6 business process automation examples from finance and insurance teams, step by step

Business process automation examples are real processes that software runs from start to end. Each step follows your rules, and people handle approvals and the files that fail a check. Six good examples come from finance and insurance teams, such as vendor onboarding and month-end statement checks. These processes start with documents, and files usually wait while someone reads or checks those documents.

Each example below names who does the work, what starts it, the documents it needs, the checks it runs and where the result goes. The first one follows one vendor's file from start to end, including its insurance certificate.

Vendor onboarding in accounts payable#

Accounts payable (AP) can't pay a vendor until the vendor is set up in the ERP, the company's main accounting system. A vendor team in AP or procurement does the setup. A second person, often the controller, approves each new vendor.

1. A buyer asks for a new vendorThe request usually comes with the signed contract. The contract says what insurance the vendor must carry.
2. The vendor sends its documentsA W-9 gives its legal name and tax ID, and a bank letter or voided check gives its payment details. An ACORD 25 certificate shows its insurance.
3. The vendor team checks each documentThe team checks that the W-9 name matches the request and that the bank account is in the same legal name. The certificate must name your company as the holder, and each limit must be at least what the contract asks for.
4. An approver signs off, and the ERP gets the recordA second person approves the vendor and its bank details. The vendor record then goes into the ERP, and purchasing can issue the first order.

The W-9 step has a tax cost when it goes wrong. If a vendor doesn't give you a correct taxpayer identification number (TIN), you may have to withhold part of each payment for the IRS. This is called backup withholding, and the rate is 24%. Payers that file 1099s can also check each name and TIN pair with the IRS TIN Matching service before they file. W-9 data extraction covers the form field by field.

Here is one file from start to end. Harbor Point Properties manages the building at 1 Riverside Plaza. Its AP team is adding Keystone HVAC LLC as a vendor under contract MSA-2291. Keystone's W-9 and bank letter both show the legal name Keystone HVAC LLC, so those checks pass. The certificate takes longer.

The certificate names Riverside Plaza LLC, care of Harbor Point Properties, as the holder. It shows general liability of $1,000,000 per occurrence and $2,000,000 in aggregate. It also shows the holder as an additional insured on general and auto liability. But MSA-2291 asks for a $5,000,000 umbrella policy, which adds liability coverage above the limits of the vendor's other policies. The certificate shows an umbrella limit of $2,000,000. The file stops until Keystone raises its umbrella limit and its broker, Allegheny Risk Partners, sends an updated certificate.

In the automated version, software reads Keystone's three documents. On Docsumo's Enterprise plan, cross-document validation then runs all three checks. It compares the W-9 with the request, the bank letter with the W-9, and the certificate with the contract's insurance terms. When the certificate doesn't meet those terms, Docsumo's Document Collection and Email agents email the vendor for an updated certificate. These agents are AI software, not people.

Fields the software is unsure of go to a person for review. After a person approves the vendor, the record goes to the accounting system through the API and webhooks. These are the connections software uses to pass data.

The certificate is checked once here, at setup. Keeping certificates current while the vendor works for you is a separate process, certificate of insurance tracking. Our post on intelligent document processing examples covers that process and the certificate check in more detail.

Vendor statement reconciliation at month end#

Vendors send statements that list every invoice and payment on their side of the account. At month end, AP compares them with its own ledger to find invoices it never received.

1. Statements arrive for the closeMany vendors email a statement each month. AP asks its largest vendors for a statement when none arrives.
2. An AP specialist matches every lineEach invoice on the statement should be in the AP ledger at the same amount. Each payment the vendor lists should match one you sent.
3. The AP specialist sorts the differencesA payment you sent that the vendor hasn't received yet is only a timing difference. An invoice the vendor lists that you don't have is missing, so AP asks the vendor for a copy.
4. Corrections post, and a manager signs offAn accountant enters the missing invoices and posts corrections in the ERP. The signed reconciliation goes into the close file.

This process stalls on the statements themselves. Each vendor uses its own layout, and a large vendor's statement can run to many pages. Matching them line by line takes so long that some teams check only their largest vendors.

Docsumo reads each statement and matches it to the ledger. It joins tables that run across pages into one table, with the headers mapped. The AP specialist then starts from the lines that didn't match. For the invoices themselves, see accounts payable automation.

Commercial property submission intake#

Carriers and managing general agents (MGAs) quote commercial property from a broker's submission. An underwriting assistant or intake team gets each file ready. Then an underwriter prices it.

1. A broker emails the submissionOne email can hold an ACORD 125 application, an ACORD 140 property section and a statement of values (SOV) spreadsheet. It can also hold several years of loss runs, the reports that list past claims for each policy year.
2. The intake team sorts and reads itThe team labels each file by type and enters the insured, the locations, the building values and past claims in the underwriting system.
3. The team checks that the file is completeThe loss runs must cover the years your guidelines ask for, and they must be recent enough. The losses listed on the ACORD 125 should match the loss runs.
4. The file goes to an underwriterA complete file joins the underwriter's queue for pricing. A file with gaps goes back to the broker first.

Loss runs are usually the document that's missing or out of date. When a year is missing or a report is too old, the file waits while someone emails the broker. The SOV is the other slow part, because brokers lay out their spreadsheets in different ways.

Docsumo reads the ACORD forms and the loss runs, and it extracts the SOV spreadsheet. On the Business plan, it classifies the submission and splits it, so each loss run is separate from the forms.

On the Enterprise plan, cross-document validation checks the loss runs against the losses on the ACORD 125. It also checks the loss runs against your guideline for the years covered and the valuation date. The valuation date is the date the report's figures were current. When a year is missing, the Document Collection and Email agents email the broker or carrier to ask for it. Loss run data extraction goes deeper on that step.

Policy checking at an insurance agency#

When a carrier issues a policy, the agency that placed it checks the policy against the binder or quote. Those are the documents that record what the carrier agreed to. An account manager or a policy checker at the agency does this work.

1. The carrier issues the policyThe policy arrives as a PDF by email or from the carrier's portal. A commercial policy can run to dozens of pages.
2. The checker compares it with the binder or quoteThe named insured, policy dates, limits, deductibles and premium should all match. So should the list of forms and endorsements.
3. Errors go back to the carrierThe checker sends a wrong limit or a missing endorsement to the carrier's underwriter. The underwriter issues a corrected policy or an endorsement.
4. The checked policy goes to the clientThe agency sends the policy to the client and updates its agency management system.

Policy checking is slow because the forms and endorsements have to be compared line by line. At busy renewal dates, the checks pile up.

Docsumo compares a binder or quote with the issued policy. It's a cross-document check, so it's on the Enterprise plan. The checker then starts from the differences. More insurance documents are on the insurance page.

EOB payment posting in a medical billing office#

A health plan sends an explanation of benefits (EOB) with each payment. The EOB shows what the plan paid on each claim line, and why. When a plan sends it electronically, the HIPAA standard is a file format called the X12 835. Some plans still mail paper EOBs, and a payment poster in the billing office keys them in by hand.

1. Paper EOBs and paper checks arriveThey come by mail or through a bank lockbox, a service where the bank opens payment mail. The billing office scans them in batches.
2. A payment poster reads each EOBFor every claim line, the poster finds the amount paid, the adjustments and what the patient owes. Reason codes explain each adjustment.
3. The poster checks the totalsThe payments on the EOB should add up to the amount on the paper check. Each payment should match an open claim in the billing system.
4. Payments post, and denials go to follow-upPaid lines post to patient accounts. Denied lines go to the team that appeals them or corrects and resubmits them.

This process slows down because every plan's EOB looks different, and one EOB can list many patients. While EOBs wait to be keyed, patient accounts show balances that are already paid.

Docsumo turns paper EOBs into 835 files. On the Enterprise plan, cross-document validation compares each paper check with its remittance, which is the EOB sent with the payment. Docsumo isn't a billing service or a clearinghouse, so claims still go out through your billing system. See IDP for healthcare for the other records it reads.

Debt settlement letters#

A debt settlement company negotiates with a client's creditors to settle debts for less than the full balance. When a creditor agrees, it sends a settlement letter with the terms.

1. A creditor sends a settlement letterCard issuers, banks and lenders each use their own letter. The terms are often written as sentences, not in a table.
2. A team member reads the termsThey type the account, the balance, the settlement amount and the payment plan into the client's record.
3. The team checks the terms against the dealThe letter must match what the negotiator agreed, and the payments must add up to the settlement amount.
4. The client approves, and payments go outAfter the client approves, payments go to the creditor from the account the client saves into.

The letter also affects when the company can charge its fee. The FTC's Telemarketing Sales Rule covers debt relief sold by phone. Under it, the company can't charge a fee until a debt is settled under an agreement the client signed. The client must also have made at least one payment under that agreement.

Reading the terms is the slow step, since every creditor writes its letters differently. At National Debt Relief, 95% of debt settlement letters go straight through, with no manual review. Debt settlement letter extraction lists the fields and checks.

What the six processes have in common#

All six start with documents that come from outside the company. A vendor, a broker, a carrier, a health plan or a creditor decides what each one looks like. The checks then compare one document with another, or with something you already hold, such as the contract or the ledger. Each process ends with a record in one system.

So how much of a process runs on its own depends on the document step. Once the data is right, routing a task or an approval is simple. Reading a certificate or an EOB correctly, and checking it, is the hard part.

Where Docsumo fits#

Docsumo handles the document step in each of these processes. Documents come in by email, upload or the API, and Docsumo has an inbox for emails. On the Business plan, it identifies each file's document type and splits packets that mix several documents. It covers 250+ document types and reads any other type too. It also reads handwritten as well as printed text.

You set a confidence threshold for each field, which is how sure the software must be about a value. Fields below it go to a person for review. When the reviewer clicks a field, Docsumo highlights the line in the document where the value came from.

On the Enterprise plan, Docsumo adds cross-document validation, case management and automated workflows. Checked data goes to your other systems through the API and webhooks. Docsumo is cloud only, and it supplies the software, not a review team, so your own staff handle the exceptions.

• 95%+95%+of documents processed straight through, without manual review
• 99%99%field-level accuracy on 250+ document types

How BPA, RPA, IDP and agentic automation differ#

Software companies use several labels for this work, and the labels overlap. Business process automation (BPA) is the widest. It means the whole process runs by rules, from the vendor request to the record in the ERP. Workflow automation is the part that moves tasks and approvals between people, such as sending the new vendor to the controller. What is workflow automation explains where the two terms meet.

Robotic process automation (RPA) uses software bots that click through screens the way a person does. A bot can type the new vendor into an older ERP screen that has no API. Bots work well on screens that stay the same, but they can stop working when a screen changes. RPA in finance shows where bots fit.

Intelligent document processing (IDP) reads the W-9 and the certificate and checks what they say. Document AI and document intelligence are other names for the same reading step. Agentic automation adds AI agents that take a step on their own, such as asking the vendor for an updated certificate. Agentic document processing explains how agents work on documents.

Our take. A category name says little about what a tool will do with your documents. The same product can be sold as BPA, IDP or agentic automation, and two tools with one label can work very differently. We'd pick one process from this page that you run, and gather a month of its documents. Then give that same set to every tool you're considering, and compare the results side by side.

Map your own process with the same questions#

Ask the same questions about a process you want to automate. The answers show which steps need document reading and which need only routing.

• Who does it today?Name the team, and the one person who owns the result.
• What starts it?An email, a request form, a date on the close calendar or a letter in the mail.
• Which documents does it need?List each one, who sends it and how it arrives.
• Which checks decide the outcome?Write each check as a rule, such as "the umbrella limit meets the contract".
• Where does the result go next?Name the system that records it and the person who handles exceptions.
• Where does it wait today?Count the files that stall in a month, and note which document each one waits for.

If one of these six processes is yours#

Start with the process whose files wait longest on a document. Map it with the questions above, and collect a month of its documents, including the ones that stalled. Use those files to test any tool you're considering, Docsumo included.

Book a demo with a few of those documents, or start a free trial.

Frequently asked questions#