For over 30 years, Allendale has designed, installed, and maintained electrical and data services for some of Auckland’s most iconic buildings and projects.

This commitment to quality has resulted in the finance team processing nearly 1,000 documents per month. However, with a team of 4, including Gaylene Underwood, who works as the accountant within the team, they relied entirely on manual processes for their accounts payable tasks. This made the workload increasingly challenging.

''We were entering invoices into two different job cost systems. Some were keyed in line by line, which was time-consuming, and even imported invoices often ended up assigned to the wrong job,'' says Gaylene.

In addition to data entry errors, the finance team found it difficult to manage hard copies of invoices for approvals. The process was inefficient, and invoices often got lost.

"Invoices often went missing, and we had no way of knowing who had them."

Moreover, Allendale needed a solution to streamline its job costing processes, including the integration of inventory exports for accurate cost allocation.

To overcome these challenges and reduce manual effort, the team turned to Lightyear.

Laying the Foundation for Efficiency

After implementing Lightyear, the Allendale team gained full visibility over their invoices, knowing exactly where each invoice was and who still needed to approve it.

Gaylene says, ‘'With Lightyear, we know exactly where every invoice is at any time and who still needs to sign it off.’'

Lightyear helped the team easily track each invoice’s journey: where it came from, who handled it, and where it was sent. They had a clear and comprehensive audit trail of each invoice.

''With Lightyear, we can see exactly where an invoice has come from. Having that audit trail is invaluable."

The seamless integration of Lightyear with Xero also allowed them to quickly access and view invoices with just a click, making the process even more efficient.

''We can click the link in Xero and look at the invoice instead of going through 100 files to actually find the invoice."

Blueprint for Time Saving

The impact of invoice automation on Allendale is clear, with the team saving nearly 2 days each week on manual data entry.

“The smart extract feature of Lightyear is really good. It’s working quite well,” highlights Gaylene. Along with instantly automating the extraction of line-item details, Lightyear allows the team to correct job costing and GL codes before importing. This ensures data is seamlessly integrated into Xero accurately, freeing the team to focus on more critical tasks.

The finance team is also a big fan of Lightyear's automatic statement reconciliation feature. “Reconciliations in Lightyear for the statements are pretty good,” Gaylene shares. With just a few clicks, the team can match statements with invoices and quickly identify missing ones. This further cuts down the time the team spends on administrative tasks.

Nailing Down 20% Cost Saving

Since implementing Lightyear, Allendale achieved a 20% cost saving on AP processes.

Gaylene also highlighted how the built-in chat feature in Lightyear has proven to be highly effective for the Allendale team. It allows them to quickly reach out for support and receive prompt answers, resolving issues and enhancing their overall user experience.

''Using the chat feature is really good. You can often get answers quickly."

When asked what advice Gaylene would give to anyone thinking of automating their AP processes through Lightyear integration with Xero, she said:

''Make sure that when you're setting it up or looking into it, you confirm it will do everything you need and understand how it’s going to do it."

Get started with Lightyear today and see how AP automation can enhance your Xero accountancy software.

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