A Recipe for Success: Majans’ Optimises AP Processes with ExFlow Health Check

After 3 years of using ExFlow, Majans completed a Health Check to maximise further efficiencies in their AP Department.

Majan’s is the leading manufacturer in Australia for snacks that are tasty, healthy and wholesome, and prides itself on being a family owned business with heart. Their philosophy is that food prepared in a factory should be cooked and prepared with the same love and care as food cooked in a home kitchen. Majan’s products are sold in Australia, New Zealand and have recently been introduced to the Americas through the Whole Foods chain of grocery stores.

TIME TO TURN UP THE HEAT

In early 2021, Majans successfully transitioned from manually processing supplier invoices to a streamlined and digitised approach using AP Automation solutions ExFlow and ExFlow Data Capture. In an effort to manage this transformation, Majans chose not to employ all automation features available in ExFlow straight away. Consequently, while their initial configuration aligned with company requirements, Majans’ AP department was only utilising a fraction of ExFlow’s capabilities at the time they went live.

Despite intentions to adapt more functionality once staff were familiarised with the new systems, Majans’ plans to roll-out more automation features never progressed due to unforeseen personnel changes and inadequate internal documentation. Over the next few years, Majans continued to use ExFlow as it was originally implemented. Their AP staff were satisfied with the improved process, and they unknowingly missed out on optimal efficiencies due to a lack product knowledge.

MORE FLAVOUR WITH MORE INGREDIENTS

At the start of 2024, Majans completed a Health Check in collaboration with SignUp Software – their first Accounts Payable audit since introducing ExFlow. The 32 hour mini project involved an assessment of Majans’ entire AP process to discover areas of improvement, including but not limited to frustrations identified by Majans such as; manual intervention of sending invoices to their dedicated vendor invoice email, deleted documents and duplication validation in ExFlow Data Capture, improving the average accuracy of ExFlow Data Capture, Purchase Orders containing additional characters and ensuring ExFlow Data Capture reading multiple invoice formats for successful posting.

The deep dive into their current use of the solutions enabled valuable insights into best practices based on the most up-to-date industry standards to be explored. The involvement of several departments at Majans throughout the Health Check also brought noticeable excitement around the prospect of new features that would save time and money and free up time for more value-adding tasks. “Signup Software provided a solution for our legacy invoices, which had been incorrectly processed and categorised into the wrong journal. Our consultant’s patience and expertise were evident as they assisted in reversing those invoices, addressing the root problem, and offering guidance to prevent future errors.” One particular recommendation was a feature inside ExFlow Data Capture where automation commences before invoice receipt, eliminating days of manual sorting and approval processing. Majans expects this feature to provide significantly quicker payments and closure of invoices to help manage supplier relationships and capture early payment discounts.

“Our dedicated ExFlow for D365F&O consultant was very helpful and patient throughout our health check project. He took the time to answer our questions clearly and familiarise himself with our current accounts payable processes. Most importantly, he demonstrated a keen understanding of the gap between our existing situation and where we wanted to be.

We now know how to access and understand the analytics of ExFlow Data Capture, which we believe will be a game-changer for our organisation.”

MELISSA THAM, ANALYST AT MAJANS

TIME TO PLATE UP

At the completion of the Health Check, Majans received a 25 page report detailing customised recommendations for enhancement including: training of Analytics, design and training of new approval workflows and ExFlow Web Portal, improved mapping from ExFlow Data Capture to ExFlow inside D365, as well as turning on new automation features that have recently become available in ExFlow.

Majans has since upgraded to the latest version of ExFlow so they can access the latest functionality and is now using the Health Check report as a check-list to approve and brief each recommendation as part of a follow-up implementation project.

“The Health Check was an eye-opening project, and we’re pleased that we conducted the audit. There were so many improvements to be made that we didn’t know about.”

MELISSA THAM, ANALYST AT MAJANS