ewl energie wasser luzern harmonises and automates invoice processing with DeepO

Challange

Modernising and harmonising disparate accounts payable systems

ewl energie wasser luzern, an energy service provider at home in the city of Lucerne and a daily presence in central Switzerland, has actively pursued the harmonisation and digital transformation of its system landscape. The objective centred around consolidating legacy applications, automating document workflows, and converting all supplier accounting to electronic invoicing. A pressing requirement was replacing their legacy invoice processing solution with a platform fully integrated into their Abacus ERP, capable of handling document recognition, automatic data extraction, and approval workflows for over 21,000 supplier invoices annually.

The core challenge was to deploy a solution that preserved all existing automation and data population efficiencies, ensuring the transition did not result in increased workload for the accounts payable team. Ground-level objectives included eliminating manual scanning, reducing booking errors, and achieving seamless supplier onboarding for digital invoice submission. Crucially, ewl required a future-proof, continually developed system to maximise efficiency gains and maintain compliance with evolving process standards.

Solution

Robust end-to-end automation with DeepO and DeepFlow

ewl implemented DeepO for end-to-end invoice processing, deploying an integrated digital workflow from invoice receipt to archiving within Abacus. The upgraded central invoice intake, featuring automated address recognition, routes each invoice to the relevant department’s DeepBox for validation and further processing. Any incoming document is evaluated by DeepO AI, which applies pre-programmed keywords and approval criteria to internal invoices, enabling automatic accounting entries and seamless validation.

To address supplier invoices with recurring patterns, DeepO was trained using historical data to recognise frequent senders, streamline field population, and enforce rule-based condition checks. The platform supports continuous improvement through suggestion logic and supervised learning, minimising manual intervention and reducing booking errors.

For complete workflow automation, ewl designed DeepFlow processes enabling direct validation and archival of invoices within Abacus. This ensures documents processed with fully trained templates are automatically recognised, while invoices with missing fields are systematically flagged for targeted manual review. Supporting this rollout, the ICT application team participated in DeepBox training to leverage immediate practical application.

Further enhancements included the introduction of an Advanced box specifically for warehouse staff, facilitating direct email-based intake and DeepO-aided matching of delivery slips with order numbers. Documents lacking order references are channelled to a central mailbox for manual assignment, triggering efficiency feedback loops with suppliers to improve future compliance.

“Thanks to the ongoing development of DeepO, we now have an ideal platform for efficient document processing.”

Doris Fenk
Finance and Accounting Clerk, ewl energie wasser luzern

Results

Substantial time and cost savings in early-stage automation 

ewl’s phased DeepO deployment has already halved processing times for internal and recurring invoices, leading to an estimated 30% reduction in costs for these segments. While full optimisation of external supplier invoice automation is ongoing, the accounts payable team reports significant improvements in routine workflows and a marked reduction in booking errors for recurring invoices.

The new system’s intuitive interface and continuous feature updates have been well received, with staff expressing appreciation for the integrated online support, which expedites case resolution without requiring internal IT escalation. Overall, continuous training and supplier onboarding are expected to drive further reductions in manual workload and accelerate the realisation of large-scale efficiency gains as the roll-out progresses.