Assume you are working as an intern in the accounts payable department of a construction company. As an intern, you have to process the invoices you receive from suppliers on a weekly basis. You receive an average of 200 invoices per week. Suppliers send their invoices by post and email. The business processes are largely manual in nature with technology used only for making payment and accounting purposes. Before making payments, you have to complete the following steps: print out the purchase order if sent digitally (3 minutes each); identify the purchase order number and retrieve the actual purchase order from the purchasing ledger (3 minutes each); retrieve the goods received document from the stores office ledger and undertake a three-way match between invoice, purchase order, and goods receipt document (5 minutes each), if all the values match, approve the invoice, submit it to the procurement manager for approval (2 minutes each); inform supplier about the status via phone/email about the invoice status (5 minutes each).

a. Make a process chart for the above activity, assuming that it is a one-person operation.

b. Estimate how long will it take to process 200 invoices. Assume that you are paid $15 per hour. How much will it cost to process 200 invoices?

c. Consider each of the following process changes. Which changes would reduce the time and cost of the current process?

• All the relevant documents are scanned and stored as PDFs in a predetermined folder.
• There is a mismatch between the document values.
• You are using an integrated ERP system that does the three-way matching.
• You are scanning the approved invoice and emailing it to the procurement manager.
• You are providing access to the invoice approval process so that a supplier can view the status online.

d. Would any of these changes be likely to reduce the effectiveness of the mailing? If so, which ones? Why?
e. Would the changes that increase time and cost be likely to increase the effectiveness of the mailing? Why or why not?