Customer Success Story

Automated 3-Way Matching

Faster, More Accurate Accounts Payable Control

90%

Reduction in manual effort

Real-time

Visibility into discrepancies, missing documents, and approval status

Client:

Accounts Payable team was managing a manual, document-intensive three-way matching process across purchase orders, receiving tickets, and invoices. Teams depended on audits, email follow-ups, and document checks to validate transactions. As volumes increased, this approach slowed approvals, created rework, and made it difficult to identify exceptions early.

Objective:

The goal was to modernize the three-way matching process by reducing manual effort, minimizing matching errors, and improving control over invoice approvals. The organization also wanted better visibility into partial deliveries, missing documents, and pending approvals—without forcing field teams or AP users to change how they worked. Any solution needed to fit into the existing environment, including SharePoint, email, and ERP systems, while enabling proactive exception alerts.

Challenges:

Manual, time-consuming validation:

AP teams were comparing purchase orders, receiving tickets, and invoices by hand, which consumed significant time and increased the risk of oversight.

Late identification of discrepancies:

Issues such as partial deliveries, quantity mismatches, pricing errors, and total variances were often discovered late in the process, leading to payment delays and avoidable rework.

Limited process visibility:

Missing documents, unresolved exceptions, and approval bottlenecks were difficult to track in real time, restricting financial transparency and control.

Workflow disruption concerns:

The business needed process improvement without replacing core systems or introducing behavioral change for AP or field teams.

Solution:

Automated Three-Way Matching for AP Accuracy and Control

To address these issues, the organization implemented an automated three-way match solution that validates purchase orders, receiving tickets, and invoices across quantities, rates, and totals. The solution works within the company’s current operating model, drawing documents from SharePoint and supporting existing approval processes rather than replacing them.

Key elements of the solution include:

Automated match engine: Compares PO, receipt, and invoice data to identify mismatches quickly and consistently.

SharePoint-based ingestion: Pulls documents from the existing repository, allowing teams to continue using familiar tools and processes.

Roll-up logic for complex scenarios: Handles partial deliveries and multiple invoices against a single PO to provide a more accurate matching picture.

Exception-driven dashboard: Presents real-time visibility into mismatches, missing documents, and approval status so teams can focus on what needs action.

Approval workflow support: Helps move valid invoices forward faster while escalating true exceptions for resolution.

Seamless system integration: Connects with existing systems, including ERP and email, without requiring a major platform replacement.

Implementation:

Document capture and ingestion:

Purchase orders, receiving records, and invoices are collected from existing SharePoint repositories and aligned for processing.

Matching automation:

The engine validates line items and totals across the three documents, detecting quantity, rate, and value discrepancies automatically.

Exception handling and roll-ups:

The system groups related transactions, including partial receipts and multiple invoices, so teams can review complete scenarios instead of fragmented records.

Workflow visibility:

A dashboard surfaces exceptions, missing documentation, and approval progress in real time, enabling better prioritization and faster follow-up.

Results and Value:

90%+ reduction in human effort:

Automation significantly reduced the manual work required for matching and verification.

Faster discrepancy detection:

Quantity, rate, and total mismatches are identified much earlier, with alerts enabling quicker intervention.

Improved approval cycle control:

Valid invoices move forward faster, while exceptions are routed with better visibility and fewer escalations.

Greater operational transparency:

AP teams gain a clearer view of pending approvals, partial deliveries, and missing documents, improving financial oversight.

By automating three-way matching within the existing technology landscape, the organization transformed a labor-intensive AP process into a faster, more controlled, and exception-led operation.

The result is reduced manual dependency, earlier issue detection, and stronger visibility across the invoice approval lifecycle.

At BrainWaves, we build and deploy EnterpriseAI Ops, an AI-powered platform that transforms enterprises into Frontier Firms, where autonomous workflows and people work together to drive productivity, quality, efficiency, and growth.

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Location:

8911 N Capital of Texas Hwy,
Suite 4200-339,
Austin, TX 78759, USA

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+1.512.828.6443

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