Client's finance team processed 40–50 vendor invoices per month across multiple departments.
Invoices were submitted inconsistently by multiple channels (emails, chat), and the finance team had to manually extract invoice details and upload data into the finance system.
Baseline effort:
Manual processing: ~15 minutes per invoice
Monthly effort: ~11–12 hours
Pain point: finance time was spent on data entry instead of validation and control
As invoice volume grew, effort scaled linearly and created avoidable operational overhead.
We designed a no/low-code invoice intake and parsing workflow that automated data extraction while preserving financial oversight.
The focus was on:
one simple submission channel
reliable structured data extraction
clear audit trail
human review only where it adds value
Centralized invoice intake
All employees email invoices to a single address: invoices@company.com
Automated intake & storage
Using Zapier:
invoice attachments are automatically saved to Google Workspace (Shared Drive, structured by month)
an intake record is created in Airtable, capturing: employee email, timestamp, link to the original invoice file
AI-powered invoice parsing
Each invoice is sent to an AI extraction step using OpenAI: vendor name, invoice number, dates, totals, tax, currency, PO / reference.
The AI outputs strict JSON, mapped directly into structured Airtable fields.
Smart review logic
~25% of invoices (exceeding amount threshold) are flagged for manual review
remaining invoices are auto-approved and uploaded to the finance system
random spot checks ensure quality control
Before automation
~15 min per invoice
~11–12 hours/month of finance time
After automation
~25% reviewed manually:
~11–12 invoices × 5 min ≈ 55–60 min
Random inspections:
~2 invoices × 5 min ≈ 10 min
Total monthly effort: ~1–1.2 hours
Impact
~85–90% reduction in manual processing time
Finance shifted from data entry to exception handling
Consistent, structured invoice data
Full audit trail (employee > invoice > source file)
Faster invoice turnaround and fewer errors
Zapier
Google Workspace
Airtable
OpenAI