5 options to avoid hand-keying utility bills
DESCRIPTION
If you don't want to hand-key utility bills into your energy management software, what are the options? In this presentation by John Heinz at the Catalyst Training Conference by EnergyCAP, Inc., learn five alternatives to manual bill entry.TRANSCRIPT
©2014 EnergyCAP, Inc. ▪ @energycap ▪ www.EnergyCAP.com
5 Options to Avoid Hand-Keying Utility Bills
Presented by John Heinz
©2014 EnergyCAP, Inc. ▪ @energycap ▪ www.EnergyCAP.com
Key Questions to Ask
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Who are your utility vendors?
How many accounts do you have with each one?
Do they offer electronic bills?
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Is your accounting staff engaged?
Does accounting require actual bill images?
Can your A/P system deliver EDI 820 payment files?
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Are you trying to reduce headcount?
Do you want bill payment services?
Do you want additional account and/or energy management services?
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Option #1
Direct Bills from Vendor–Flat File
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Typical formats are xls or csv
Generally post-payment
Files provided directly from utility vendor
©2014 EnergyCAP, Inc. ▪ @energycap ▪ www.EnergyCAP.com
©2014 EnergyCAP, Inc. ▪ @energycap ▪ www.EnergyCAP.com
©2014 EnergyCAP, Inc. ▪ @energycap ▪ www.EnergyCAP.com
Considerations:Format of data
Changes to format
Timing of delivery
Accuracy compared to A/P system
Automation and Workflow
Major Players:
©2014 EnergyCAP, Inc. ▪ @energycap ▪ www.EnergyCAP.com
©2014 EnergyCAP, Inc. ▪ @energycap ▪ www.EnergyCAP.com
Option #2
Direct Bills from Vendor–EDI 810
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Format is ANSI standard EDI 810
Is the actual utility bill
Files provided directly from utility vendor
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810–Invoice
The 810 transaction is used to provide established billing data in an electronic format from utility to its customers.
820–Payment & Remittance Order
The 820 transaction set is used to make a payment and send a remittance advice.
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997–Functional AcknowledgementThe 997 is an acknowledgement which acts as a certified mail receipt to confirm that the intended recipient actually received the EDI documents that have been sent. This acknowledgement does not validate and/or accept the actual data.
VAN–Value Added NetworkPasses secure EDI files
©2014 EnergyCAP, Inc. ▪ @energycap ▪ www.EnergyCAP.com
©2014 EnergyCAP, Inc. ▪ @energycap ▪ www.EnergyCAP.com
©2014 EnergyCAP, Inc. ▪ @energycap ▪ www.EnergyCAP.com
Considerations:Paper invoice
Changes to format
Timing of delivery
Payment file format
Number of accounts
Cost
Major Players:
©2014 EnergyCAP, Inc. ▪ @energycap ▪ www.EnergyCAP.com
©2014 EnergyCAP, Inc. ▪ @energycap ▪ www.EnergyCAP.com
Option #3
Optical Character Recognition
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Common name is OCR
Software used to create digital files
Converts image (pdf, jpeg, etc.) into digital file (xls, csv)
©2014 EnergyCAP, Inc. ▪ @energycap ▪ www.EnergyCAP.com
©2014 EnergyCAP, Inc. ▪ @energycap ▪ www.EnergyCAP.com
Considerations:Paper invoice
Vector based file is best
Document management system
Automation and Workflow
Timing of delivery
Cost
Major Players:
©2014 EnergyCAP, Inc. ▪ @energycap ▪ www.EnergyCAP.com
©2014 EnergyCAP, Inc. ▪ @energycap ▪ www.EnergyCAP.com
Option #4
Screen Scraping
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Extract data from vendor websites
Uses website login credentials
Proprietary process to scrape data from website and deliver in a digital file
©2014 EnergyCAP, Inc. ▪ @energycap ▪ www.EnergyCAP.com
©2014 EnergyCAP, Inc. ▪ @energycap ▪ www.EnergyCAP.com
Considerations:Data quality
Vendor availability
Login credentials
Automation and Workflow
Timing of delivery
Cost
Major Players:
©2014 EnergyCAP, Inc. ▪ @energycap ▪ www.EnergyCAP.com
©2014 EnergyCAP, Inc. ▪ @energycap ▪ www.EnergyCAP.com
Option #5
Outsource Bill Processing
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Service company that processes utility bills, among providing other services
Reroute bills to service company
Service company manually enters bills directly into ECAP or provides import file
©2014 EnergyCAP, Inc. ▪ @energycap ▪ www.EnergyCAP.com
©2014 EnergyCAP, Inc. ▪ @energycap ▪ www.EnergyCAP.com
Considerations:Data quality
Bill payment
Account open/close services
Headcount
Additional services
Cost
Major Players:
©2014 EnergyCAP, Inc. ▪ @energycap ▪ www.EnergyCAP.com
©2014 EnergyCAP, Inc. ▪ @energycap ▪ www.EnergyCAP.com
Is Your Head Spinning? We can Help.
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