The service was beta-tested throughout 2003 and is now fully operational. Over 3,100 customer invoices have been processed, and the service is being launched as a normal commercial product for MTS customers.
Through integration with key suppliers of back office systems, MTS picks up outgoing invoices, transforming them into XML documents, encrypting them and routing them to the integrated buyer side ERP system, which are of various types. The transfer is fully automatic. In a matter of seconds it is in to the customer’s purchasing application for standard approval routines and remittance. The solution is based on standard XML, but various XML dialects and EDIFACT are supported as well.
Users on both buyer and supplier side are reporting savings related to both faster processing time and administration costs, i.e. elimination of printing, postage and envelopes.
MTS’s electronic invoicing service is offered as both a stand-alone service or as part of MTS' Ship2Cash concept, where the invoice is part of a complete process including Request For Quote, Quote, Purchase Order and Purchase Order Confirmation. In a Ship2Cash scenario the pilot project reported that the "re-invoice rate" was reduced by 40%. This saving alone provided a project pay back time, including the one-year service fee, of only one year.