5 Options to Avoid Hand-Keying Utility Bills
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Transcript of 5 Options to Avoid Hand-Keying Utility Bills
©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
©2014 EnergyCAP, Inc. ▪ @energycap ▪ www.EnergyCAP.com
Who are your utility vendors?
How many accounts do you have with each one?
Do they offer electronic bills?
©2014 EnergyCAP, Inc. ▪ @energycap ▪ www.EnergyCAP.com
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?
©2014 EnergyCAP, Inc. ▪ @energycap ▪ www.EnergyCAP.com
Option #1
Direct Bills from Vendor–Flat File
©2014 EnergyCAP, Inc. ▪ @energycap ▪ www.EnergyCAP.com
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
©2014 EnergyCAP, Inc. ▪ @energycap ▪ www.EnergyCAP.com
Format is ANSI standard EDI 810
Is the actual utility bill
Files provided directly from utility vendor
©2014 EnergyCAP, Inc. ▪ @energycap ▪ www.EnergyCAP.com
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.
©2014 EnergyCAP, Inc. ▪ @energycap ▪ www.EnergyCAP.com
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.
Bill Services Offering that Finds the Best Solution For You.
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All Solutions can be Managed and Contracted by EnergyCAP, Inc.