Dynamics AP Automation: 5 Case Studies & Key Features in '24

Microsoft Dynamics finance is an ERP vendor with a finance automation solution including capabilities in:

• accounts payable
• accounts receivable
• financial reporting and more.

Though Dynamics provides a broad range of AP automation capabilities, these capabilities can be improved with add-ons such as PairSoft that can increase AP automation levels and ease of use.

Explore Dynamics’ key features, insights from case studies and reviews, and how to utilize native ERP integrations to improve accounts payable process automation:

Overview of Microsoft Dynamics

Accounts payable automation is crucial for the continuity of financial processes. Deploying AP automation constitutes 41% of the incoming agenda of businesses. 71% of AP leaders see it as one of the most important factors affecting AP performance.¹

Dynamics GP

Dynamics GP is a business management solution for small to mid-sized organizations. Its focus is mainly on financial management and automation. It offers capabilities in AP automation such as:

• invoice processing
• payment scheduling
• vendor management.

Dynamics 365

Dynamics 365 is one of the key players in the ERP market. It has contributed $5.4 billion to Microsoft’s revenue as of 2023, growing faster than most other product categories.²

Features & key capabilities in AP automation

Dynamics 365 Finance improves accounts payable processes by accommodating invoice capture in various formats, both digital and manual. As with some of the other AP automation software, its main focus is invoice processing & automation. Features such as coding, and error resolution are also included in their catalog. Some of the key capabilities regarding Dynamics AP automation are:

Invoice automation

Dynamics Finance can automatically process vendor invoices received in various formats, including email and electronic invoicing networks. In the cases where Azure AI & integrated platform environments are not involved, Dynamics 365 offers embedded invoice capture solutions with OCR like APAI solutions. For the options available in the current version of Dynamics 365 finance, see Figure 2:

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Figure 2: Options available in Dynamics 365 finance for invoice capturing. 

Vendor management

Dynamics’ system allows for management of vendor information such as payment terms, agreements, and historical data. Users can also benefit from features such as creating vendor groups (Figure 3).

 Source:⁴

Figure 3. A sample action of creating a vendor group through Dynamics 365 finance.

Three-way matching

Dynamics supports a three-way match system. Purchase orders (POs), receipts, and incoming invoices are basic components of the process.

Payment automation

Dynamics 365 finance automates payment processing by scheduling payments, electronic fund transfers (Figure 4). It also allows the management of multiple payment methods and currencies.

Source:⁵

Figure 4: An example of scheduling payment processes through Dynamics 365 finance. 

Workflow approvals

Dynamics mostly offer customizable workflow capabilities. This way, invoice data and payments go through the proper approval processes.

Expense management

The module includes tools for managing and reimbursing employee expenses.

Financial insights

Dynamics 365 Finance provides real-time insights and analytics on financial data. Businesses can track their & vendor actions through business central. (See Figure 5)

Source:⁶

Figure 5: Dynamics 365 Business Central 

For overall services provided by Dynamics 365 finance, see:

 Source:⁷

Figure 6. Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance overall features.

Native integrations to improve Dynamics’ AP capabilities

Sponsored: PairSoft with its native Dynamics integration can increase automation levels in different Dynamics ERP solutions such as Dynamics SL, GP, NAV and Dynamics 365:

• Dynamics SL: Optimized for project-based businesses, offering strong project and financial management tools.
• Dynamics GP: For small to mid-sized businesses, providing broad financial and HR management capabilities.
• Dynamics NAV: Currently Dynamics 365 Business Central, targets small to mid-sized businesses as well, but with a focus on adaptability to support various industries with business management features.

PairSoft, with products like PaperSave can enhance AP automation and document management in Dynamics family of products by:

• capturing documents in numerous different ways (e.g. ScanLater allows matching multiple physical documents to existing transactions, Outlook integration enables capturing invoices in emails)
• establishing connection through APIs that will allow you to build a workflow between different SaaS applications
• tracking changes on documents
• exporting query specific document data to excel
• scanning invoices with mobile phones thanks to OCR
• enabling structured & unstructured searches

Explore PairSoft’s AP automation capabilities in Dynamics 365 or Dynamics GP and other Dynamics solutions.

Pros of Dynamics 365

Integration with other modules: Dynamics 365 is integrated with other modules and third-party applications. As pointed out in customer stories, this can improve the overall functionality and data coherence.

Source:⁸

Figure 9: Integration capabilities of Dynamics 365. 

Apart from its comprehensive tools, users also liked the features below.

 Source: ⁹

Figure 10: Dynamics 365 Business Central pros.

Cons of Dynamics 365

Manual process in POs: Users stated that some processes still include manual tasks such as PO data entry and removing completed POs. Other than this, the most complained features of Dynamics 365 are given below:

Source:¹⁰

Figure 11: Dynamics Business Central cons.

Dynamics 365 pricing structure

Although Dynamics 365 offers different payment plans in some processes, the overall payment plan is as follows:

Source:¹¹

Figure 7: Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance. 

The AP automation process can sometimes result in the use of other services in Microsoft environments. The pricing of related products are given in the figure below:

Figure 8: Dynamics 365 Pricing in related products.

Dynamics 365 case studies

Columbia Sportswear Company

Columbia Sportswear, dedicated to equipping people for the outdoors with its range of apparel, footwear, and accessories has adopted Microsoft Azure along with Dynamics 365 Finance, and Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management to streamline its operations. Columbia utilized tools such as IT data centers, warehouse inventory and point-of-sale systems. This move proved beneficial during record-breaking holiday sales in 2019 and provided corporate resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic. The investment in cloud technology has enhanced Columbia’s business performance overall.¹²

Bel Fuse

Bel Power Solutions switched from a relatively costly ERP system to Microsoft Dynamics 365. This move automated their financial operations and improved supply chain visibility, saving them nearly $2 million annually in IT services. Dynamics 365 also allowed Bel Fuse to handle more finance tasks in-house, like managing an Italian site’s finances from Slovakia, leading to further cost reductions. This new system is less customized, ensuring future flexibility.¹³

Alterra Mountain Company

Alterra Mountain Company, which initially merged four companies with seven different ERP systems, adopted Dynamics 365 to unify its financial and operational management. This transition allowed them to have a single financial system and a consistent view of customer interactions across various locations. 

They standardized on a single chart of accounts, and thus achieved consistent financial reporting throughout the company. Alterra further streamlined their procure-to-pay process using Dynamics 365 with the aim to improve buying efficiency and implement centralized procurement, which increased POs and reduced supplier numbers significantly. This system provided a comprehensive view of procurement across all units. Additionally, the use of Dynamics 365’s expense management features has simplified expense submissions for about 900 users.¹⁴

Kinara Capital

Before implementing Dynamics 365 finance, Kinara was uploading 100,000 transactions that took nearly two hours each day. After the implementation, the company was able to handle four times as many transactions in the same duration without needing additional resources. Tasks such as managing prepaid loans, fixed assets, and fixed deposits were also automated. Rojinn Anto, VP-Accounts at Kinara Capital, highlights another feature of Dynamics 365 as a crucial tool: transition to remote work in the pandemic. The platform ensured cloud integration, maintaining timely deliverables and quality standards.¹⁵

Hampton Products

Hampton Products utilized Dynamics 365 Finance in the accounting procedures such as:

• speed up the financial transactions
• improving precision and security in transactions
• accessing real-time financial and operational data

This way, the company eliminated the need to wait for offline business cycles. Dynamics also helped Hampton in accurate forecasting and detailed inventory cost models with a clear view of the total inventory value, including items in warehouses or in transit. Further benefits of Dynamics 365 Finance were the management of fixed assets, revenue deferment, and year-end closing processes.¹⁶

Further Reading

• In-Depth Guide to Accounts Payable (AP) Automation in 2023
• Accounts Payable (AP) Automation Tools Benchmarking in 2023
• 5 AI Applications in Accounts Payable (AP) Processes for 2023
• Automated Invoice Validation: Benefits & Use Cases in 2023
• Finance Automation in ’23: What It Is, Best Tools & 6 Processes
• Enterprise Invoice Processing: 4 Guidelines & 3 Solutions in 2023
• 7 Vic.AI Alternatives to Automate Accounting in 2023
• Top 10 ReadSoft Alternatives / Competitors
• Top 10 Kofax Alternatives/Competitors in 2023
• 14 Rossum AI Competitors/Alternatives in 2023 

External Links

External Links

• 1. “Ardent Partners’ Accounts Payable Metrics that Matter in 2023” January 24, 2024. 
• 2. “Microsoft is touting the size and growth rate of its Salesforce rival Dynamics” January 24, 2024. 
• 3. “ Install the Invoice capture solution – Finance | Dynamics 365 | Microsoft Learn” January 24, 2024. 
• 4. “Create vendor groups” January 24, 2024. 
• 5. “ Payment Days” January 24, 2024. 
• 6. “Payables Reports” January 24, 2024. 
• 7. “ Contoso Coffee Demo Dataset (US)” January 24, 2024. 
• 8. “ Enhance business performance agility with Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance Premium” January 24, 2024. 
• 9. “G2 Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central Reviews 2024: Details, Pricing, & Features | G2 ” January 24, 2024. 
• 10. “G2. Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central Reviews 2024: Details, Pricing, & Features | G2 ” January 24, 2024. 
• 11. “ Dynamics 365 Finance pricing” January 24, 2024. 
• 12. “Microsoft Customer Stories Search” January 24, 2024. 
• 13. “ Microsoft Customer” January 24, 2024. 
• 14. “ Microsoft Customer Stories Search” January 24, 2024. 
• 15. “ Microsoft Customer Stories Search” January 24, 2024. 
• 16. “ Microsoft Customer Story-Hampton secures warehouse efficiency with Dynamics 365” January 24, 2024.