At Spectrum, we’ve carved out particular niches in delivering complex accounts payable solutions. We’ve achieved significant success in vertical markets such as distribution, including the food and clothing sectors. One of the key complexities in these industries is managing Units of Measure (UOM). Orders are often raised with quantities and prices that differ from what the supplier expects to deliver and charge for.
For example, an order might specify a pack of an item, while the delivery arrives as individual items, or vice versa. These discrepancies in UOM mean that the quantities and unit prices on the order and invoice won’t align perfectly.
Here’s a sample invoice for reference:
And this is the corresponding order data:
{
“articleNumber”: “054231”,
“articleText”: “500KTBC Wrapping”,
“businessUnitId”: “1”,
“id”: “2”,
“lineTotal”: 3000,
“orderNumber”: “APJ3210”,
“quantity”: 3,
“supplierId”: “SUP-00001”,
“unitOfMeasure”: “PACK”,
“unitPrice”: 1000
}
In this example, line two of the invoice specifies a UOM of ‘Each’, with a quantity of 15 and a unit price of £200. Meanwhile, the order data shows a UOM of ‘Pack’, with a quantity of 3 and a unit price of £1,000. Despite the differences, the line totals are equal.
Many traditional matching or exception-handling systems would struggle to process this because the unit prices and quantities don’t match exactly. As a result, the lines would be flagged as exceptions, even though the totals are correct.
At Spectrum, our assistive matching service resolves this complexity by:
- Matching lines based on our proprietary ‘QuantityAndUnitPriceWithUOMConversions’ mode.
- Including a dataset of the possible UOM conversions which can be run exact or blind. (left out of sample due to IP reasons)
- Backfilling the invoice lines using order line data, so the quantities and unit prices align and no exceptions are raised.
Here’s what happens in this scenario: we convert the UOM and update the invoice data to achieve a direct match with the order. This ensures no exceptions are raised.
This is just one example of how we differentiate ourselves in a niche market by addressing unique challenges with tailored, intelligent solutions.