How to Build an Invoice Intake Approval Agentic workflow
An agentic workflow that extracts invoice data and orchestrates human approvals and accounting integrations.
Connectors and tools
Google Drive
Airtable
Slack
Created by
xpander.ai
Built for
Enterprise finance teams and controllers
CTOs and IT Leaders
Automation engineers and developers
Useful links
Challenge
Enterprise finance and operations teams often struggle to manage the high volume of unstructured invoice data, relying on brittle tools that require manual field mapping, leading to payment bottlenecks and integration failures. By utilizing autonomous orchestration to handle the extraction and validation process, this agentic workflow eliminates the dependency on rigid templates, allowing teams to achieve seamless workflow automation and enforce compliance best practices instantly, streamlining the path to production.
How the workflow works
Below is how the agent works:
1. Ingestion and integration: The autonomous AI agent triggers the workflow immediately upon detecting a new invoice PDF uploaded via integration with cloud storage providers like Google Drive.
2. Data extraction: Using built-in OCR tools, the agent automatically extracts critical metadata—including vendor name, amount, and due date—without requiring manual field mapping.
3. Orchestration and guardrails: The orchestration engine applies enterprise guardrails and best practices, like validating if the vendor is on the approved list and ensuring the total amount is under a defined threshold.
4. Production execution or review: If the invoice passes all checks, the automation pushes it directly to production in the accounting system. If flagged, it pauses for management approval via Slack or Email.
Key benefits
- Streamlined workflow automation: By replacing manual data entry with intelligent processing, the agent accelerates the entire accounts payable cycle, delivering true workflow automation that reduces cycle times from days to minutes.
- Enterprise-grade compliance: The system enforces enterprise best practices by applying strict guardrails, ensuring no unauthorized payments slip through.
- Optimized resource management: By handling routine approvals automatically and only flagging exceptions, the agent allows finance teams to focus on strategic management rather than repetitive administrative tasks.
