Founded in 1977, Boels is a market leader in equipment and tool rental in Europe. Following the acquisition of Riwal in 2024, the family-owned company has grown to employ over 8,500 employees and operates from more than 850 locations across 27 countries.
Optical Character Recognition
A high degree of automation in invoice processing results in greater efficiency and better control over document workflows. However, the Boels Accounts Payable department had reached the limits of its existing system, explains project manager Pascal Palmen.
Optical Character Recognition (OCR)—the transformation of text contained within an image into machine-readable data—is a key success factor for modern Accounts Payable departments. Palmen and his team were dissatisfied with the OCR functionality of their old solution. “We couldn’t extract the data we needed from invoices to correctly match them with SAP purchase orders.”
VIM: a no-brainer
Boels chose Vendor Invoice Management (VIM) by OpenText as their new invoice processing solution due to its seamless integration with SAP, alignment with their SAP strategy, and its advanced OCR and matching capabilities. As Palmen explains, “I was already enthusiastic about SAP due to its extensive options. Thanks to the deep integration of VIM with SAP, users quickly became familiar with VIM’s interface.”
SAP partner Aiden introduced tcf. as Boels’ OpenText implementation partner. Palmen and his team appreciated the advantages of working with Dutch-based tcf.: it made for fast and easy communication, with the added benefit of on-site visits.
Implementation!
The project kicked off in December 2023, with Boels locations in Western and Central Europe being the first to transition to VIM. To ensure a successful rollout, tcf. closely collaborated with Boels’ project team. During the initial phase, tcf. conducted in-depth interviews to gather all Boels’ requirements, then intensified the collaboration throughout the implementation process. “We held weekly project progress meetings with tcf.’s specialist and additional deep-dive sessions to address details and quickly resolve issues,” says Palmen.
Solving problems at the source
VIM went live on the target date of July 8, 2024. “We’re proud to have met our target date,” Palmen shares. An essential factor in the project’s success was the early involvement of Boels’ key users. This allowed them to familiarize themselves with VIM early in the process.
With this new solution, Boels has come significantly closer to its goal of processing invoices faster and more accurately. The system has also improved workflows, providing automatic notifications when missing data prevents invoice processing.
Additionally, the added insight into daily processes is critical for driving long-term improvement. “We now have more control over and insight into where our internal processes are stalling. The system shows exactly why an invoice cannot be processed,” Palmen explains, “for instance, because the goods receipt hasn’t been registered.” The project manager highlights another advantage of the full integration between SAP and Solution Extension VIM: “In VIM, you can easily link the document to the order. If the order hasn’t been released, you can immediately navigate to it, since it’s all within the same package.” In short, they have increasing control over their documentation flow.
Specifications:
- VIM 20.4 SP6
- Core Capture (cloud-based OCR solution)
- Core Archive (cloud-based archiving solution)
tcf.’s advisory role
Palmen concludes, “Our VIM development is ongoing, and so is our collaboration with tcf. For now, the focus is primarily on automatic matching and OCR functionalities.” tcf. also remains in the background for daily support.
Looking back on the project, Palmen is particularly satisfied with the proactive role tcf. took, working with the Boels team to achieve the best results. “tcf.’s advisory role is excellent. We knew exactly what we wanted, while tcf. could use their experience to highlight what was and wasn’t feasible.”
The rollout of VIM in the Baltics and Nordics locations is already planned, with tcf. once again serving as the implementation partner.
