3.10.22 Philly Ellucian FINAL RPA & Account ASUG

Robotic Process Automation
(RPA) and Accounting processes

Rahul Goyal, Senior Director (SAP and RPA)
Kartik Dua, Principal Business Analyst (SAP and RPA)
Ellucian
Agenda
Robotic Process Automation (RPA)
Presentation
(30 mins) Accounting processes
Optimize Accounting Processes with RPA
Customer Case Study
Discussions Q&A
(15 mins) Follow-up Topics
2 © 2022 ASUG Confidential

2
RPA – What is & What is Not
RPA is RPA is not

Group of robots known as Bots, to do × Physical Robot
computer based monotonous tasks
Effective in doing RRF(repetitive, rule- × Ineffective where composite decision
based, frequent) tasks making is required
Solution which Complements &
Supplements human workforce × Intended to replace human workforce
Business oriented - streamline business
process to drive revenue, reduce costs, × Single dimensional – only focused on
surge accuracy, refine compliance one business or to only reduce cost
Based on electronic or machine-
readable inputs

3
Tasks we can Botify

4
Accounting Processes (As an example)
Daily Transactions
• Journal Entries
• Reporting
Month End Close
• Open/Close Accounting Periods

• Maintain Exchange Rates
• Mid-Close Reconciliation
• Financials and Calendar Close
Reporting
• Operational reporting
• Enterprise reporting

5
Challenges in Accounting Workspace
© 2019 Ellucian 6
Financial Accounting – RPA entry points
Quote to Acquisition Tax and Strategic

Record to Report Procure to Pay Cash to Retire Treasury Reporting
1. General ledger reconciliation 1. GR/IR Analysis and 1. Sales order 1. Fixed Assets 1. Data 1. Financial
2. Intercompany reconciliation Reconciliation creation Creation aggregation for statements
3. Financial Close activities 2. PR to PO Conversion 2. Sales order 2. Mass updates filings 2. Aggregation of
1. Open Close Accounting 3. Vendor invoice updates 3. Monthly closing 2. Bank data
Periods processing 3. Customer runs reconciliation 3. Management
2. Maintain monthly exchange 4. 2-way/3-way match invoices 4. Periodic 3. Prepare tax reports
rates reconciliation generation reconciliation returns 4. Excel processing
4. Manual journal entries 5. Vendor notifications 4. Customer 4. Monthly
5. Bank reconciliations 6. Accrual journal notifications reconciliation
6. Intercompany settlements entries and 5. Monthly
reconciliation reconciliation
(unbilled,
deferred)
6. Closing activities

Financial Accounting – RPA View
100% Human Front end – Human Front end – Person & Bot 100% Automation
Back end – Bot Back end – Bot
Business As-Usual For example: For example:

Invoicing (scanning & PR to PO to email pdf to
For example: For example: processing). If no GR, email to vendor
requisitioner to perform GR Monthly Open Close
Team meetings and planning AP robot works with AP staff on
auto processing invoices once 3- Project Accountant kicks off Accounting Periods
way match has been completed modernization job which helps Intercompany balancing reports
automate the update to the bill are run automatically every 4
plan process. hours. A report is automatically
sent to Accounting team
containing variances

Ellucian Case Study
Process – Open and Close Accounting Periods (FI, CO and MM)
THE CHALLENGE
• User dependency (to open calendars first of the month, regardless of weekend, holiday)
• No value-added task including mass notification
THE SOLUTION
• Unattended robot running 1st of the month (as scheduled, 1am) to change FI, CO and MM periods and send
notification
• Unattended bot running last day of the close (using slack bot) to close FI, CO and MM period and send notification

Ellucian Case Study
Process – SAP Data Extraction, Reporting and Reconciliation
THE CHALLENGE
• Manual data extraction – running SAP reports (for example GL Line-item Report)
• Download in excel and reconciliation which is time consuming and inefficient
• User dependency for time sensitive tasks
THE SOLUTION
• Unattended robot running at scheduled interval to download SAP data (direct table extract or through GUI), excel
processing and building monthly file
• Sending notification to end user with variance
• Efficient and on-time closing

Ellucian Case Study
Process – Purchase Requisition Status (for requisitioners)
THE CHALLENGE
• End user (requisitioner) not getting direct notification about PR status (Approved, PO issued, Invoiced or not etc.)
• Required them to login to SAP, navigate screens to get the information
• End user training and learning curve
THE SOLUTION
• Unattended robot triggered via Slack
• Bot in the backend establish connectivity with SAP as API calls, get PR status, formats it in excel and send email
attachment to requester
• Bot also checks any pending GR or IR and accordingly notify AP clerk or PO requester

Ellucian Case Study
Process – Sales order updates (Bill Plan)
THE CHALLENGE
• Manual exercise to update sales order line items (for multiple bill plans)
• Time consuming
THE SOLUTION
• Attended bot for excel data processing to trigger VA02
• Bot process through SAP Screens to make necessary updates
• Bot update excel file back with status for reconciliation
• Bot notify user for any errors and keep track of pending transactions

Polling Questions
• How familiar are you with RPA?
• Familiar (Use it for everyday work)
• Have heard about it, but do not use it
• New to RPA
• Which RPA solution have you heard of or used?

• SAP iRPA
• UIPath
• BluePrism
• Automation Anywhere
• Others
• N/A
13
Questions
Rahul Goyal: [email protected]
Kartik Dua: [email protected]
14
Thank you.

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Robotic Process Automation

(RPA) and Accounting processes

(15 mins) Follow-up Topics

2 © 2022 ASUG Confidential

RPA is RPA is not

3 © 2022 ASUG Confidential

4 © 2022 ASUG Confidential

Month End Close

• Open/Close Accounting Periods

5 © 2022 ASUG Confidential

Quote to Acquisition Tax and Strategic

7 © 2022 ASUG Confidential

Business As-Usual For example: For example:

8 © 2022 ASUG Confidential

Process – Open and Close Accounting Periods (FI, CO and MM)

9 © 2022 ASUG Confidential

Process – SAP Data Extraction, Reporting and Reconciliation

10 © 2022 ASUG Confidential

11 © 2022 ASUG Confidential

Process – Sales order updates (Bill Plan)

12 © 2022 ASUG Confidential

• Which RPA solution have you heard of or used?

Rahul Goyal: [email protected]

Kartik Dua: [email protected]

15 © 2022 ASUG Confidential

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