In a move expected to dramatically cut the cost of processing variable accounts payable forms, Computer Sciences Corp. (CSC) of Sterling, VA, is implementing Eyes & Hands Invoices from Readsoft of San Diego. Introduced two years ago, Eyes & Hands Invoices was among the first "free form" data capture systems capable of capturing like data fields — such as P.O. numbers, dates and totals — no matter where they might show up on a page. CSC chose the software in April 2002 as part of a wider document imaging initiative.

According to John Lenahan, assistant controller at CSC, internal benchmark tests revealed that the company&singlequot;s internal accounts payable costs averaged $9 per commercial invoice and $12 per government invoice. When Lenahan went to the 2001 International Accounts Payable Professionals conference, he sought a way to streamline the process and reduce costs. It was there that he discovered Eyes & Hands Invoices product, and he says his decision to purchase the technology was influenced by favorable feedback from users of the technology.

CSC&singlequot;s new data capture application will feed information to an OnBase document management and workflow system from Hyland Software of Westlake, OH. OnBase will serve as the front end for an SAP system used for commercial operations and a Deltec system used for government operations.

CSC&singlequot;s U.S. Share Service Center expects to process 40,000 invoices per month using the Invoices product, capturing data on vendor name, invoice number, date, total, purchase order number, sales tax, line items, quantity, unit price and part number.

Accurate data capture will require significant initial defining of input, but CSC will then be able to trust the software&singlequot;s logic to identify automatically the vendor name and then seek a master file defining the template for that vendor&singlequot;s invoices. Building the templates for each vendor won&singlequot;t require time-consuming programming; rather, operators will simply click on the various data points to be captured from series of sample invoices. Once the system is in production, invoices that are unfamiliar to the system will go into a workflow queue to be trained. The information captured from invoices can be verified against purchase order information from the SAP or Deltec systems.

CSC expects to eliminate as many as 20 data entry positions and gain an ROI within less than one year. The $600,000 investment includes $300,000 for OnBase, $150,000 for Eyes & Hands Invoices and $150,000 for hardware and consulting services from Linmar, a system integrator based in Atlanta.