How a Finance Team in Lebanon Automated Invoice Collection, Validation and Approval

A Lebanese finance team received invoices by email and retyped them into spreadsheets before chasing approvals. We built a workflow that collects, extracts, validates, approves, files and reports on every invoice.

Project overview

A finance team in Lebanon received invoices by email and retyped them into spreadsheets before chasing approvals. We built a workflow that collects, reads, checks, routes and files every invoice. Approval and payment decisions stay with authorized staff.

The solution

We implemented five connected automations:

Collection from the configured inboxes and document sources
OCR and AI extraction of supplier, dates, totals, tax and line items
Validation with duplicate detection and exception handling
Entry into Excel or the accounting platform, with approval routing and reminders
Filing and summaries with a reference back to every original document

Business impact

The finance team now handles invoices through one traceable process.

Invoices are read and entered automatically instead of retyped
Missing fields, mismatched totals and duplicates are flagged before an approver sees them
Every entry links to its original document

The challenge

Employees opened each email, found the invoice and copied the supplier, invoice number, dates, totals and tax into a spreadsheet. Line items were often skipped because retyping them took too long. The document was then forwarded to an approver by email.

Retyping invites small errors, and nobody could easily see which invoices were waiting, which had been approved and which might have been entered twice. Documents were saved in different folders, so finding the original behind an entry took time. At month end, the team reconstructed the status of invoices from inboxes.

Individual automations

The seven automations form one pipeline. Each invoice moves through them in order, and exceptions leave the pipeline to be handled by a person.

Invoice collection

Invoices no longer depend on someone noticing an email.

Configured email inboxes and document sources are monitored for new invoices and supporting documents.
Each document is captured with its source and the time it arrived.
Files that are not invoices are set aside for review.

Staff can see everything that was captured and everything that was set aside.

OCR and AI-assisted extraction

The workflow reads each document and turns it into structured data.

OCR converts scanned documents and images into text.
AI-assisted extraction identifies the supplier, invoice number, invoice and due dates, totals, tax and currency.
Where the document layout supports it, line items are extracted as well.
A confidence indication is stored with each field, so uncertain values can be checked first.

Reviewers can correct any extracted field next to the original document, and the correction is what moves forward.

Validation, duplicate detection and exception handling

Every record is checked before it is entered anywhere.

Required fields are checked, and totals are compared with the line items where they exist.
The supplier and, where available, the purchase record are checked against the supplier and purchase data the company maintains.
Possible duplicates are detected by comparing supplier, invoice number and amount.
Anything that fails a check becomes an exception with the reason stated, and is routed to a finance staff member.

Exceptions are resolved by people. The workflow never forces an uncertain invoice through.

Structured entry into Excel or the accounting platform

Checked invoices are written to the system the team uses.

Entries are added to a structured Excel table with consistent columns, or to the configured accounting platform through its integration.
Each entry stores the extracted data, the status and the reference to the original document.
Entries that were corrected by a reviewer are marked as such.

Entry follows validation. Nothing is posted for payment by the workflow.

Approval routing and reminders

Invoices that need approval reach the right person and do not stall.

The workflow decides the approver from the rules the company has set, such as supplier, department or amount band.
The approver receives the invoice with the extracted data and the original document.
Approved, rejected and queried decisions are recorded with the person and the time.
Reminders go to approvers who have not responded, and then to their manager.

Approval is always a decision by an authorized person. Approvers can query an invoice and send it back.

Organized document storage with traceable references

Every invoice can be traced from the record to the document and back.

Documents are stored in an organized structure, for example by supplier and period.
Each record carries a reference that links to the stored document.
The history of each invoice, from receipt to approval, is kept with it.

Access to stored documents follows the permissions the company already uses.

Periodic summaries and exception reports

The team sees the state of the whole process without searching.

Invoices awaiting review, awaiting approval and approved.
Processing exceptions and their reasons.
Items that have waited longest for a decision.

Summaries are generated on a schedule and shown on a dashboard or sent by email.

Summaries describe status. They do not approve or release payments.

How the workflow operates

This is the journey of one invoice through the workflow.

The invoice arrives An email inbox or document source receives the invoice, and the workflow captures it with its source and time.
The document is read OCR and AI-assisted extraction identify the supplier, numbers, dates, totals, tax, currency and, where supported, line items.
The data is validated Required fields, totals, supplier and purchase records and possible duplicates are checked.
Exceptions go to a person Anything that fails a check is routed to finance staff with the reason, and is corrected or rejected there.
The record is entered Validated data is written to the Excel table or the accounting platform with a link to the stored document.
Approval is requested The configured approver receives the invoice, decides, and the decision is recorded; reminders follow if there is no response.
The status is reported Dashboards and scheduled summaries show what is waiting, approved or in exception.

Systems and integrations

Email inboxes and document sources: configured sources from which invoices are collected.
OCR and AI extraction: read documents and return structured fields.
Supplier and purchase records: used for validation where the company maintains them.
Excel or an accounting platform: the destination for validated entries, through the configured integration.
Document storage: organized storage with references to each invoice.
Email notifications: approval requests, reminders and summaries.
Dashboard: status of invoices, approvals and exceptions.

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