Support for digitalization and streamlining of accounting operations at ASKUL

SCSK Corporation and WingArc1st Inc are providing solutions to ASKUL Corporation's accounting team to improve operational efficiency and comply with the requirements of the Electronic Books Preservation Act to store scanned documents. SCSK has been providing ASKUL with a one-stop service for business design, compliant with the Electronic Books Preservation Act, and will provide this solution to other customers who have already implemented SAP ERP and are facing similar challenges.

Background
ASKUL had a mixture of paper and PDF files of invoices received from suppliers. As a result, the company had to approve payments by stamping and circulating paper vouchers. In order to promote remote work during the COVID-19 disaster, the digitization of accounting work became an urgent necessity. At the same time, compliance with the requirements of the Electronic Books Preservation Act to store scanned documents was also an issue. In order to solve these accounting challenges, SCSK identified the necessary business functions based on the results of interviews and decided to provide solutions for the Electronic Books Preservation Act by utilizing a combination of SAP ERP, WingArc's electronic document platform, invoiceAgent Documents, and intra-mart's workflow.

Effects of introduction
ASKUL has observed the following business improvement benefits:

1. Digitization of accounting operations has significantly increased the remote work implementation rate in the accounting department (by approximately 50%) and has also reduced 100,000 sheets of paper per year.
2. The submission of vouchers to the accounting department is no longer concentrated close to deadlines, resulting in the early commencement of work and early detection of deficiencies.
3. Printing and filing of vouchers and replacing original invoices, which used to take about 180 hours per year, is no longer necessary.
4. Integration between SAP ERP and invoiceAgent allows past vouchers to be viewed through SAP, making quick searches possible and eliminating the need for searches at the warehouse.
5. The work of sending paper slips to the warehouse has been eliminated, saving 30 hours of work every six months

ASKUL also appreciated SCSK's one-stop post-implementation support, which reduced the burden on ASKUL's maintenance operations.

About the Electronic Books Preservation Act solutions
Solutions for the Electronic Books Preservation Act provided to ASKUL are as follows^*1 :

・SAP, invoiceAgent Documents, and intra-mart are integrated in real time through an API. This has allowed payment approvals to proceed without interrupting the workflow of slip registration, approval, document registration, and slip posting.
・SAP voucher lock and integration between the SAP voucher and confirmation PDF, which are frequently requested by SAP ERP users.
・Approved voucher confirmation PDF files are automatically timestamped and stored in JIIMA-certified invoiceAgent Documents, enabling centralized management of voucher data.^*2

Future Developments
In anticipation of the upcoming revision of the Electronic Books Preservation Act and the implementation of the invoice system, SCSK and WingArc1st will soon support the digitization of approval workflows and voucher storage, which were previously done on paper, as well as paperless accounting operations, strengthening of internal controls, and digitization. SCSK will also consolidate the know-how gained from numerous past case studies, create templates for the business functions required by the Electronic Books Preservation Act for customers who have already implemented SAP ERP, and provide them as Value Adds for DX/the Electronic Books Preservation Act.

In preparation for the introduction of the invoice system on 1 October 2023, the companies plan to add a function to confirm qualified invoicing businesses on invoices that are received. Further service enhancements are also planned, and they will utilize AI OCR and RPA to help improve the efficiency of clients' back-office operations.

*1: The solutions for the Electronic Books Preservation Act have been customized for ASKUL.
*2: A system in which the Japan Institute of Information and Document Management (JIIMA) checks and certifies that commercial accounting systems and software comply with the requirements of the Electronic Books Preservation Act.
*3: Source: Survey by Deloitte Tohmatsu Mick Economic Research Institute Co:
Competitive Survey of Form Design and Operation Products FY2020 (Form Operation Products)/ITR DBMS/BI Market 2021 Data Analysis/Reporting Market: Sales by Vendor