Overview
Many finance teams spend significant time answering questions such as:
- “Where is this invoice in the process?”
- “Why is this invoice late?”
- “How much have we spent with this vendor?”
These questions often require looking in multiple places, running reports, or asking colleagues to pull data.
SmartResearch is designed to reduce that effort. It lets you:
- Ask questions in plain language instead of building a report.
- Use shared metrics and definitions so everyone is working from the same numbers.
- Explore follow-up questions in the same place, without going back to IT or operations for each new request.
Finance and Operations Teams
Teams that work directly with invoices and payments can use SmartResearch to:
- Check the status of invoices without navigating multiple screens.
- Quickly identify items that may require attention, such as overdue or high-value invoices.
- Investigate exceptions, approval delays, and other process issues.
Example questions:
- “Which invoices are overdue and not yet paid?”
- “Show all invoices currently waiting for approval.”
- “Which invoices have exceptions this month?”
Managers and Team Leads
Managers who oversee invoice processing and vendor relationships can use SmartResearch to:
- Monitor workload and backlogs.
- Track processing times and bottlenecks.
- Review spend and exceptions in a consistent way.
Example questions:
- “How many invoices were processed last month?”
- “Show average time from invoice creation to approval.”
- “Which vendors have the highest spend this quarter?”
- “Which vendors have the most invoices with exceptions?”
Controllers and Finance Leadership
Controllers and finance leaders can use SmartResearch to:
- Get quick, consistent views of invoice-related metrics during reviews and meetings.
- Explore follow-up questions without waiting for new or updated reports.
- Understand drivers behind spend and payment timing.
Example questions:
- “Show total invoice spend by vendor for the last 90 days.”
- “Show invoice volume by month for the last 12 months.”
- “Which vendors account for 80% of our total invoice spend this year?”
By using SmartResearch, leaders and operational teams see results based on the same underlying logic, reducing time spent reconciling different reports or spreadsheets.