FL Star Group
“The workflows are amazing. Now, it’s easy to add new users and switch people in and out of the process. Everyone can see what they need to do to keep the invoices moving.”
The Company
FL Star Group
Located in South Florida, FL Star Group is a real estate development company specializing in financial analysis, location services, market research and land acquisition negotiation for various projects throughout Florida. FL Star Development, a branch of FL Star Group, has developed more than 2,200 acres of commercial and residential facilities in Naples, covering a wide range of properties including a 23-acre luxury apartment complex and luxurious and affordable single-family communities.
- Products Used: AvidXchange TimberScan
- Industry: Construction
- Year Joined: 2021
- Accounting System: Sage Intacct
The Challenge
Manually Managing Invoices with Little Visibility
Like many other accounts payable (AP) departments within the construction industry, FL Star Group was plagued with headaches when trying to process invoices.
Herbst was gathering invoices and manually keying information into his accounting system to make sure his team and coworkers had appropriate permissions. Unfortunately, he had to play the waiting game when it came to approvals, with little visibility into the status.
Not only did the invoice process consume 20 hours of Herbst’s time each month, but it also required the team to function codependently. The team lacked mobilization and autonomy.
The outdated process also strained their supplier relationships. It wasn’t easy to keep track of the influx of invoices and sometimes resulted in lost or duplicate payments. If invoice data was uploaded into their accounting system incorrectly, Herbst would have to act fast to make an adjustment – taking even more time and frustrating all parties along the way.
“We knew automation of data entry was vital to improving our team’s efficiency and the business’ growth. We needed a change to provide flexibility for the team.”
The Solution
Integrate TimberScan Titanium with Sage Intacct to Automate the Invoice Process
It all changed in December 2021 when the development group adopted AvidXchange TimberScan – one of AvidXchange’s AP automation solutions for the construction industry. AvidXchange TimberScan automates data entry, invoice approvals and reporting to reduce manual workload. It provides a simple, streamlined and more secure way to correctly process invoices.
AvidXchange TimberScan seamlessly integrates with FL Star Group’s accounting system, Sage Intacct. Data flows directly from Sage Intacct to AvidXchange TimberScan with similar entry protocols – data entry has the same lookups, warnings and distribution grids to give you a succinct yet paperless experience.
To make this process even more efficient, FL Star Group added AvidXchange TimberScan Optical Character Recognition (OCR) feature to their Sage Intacct integration. This feature converts scanned images and starts the invoice data entry process, helping to alleviate invoice upload burdens. OCR reduces data entry errors and decreases invoice processing time to make Herbst and his teams’ jobs easier.
“The combination of the OCR and the workflows is the best part of this solution – the ability to recognize and automatically extract data from an invoice is great.”
AvidXchange TimberScan saves FL Star Group’s AP department time and provides anywhere, anytime accessibility. They can view valuable information at a job site or when working remotely – making it possible for the AP team to give coworkers and suppliers the answers they need in real time.
“We have so much more visibility. Our records are clean, and everyone who needs access finally has it. We can see holds, disputes and deleted data history. We’re also able to avoid duplicates.”
The Results
Utilization of New Features Cuts Invoice Processing Time by 60%
Thanks to AvidXchange TimberScan, FL Star Group drastically reduced manual data entry and notably improved their processing speed.
“We’ve significantly reduced the time our AP department spends on invoice routing and approvals thanks to automation. In fact, our AP department cut our invoice processing time from 20 hours per month to 4 hours per month.”
With 24/7 online access to invoices, the team now has the flexibility to work from anywhere, anytime, on any device. Herbst was able to hire a fully remote assistant who lives in another country – something that would never have been possible before his integration with Sage Intacct and adoption of AP automation.
With the ability to pull up invoices and statuses on the go, Herbst believes everyone involved is reaping the benefits from invoice automation – his AP team, his colleagues and his suppliers. A win-win situation for all.
From decreasing data entry time and reducing errors to increasing flexibility and improving relationships – FL Star Group is thrilled with its new automated invoice process.
