Ocr enabled management of accounts payable and/or accounts receivable auditing data

Abstract

A number of different tags are input in a fax cover sheet that tell an OCR system not only the identity of the supplier, but also to which client the document should be routed. The OCR system identifies a number of these tags and compares them to stored supplier data to validate to which supplier the document belongs. If the system cannot validate the document, it is routed to a GUI for manual sorting. If there is no coversheet, the system relies upon the OCR system to locate keywords on the document and caller ID information to suggest a correct supplier. The OCR system also clips a separate, horizontal slice of the document (‘snippet’) that corresponds to the display of any line item and places it in a data base for future reference and reporting. The application collects and associates all corresponding snippets to their originating line items.

1 . A method comprising:
 receiving a document comprising a plurality of tags;   identifying at least some of the plurality of tags;   comparing the identified tags to supplier data stored in a database to validate the document;   clipping a portion of the document that corresponds to a line item;   storing the clipped portion and the originating line item in the database;   associating the clipped portion with the originating line item;   tagging a location of the originating line item to its original location in the document; and   causing the originating line item to be presented on a graphical user interface, the originating line item comprising a first link to the document and a second link to the corresponding clipped portion.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 determining whether any tables are in the document; and   responsive to determining a table is present, identifying any column headers in the table and comparing the column headers to headers in a table master.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , further comprising:
 scanning through an entirety of the document;   marking the originating line item on a digital representation of the document, the digital representation adapted to be displayed on a graphical user interface.   
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of tags are presented in a cover sheet. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4 , further comprising:
 determining whether the cover sheet is present; and   responsive to determining the cover sheet is not present, identifying one or more keywords or phone numbers within the document that are associated with a particular supplier.   
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 determining whether the document can be validated; and   responsive to determining the document cannot be validated, routing the document to a graphical user interface for manual sorting.   
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 identifying an area of the document where a supplier has provided handwritten contact information;   processing and recognizing the handwritten contact information;   comparing the handwritten contact information to contact information for the supplier stored in the database;   responsive to determining contact information does not exist in the database for the supplier, storing the recognized handwritten contact information in the database and presenting the recognized handwritten contact information through a graphical user interface for human verification;   responsive to determining contact information exists in the database for the supplier, comparing the recognized handwritten contact information to the existing contact information to determine whether there is a match;   responsive to finding a match, processing metadata accordingly; and   responsive to not finding a match, transmitting the recognized handwritten contact information and the existing contact information to a graphical user interface for human verification.   
     
     
         8 . A method for managing accounts payable data, accounts receivable data, or both, the method comprising:
 receiving a document comprising a first portion having a plurality of tags and a second portion having a plurality of line items;   processing the first portion of the document and identifying at least one of the plurality of tags;   comparing the at least one identified tag to account data stored in a database to validate the document;   processing the second portion of the document and identifying each of the plurality of line items;   marking each identified line item on a digital representation of the document, the digital representation adapted to be displayed on a graphical user interface;   identifying a location within the document corresponding to each identified line item; and   causing the identified line items to be presented on a graphical user interface.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8 , further comprising:
 clipping a portion of the document that corresponds to each of the plurality of line items;   storing the clipped portions in the database; and   associating each clipped portion with the originating line item.   
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein the identified line items presented on the graphical user interface comprise one or both of a first link to the document and a second link to the corresponding clipped portion. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 8 , further comprising:
 automatically generating a verification request.   
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 8 , further comprising:
 presenting an aged line item from among the identified line items;   identifying credit data for the aged line item; and   recording the identified credit data in the database.   
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein the aged line item relates to a request for payment from a vendor or an account for a client. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein the credit data relates to a deduction a client can take against a requested payment. 
     
     
         15 . A method comprising:
 receiving a document comprising a first portion having a plurality of tags and a second portion having a plurality of line items;   identifying at least one of the plurality of tags;   comparing the identified tag to supplier data to match the document with a particular supplier, the supplier data stored in a database;   identifying each of the plurality of line items;   storing the first plurality of identified line items in the database; and   comparing each of the first plurality of identified line items to client data to identify discrepancies, the client data stored in the database.   
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the client data comprises accounts payable data provided by a particular client, a second plurality of line items identified within one or more documents provided by the particular client, or a combination thereof. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein validating the document comprises:
 determining whether the identified tag matches the supplier data;   responsive to finding a match, associating the document with the particular supplier; and   responsive to not finding a match, transmitting the document to a graphical user interface for human verification.   
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 15 , further comprising:
 matching, based on the comparison of the first plurality of identified line items to the client data, the document to a transaction between a particular client and the particular supplier; and   identifying, within the database, one or more documents associated with the transaction, the documents comprising a second plurality of identified line items.   
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 18 , further comprising:
 responsive to identifying a discrepancy between the first plurality of identified line items and the second plurality of identified line items, causing any contradictory line items to be presented on a graphical user interface, wherein the contradictory line items are those identified line items causing the discrepancy.   
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 19 , further comprising:
 presenting an aged line item from among the contradictory line items, wherein the aged line item is an identified line item that has aged for N months, wherein N is a positive integer.