HELLER

"We have relied on SAP and OpenText solutions for many years," says Viktor Enns, Head of Financial Accounting at HELLER. "Integrated SAP^® ERP applications—combined with OpenText™ Archiving for SAP^® Solutions—help us to streamline our internal workflows and drive efficient processes. The solutions offer employees across our sales, procurement, accounting and controlling departments easy access to important business documents. Timely access to all relevant information helps ensure optimal product quality."

HELLER is always looking for ways to improve its financial processes to ensure compliance with regulatory requirements. Enns says: "Our brand stands for quality and reliability. When we identified that our existing automation solution did not validate the fact that all invoices included VAT registration numbers, we looked for a way to optimize the process. It sounds like a small thing, but we wanted to enable our staff to focus on their business activities—not slow them down with repetitive administrative tasks."

Saving deployment costs with tailored processes

After comprehensive research and evaluation around several possible solutions, HELLER arrived at a shortlist of three vendors. The company’s positive experience with OpenText Archiving for SAP Solutions and the close collaboration between SAP and OpenText convinced HELLER that OpenText™ Vendor Invoice Management for SAP^® Solutions with OpenText™ Invoice Capture Center for SAP^®Solutions was the right fit for its business.

"Reliability is key for us," adds Viktor Enns. "We wanted a stable solution that integrated well with our existing processes. OpenText had already demonstrated that it could seamlessly integrate with our SAP software to archive business documents and OpenText Vendor Invoice Management for SAP Solutions was also a great fit in that respect. On top of that, we already had a very good relationship with OpenText."

Shrinking business risk

By implementing the OpenText solutions, HELLER reduced compliance risks and future-proofed its invoice management process. The company took advantage of the OpenText VIM for Invoice Processing FasTrak approach, a professional service solution package that accelerated the implementation and allowed HELLER to customize the solution.

"I was delighted with how quickly we made real progress with OpenText," confirms Viktor Enns. "We value simple solutions that avoid unnecessary complexity and keep our costs low. Our OpenText consultant was outstanding and helped us to focus on the important aspects of our invoice process. Today, OpenText Vendor Invoice Management for SAP Solutions provides the flexibility we need to accommodate daily work with our suppliers."

It was important for HELLER to be able to map payment terms agreed to with customers and passed through to suppliers in the system. "Some components for automation solutions are very expensive," explains Viktor Enns. "OpenText has helped us simplify the pass-through expense process by giving us flexible and granular control over payment dates and releases."

The OpenText team extended the solution to enable flexible management of accounting periods. This allows the accounting team to dynamically adjust invoices and payments, ensuring smooth business operations.

Increasing efficiency and ensuring compliance

Working with OpenText, HELLER is leveraging intelligent vendor invoice management automation to increase its straight-through processing rate and improving operational cost-efficiency. The new invoice management process is intuitive and easy to use. "Our accounting team needed very little training and the acceptance of the new OpenText solution was very high right from the start," Viktor Enns says.

The company has now been using OpenText Vendor Invoice Management for more than six years and is highly satisfied with the reliability and effectiveness of the solution. "OpenText Vendor Invoice Management just runs and runs, without needing constant attention or updates," emphasizes Viktor Enns. "The solution is very stable and we always feel we’re in good hands with OpenText. We achieved a lot in a short time and on a tight budget. Quick wins early on have definitely convinced us that we made the right choice. The whole project was completed much smoother, faster and at a lower cost than we had anticipated."

During a recent voluntary audit, HELLER achieved an outstanding rating. "We want to do things right," says Viktor Enns. "The outstanding audit rating we received is testament to our skilled, dedicated staff and the high quality of the OpenText solution."

One of the biggest benefits for HELLER is peace of mind. "Our OpenText solution processes about 80,000 invoices per year," says Viktor Enns. "In the past, there was a risk that incomplete invoices wouldn’t always be detected, which was a compliance risk. Even if it may only affect 1% of our invoices from new or smaller suppliers, not having the assurance that all invoices we pay comply with all regulatory tax requirements was a concern. Today, we no longer need to worry and can focus on running and growing the business instead."

Sprinting ahead with digital transformation

To further enhance its operations, HELLER plans to move to the next-generation ERP SAP S/4HANA^®. "SAP S/4HANA will help us to simplify our accounting processes," adds Viktor Enns. "Because our OpenText solutions have been tested and validated for SAP S/4HANA, we can be sure of a smooth upgrade when we are ready to make the switch."

Looking ahead, HELLER is working with OpenText to digitize more of its supplier invoicing processes. Building on Germany’s XRechnung e-invoicing format, the company is continuing to optimize its automated invoicing flows.

"An increasing number of companies in Germany and across Europe are now accepting online invoicing formats—such as XRechnung—and we are also moving in this direction," concludes Viktor Enns. "We are actively onboarding our first suppliers to the new XRechnung process and I’ve been very impressed how clearly the OpenText solution helps us to visualize the data. In OpenText, we have a strategic partner to accelerate our digital transformation."