Automate Invoice Approval with Microsoft Power Automate and AI Builder

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Automating Invoice Approval Processes
  • Benefits of Automation
  • Using Power Automate for Invoice Processing
  • Integrating Legacy Apps with Power Automate
• Introduction to the Power Platform
  • What is the Power Platform?
  • Features and Benefits
  • Getting Started with the Power Platform
• Building an Invoice Processing Workflow with Power Automate
  • Setting up a Shared Inbox
  • Extracting Data Fields from Invoices
  • Sending Approval Requests in Microsoft Teams
  • Automating Data Entry into Legacy Apps
• Enhancing Invoice Processing with AI Builder
  • Introduction to AI Builder
  • Creating a Model for forms Processing
  • Training the Model with Invoice Examples
  • Extracting Fields from Invoices with AI Builder
• Incorporating Robotic Process Automation with UI Flows
  • Introducing UI Flows
  • Automating Interactions with Desktop Apps
  • Creating a UI Flow for Data Entry
  • Integrating UI Flows into the Automation Workflow
• Conclusion
• Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

🤖 Automating Invoice Approval Processes

Automation has become a critical aspect of streamlining business processes and increasing efficiency. One area that can greatly benefit from automation is invoice approval processes. By automating these processes, organizations can significantly reduce costs associated with human error and improve overall productivity. In this article, we'll explore how you can automate your invoice approval processes using Power Automate and its new robotic process automation capabilities, alongside AI Builder, which are all part of the Microsoft Power Platform.

Benefits of Automation

Automating invoice approval processes offers several benefits for businesses. Firstly, it minimizes the risk of human error, which can be costly and time-consuming to rectify. By using automated workflows, organizations can ensure that invoices are processed accurately and efficiently. Secondly, automation reduces the need for manual interventions, saving time for employees and allowing them to focus on more critical tasks. Finally, automation improves compliance by ensuring that invoice approval procedures are consistently followed, reducing the risk of non-compliance with internal or external regulations.

Using Power Automate for Invoice Processing

Power Automate is a powerful low-code platform that empowers business users to build automated workflows and applications without requiring extensive coding knowledge. With Power Automate, you can easily create an invoice processing workflow that starts in a shared inbox where new invoices are received. Instead of manually sending approval requests to stakeholders, Power Automate uses AI to extract Relevant data fields from the invoice and automatically sends approval requests to the right stakeholders in Microsoft Teams. Once approved, the workflow triggers a process to enter the relevant information into a legacy invoicing app, using robotic process automation to automate data entry.

Integrating Legacy Apps with Power Automate

Many organizations have legacy applications that do not have APIs or ways to automate data entry. However, Power Automate enables you to overcome this limitation through its UI Flows feature. UI Flows allows you to automate desktop applications running on Windows by mimicking human interactions. By creating a UI flow, you can automate the data entry process into legacy systems, making use of the data extracted by AI Builder. This integration streamlines the end-to-end invoice approval process, eliminating the need for manual data entry and reducing the risk of errors.

Building an Invoice Processing Workflow with Power Automate

In this section, we'll dive deeper into building an invoice processing workflow using Power Automate. We'll walk you through the step-by-step process of setting up a shared inbox, extracting data fields from invoices, sending approval requests, and automating data entry into legacy apps.

Setting up a Shared Inbox

The first step in building your invoice processing workflow is to set up a shared inbox where new invoices will be received. This shared inbox serves as a centralized location for all incoming invoices, making it easier to track and manage the approval process. By leveraging Power Automate, you can automate the monitoring of this shared inbox and trigger workflows whenever a new invoice arrives.

Extracting Data Fields from Invoices

Power Automate's AI Builder capabilities allow you to extract relevant data fields from invoices automatically. By utilizing AI Builder's Forms Processing option, you can train the system to recognize and extract key value pairs from invoices, such as invoice numbers, dates, and amounts. This process eliminates the need for manual Data Extraction and ensures the accuracy of the extracted information.

Sending Approval Requests in Microsoft Teams

Once the relevant data has been extracted from the invoice, Power Automate can automatically send approval requests to the appropriate stakeholders in Microsoft Teams. By leveraging the integration between Power Automate and Teams, you can streamline the approval process and ensure that the right people are notified promptly. This automation reduces the reliance on manual communication and speeds up the overall invoice approval process.

Automating Data Entry into Legacy Apps

Power Automate's robotic process automation capabilities enable you to automate data entry into legacy invoicing apps that lack APIs or automation capabilities. By creating a UI flow, you can mimic human interactions and automate the data entry process within these apps. This integration eliminates the need for manual data entry, reducing errors and saving valuable time for employees.

Enhancing Invoice Processing with AI Builder

To further enhance your invoice processing workflow, you can leverage AI Builder to automate the extraction of fields from invoices. AI Builder provides options for creating dedicated models for different scenarios, such as Forms Processing for invoices. By training these models with examples of invoices, AI Builder can intelligently recognize and extract key information from incoming invoices. This automation accelerates the data extraction process and improves the accuracy of the extracted information.

Incorporating Robotic Process Automation with UI Flows

In addition to automating the approval process, Power Automate offers UI Flows, a feature that enables you to automate interactions with desktop applications. By creating a UI flow, you can define the steps for data entry into legacy systems that do not have automation capabilities. These UI flows mimic human behavior, allowing you to automate repetitive tasks within desktop applications. This integration streamlines the end-to-end invoice approval process, reducing manual interventions and improving overall efficiency.

Conclusion

Automating invoice approval processes using Power Automate and AI Builder can significantly improve efficiency, accuracy, and compliance for organizations. By streamlining the approval process, eliminating manual interventions, and automating data entry into legacy systems, businesses can reduce costs, save time, and minimize the risk of human error. Power Automate's low-code platform and integrated AI capabilities empower business users to automate their workflows without extensive coding knowledge. Implementing these automation techniques can optimize invoice processing, providing organizations with a competitive edge in today's fast-paced business environment.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Q: What is Power Automate? A: Power Automate is a low-code platform that allows users to create automated workflows and applications without extensive coding knowledge.

Q: What is AI Builder? A: AI Builder is a part of the Microsoft Power Platform that enables users to create and deploy artificial intelligence models without advanced data science skills.

Q: Can Power Automate integrate with legacy applications? A: Yes, Power Automate can integrate with legacy applications through its UI Flows feature, allowing users to automate interactions with desktop applications.

Q: How does AI Builder extract data from invoices? A: AI Builder uses machine learning algorithms to analyze and extract relevant data fields from invoices, such as invoice numbers, dates, and amounts.

Q: What are the benefits of automating invoice approval processes? A: Automating invoice approval processes reduces the risk of human error, saves time, improves compliance, and increases overall efficiency for organizations.

Resources:

• Power Automate
• AI Builder