Vendor billing and invoice processing automation

Purpose

1.1. Automate end-to-end vendor billing and invoice processing workflows for apartment building maintenance operations, including vendor onboarding, invoice receipt, validation, approval, payment scheduling, reconciliation, and archiving.
1.2. Eliminate manual data entry, reduce errors, accelerate payment cycles, enforce approval hierarchies, and maintain compliance for corporate residential property management.

Trigger Conditions

2.1. Incoming invoice email with PDF attachment from registered vendor.
2.2. New invoice record created in accounting software or property management platform.
2.3. Scheduled batch process (e.g., daily at midnight) to scan for unprocessed invoices.
2.4. Vendor submission through online portal or mobile application.
2.5. File uploaded to shared drive or cloud folder by maintenance supervisor.

Platform Variants

3.1. Microsoft Outlook
• Feature/Setting: Configure mail rule to forward invoices with subject “Invoice” to workflow email address.
3.2. Gmail
• Feature/Setting: Set up filter and auto-forward emails with attachments from vendor domains to workflow.
3.3. Docparser
• Feature/Setting: Parse PDF invoice data (vendor, amount, due date) via API webhook call.
3.4. QuickBooks Online
• Feature/Setting: Monitor new “Bills” via API trigger; create bill records automatically from parsed invoice data.
3.5. Xero
• Feature/Setting: Use “Create/Update Invoice” API endpoint with parsed details; fetch payment status.
3.6. SAP Concur
• Feature/Setting: Enable “Invoice Capture” to auto-extract data and push to approval flow.
3.7. Oracle NetSuite
• Feature/Setting: Use SuiteTalk REST API to insert vendor bills and retrieve approval status.
3.8. Slack
• Feature/Setting: Send approval requests via “chat.postMessage” API to designated channel/user.
3.9. Microsoft Teams
• Feature/Setting: Post adaptive cards for invoice approvals to specific Teams using Graph API.
3.10. Trello
• Feature/Setting: Generate new card for each invoice, assign to operations manager, update status on action.
3.11. Monday.com
• Feature/Setting: Fill board columns with invoice metadata using API, automate status changes after approval.
3.12. Google Sheets
• Feature/Setting: Append line for each invoice in shared log via Sheets API for audit trail.
3.13. Dropbox
• Feature/Setting: Save attached invoice files to structured folder path based on vendor, date using file upload API.
3.14. Box
• Feature/Setting: Monitor folder for new file event, invoke workflow for each PDF added, extract data.
3.15. Zapier
• Feature/Setting: Set up multi-step zap for parsing, validating, routing invoices, and updating stakeholders.
3.16. JotForm
• Feature/Setting: Vendor form for uploading invoices; API integration to capture entries into workflow.
3.17. Docusign
• Feature/Setting: Route invoices requiring digital signature via “Envelope” creation and status callbacks.
3.18. Adobe Acrobat Sign
• Feature/Setting: Request E-signature from authorized staff before bill approval and payment release.
3.19. Plaid
• Feature/Setting: Trigger vendor ACH payments via “/payment_initiation/payment/create” API endpoint.
3.20. Stripe
• Feature/Setting: Initiate vendor payouts from approved invoices via “Payouts API”.
3.21. FreshBooks
• Feature/Setting: Automatically create expense and payment records using API after parsing invoice.
3.22. ServiceNow
• Feature/Setting: Create incident or task for invoices that fail validation, assign to finance.

Benefits

4.1. End-to-end audit trail for compliance and oversight.
4.2. Reduced late fees and duplicate payments by enforcing approval chain.
4.3. Faster invoice processing and vendor payment cycles.
4.4. Transparency and centralized access to invoice status.
4.5. Minimized manual labor and risk of human error.