Monday 14th January, 2013

Inalfa Roof Systems B.V, one of the world’s leading providers of vehicle roof systems to amongst others BMW Group, Ford, Land Rover and Volkswagen Group, has deployed an advanced web-based invoice automation solution and procurement software from enterprise purchase-to-pay specialist, Palette, to streamline its financial management and improve operational efficiencies.

Inalfa has 16 sites globally, with its headquarters in the Netherlands. The company uses PaletteInvoice to automate processing of the approximate 30,000 annual invoices received, and PaletteBuyer to create controlled and automated audit trails at its headquarters and its factory in Slovakia.

Noud van der Locht, CFO Europe at Inalfa Roof Systems B.V. commented: “There was a clear requirement to establish electronic procurement processes, to improve efficiency in the company through managed, visible audit trails of our invoicing and purchasing processes.

“There were a number of factors to consider in choosing an appropriate system: software flexibility and capacity to adapt in future, a cost-effective solution for our business, local partnership with the provider and last but not least, ability to integrate with our current ERP system.”

Around 90 staff in Inalfa’s management and accounts departments use Palette to generate purchase orders and process invoices for payment. Inalfa’s accounting personnel scan invoices daily using ReadSoft, and load them into PaletteInvoice. Next, matched invoices are sent to the appropriate individual for authorization. Lastly, the approved invoices are uploaded into Inalfa’s ERP system and scheduled for payment.

PaletteBuyer is also being used by Inalfa personnel, whose responsibility is to submit purchase requests. The module manages the workflow and scheduling of ordered goods and services ordered. It seamlessly integrates with PaletteInvoice to provide visibility of orders and match the items to its invoice.

PaletteInvoice integrates with Inalfa’s ERP system to provide an up-to-date view of the company’s active invoices and open purchase orders resulting in more efficient financial analysis and oversight.  Its flexible, scalable web-based architecture, which supports both office-based and remote staff, with no need for software to be installed on desktop or laptop PCs, and for its modularity, which enables additional features to be deployed as needed.

Inalfa initially piloted PaletteInvoice in early 2011 and the solution was rolled out across its Netherlands and Slovakia sites.