Chapter 03

The Plan

What we do about it, how long it takes, and what it's worth. 20 automation opportunities across 6 sub-functions. $16.8M projected annual value.

Automation Opportunity Map

LowMedHighcomplexity

Total value across all opportunities$16.8M/yr

4-Month Implementation Timeline

Month 1

Month 2

Month 3

Month 4

AP Exception Triage

Ramp→NetSuite Sync

Invoice Intake + Auto-coding

Vendor Master Unification

Close Readiness Tracking

AR Collections Prioritization

Cash Application Automation

Intercompany Reconciliation

PO Matching Automation

Policy Violation Detection

Journal Entry Automation

Entity Close Task Management

Payment Timing Optimization

Daily Cash Position

Rolling Cash Forecast

FX Exposure Monitoring

Variance Analysis Auto-gen

Management Reporting

Tax Estimate Assembly

Dispute Detection + Routing

Full Cross-system Integration

Month 1: Accuracy trajectory: 88% week 1 → 96% week 3 → 97%+ by go-live. Human reviews every output during this phase.

Month 2: AR and intercompany workstreams launch. Intercompany reconciliation runs longest due to 3-ERP complexity.

Month 3: First full close cycle with the new system runs this month. Target: 12 days or less, down from 18–22.

Month 4: Second close cycle with full system. Target: 7–9 days.

Projected Annual Value

Labor redeployment$9.2M

AP, AR, Close, Treasury, FP&A

Early payment discount capture$3.6M

Automated invoice processing

DSO improvement on AR book$2.1M

Intelligent collections

Error reduction + audit avoidance$1.9M

Intercompany, vendor master

$16.8M

projected annual value

Labor redeployment means shifting hours from manual coordination to higher-value work. Not headcount reduction. AP analysts move from processing exceptions to vendor relationship management and spend optimization. The controller stops checking 14 Excel files and starts doing actual financial strategy.

Investment Summary

Phase 1

Completed

Audit

Phase 2

Implementation

4 months

Phase 3

Ongoing

Usage-based

Next Steps

Scope Alignment Call

Review this deliverable together. Confirm which opportunities from the roadmap are in Phase 2. Prioritize by business impact and dependency chain. Align on success metrics.

Implementation Kickoff

FDE deploys on-site for the first 2 weeks to shadow workflows and configure initial agents. Transitions to remote with weekly syncs. First agent outputs in week 1.

Your Team's Role

System admin access needed for NetSuite and Oracle. Weekly 30-min sync with Controller. AP Team Lead as primary SME for Month 1. AR Team Lead for Month 2.

Governance Setup

Approval workflows configured before any agent goes live. Every output reviewed by a human during the ramp-up phase. Confidence thresholds determine when human review reduces.

First Close Cycle

Month 3 target: run the first full close cycle with agents handling exception triage, Ramp sync, and close tracking. Target close time: 12 days, down from 18–22.