Ottimate: End-to-End AP Automation Built for Construction
by The Ottimate Editorial Team
The construction industry faces unique challenges when it comes to managing accounts payable across complex, multi-location projects. From coding invoices with various cost codes, tracking budget vs. actual job costs, managing lien waivers and retainages, and ensuring subcontractors get paid on time, construction finance teams juggle more accounting duties than most.
Yet many popular AP automation tools simply don’t meet the heavy-duty demands of construction accounting. Generic solutions often lack key functionality like:
- Robust OCR technology to capture every line-item detail
- Automatic mapping to an unlimited number of custom dimensions
- Rules-based, multi-tier approvals tailored to each job’s workflow
- Built-in lien waiver management
- Progress billing calculations
- Deep ERP integrations
Without these construction-specific features, AP teams waste hours manually managing invoices, payments, and data across disparate systems – open to errors, fraud, and stalled projects.
That’s why we built Ottimate for Construction – the only true end-to-end AP automation solution custom-built for construction projects of any size or complexity.
Custom-Tailored AP Automation for the Construction Industry
Ottimate combines best-in-class OCR invoice capture, unlimited dimensions for automatic coding, customizable approvals, integrated payments, deep analytics, and more – all on one unified platform custom designed for the unique needs of construction businesses.
We handle all your accounts payable tasks, from receiving invoices to reconciling payments, using digital automation. This eliminates the need for manual work and saves you time. Our artificial intelligence actually learns your unique AP processes, documents, and coding as you use the system, driving even greater accuracy and efficiency over time.
Ottimate’s Key Features & Construction-focused Benefits
Comprehensive Invoice Capture & Coding
Our advanced OCR technology instantly digitizes paper and electronic invoices, capturing every header field and line item detail with 99 percent accuracy. Documents are automatically coded by any dimension in your chart of accounts, like:
- Job/Project Codes
- Cost Codes
- Billable Categories (T&M, Unit, Lump Sum)
- Phase Codes
- Locations
- Vendors
Ottimate learns which codes belong to which invoices, improving accuracy with every document.
Unlimited Custom Dimensions
Most construction projects track expenses across dozens of dimensions in their ERP or job costing system.
With our upcoming Unlimited Custom Dimensions, you can build rules and workflows using any piece of data from any system. Dimensions can be named, matched to invoices, used to build rules, and integrate data back to your accounting system.
Want to code invoices by a new project dimension your ERP doesn’t support natively? No problem. How about routing for approvals by job foreman or managing lien waivers by vendor group? We can set that up too.
Ottimate is the only solution offering limitless custom dimensions tailored to construction workflows out of the box.
Configurable Approval Workflows
Create precise, rules-based approval chains for invoices based on any dimension or data point.
For example, automatically route invoices:
- Over $10,000 to the CFO
- By job type to the project manager
- By location to the site foreman
- By vendor to the buyer/purchaser
Approvers can approve invoices from any device via our desktop and mobile apps. The software manages chasing down late approvals and provides a full audit trail showing who approved what and when.
Integrated Vendor Payments
Pay vendor invoices by check, ACH, or virtual card from within Ottimate and sync payment data back to your accounting system for easy reconciliation.
Swapping paper checks for digital payments means faster payments to subs/vendors, better cash flow management, and discounts earned – all while eliminating traditional fraud vectors.
Powerful Reporting & Analytics
With a unified view of invoices, approvals, and payments, Ottimate’s dashboards and reporting provide real-time insight into AP spending by project, job, vendor, worker, or any custom dimension.
Easily track budget vs. actuals, monitor active retainages, export custom reports, and more.
Mobile Apps
Ottimate’s iOS and Android apps allow field teams to approve invoices, communicate with subs, and manage AP from anywhere. No more chasing paper around the job site!
Seamless Accounting System Integrations
Ottimate integrates natively with leading construction ERPs and accounting systems like:
- Viewpoint
- ComputerEase
- Sage 300 Construction
- Acumatica
- Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central
- And more
We auto-sync invoice and payment data to your system so you maintain a single source of truth while eliminating duplicate data entry.
Unparalleled Accuracy & Efficiency
Ottimate for Construction provides accurate, actionable AP data in real time across projects of any size.
By automating manual processes, our customers typically achieve 60-80 percent faster invoice processing times, over 90 percent reduction in data entry, and a greater than 99 percent accuracy on key invoice fields and line-item coding.
As a result, AP teams recapture hours each week to focus on more strategic initiatives while field teams get back to the project at hand faster.
With more reliable data and rapid access across devices, project managers, controllers, and executives can gain an accurate view of budgets vs. actuals along with tools to tighten approval controls:
- Set invoice coding rules by any dimension
- Establish hierarchical approval chains
- Control payment timing
- Monitor active lien waivers
- Match invoices to POs/contracts
- Review retainages and release when ready
- Gain insight into true job profitability
Add it all up and Ottimate for Construction gives you the data and controls to improve productivity, cash flow management, and – ultimately – profit margins.
Ottimate’s Key Features & Construction-focused Benefits
Tailor-Made for You
Every construction firm has a unique process for managing AP and job costing. Ottimate provides the flexibility to model your workflows and rules exactly how you need them.
No matter the industry, volume, or complexity, our platform is designed to scale for everyone, from small electrical contractors to massive builders and manufacturers. Many of our customers handle over 5,000 unique AP documents each month across scores of open projects and subcontractors.
We even offer customized onboarding, personal support, and feature building to tailor Ottimate precisely to your technical and functional requirements as they grow and evolve.
No two jobs are the same, so your AP automation system shouldn’t rely on a rigid, one-size-fits-all approach either.
Let our smart software and dedicated team help you simplify construction AP complexity today.
Tired of construction AP headaches?
See how Ottimate helps leading builders, contractors, manufacturers, and trade services companies like yours eliminate data entry, AP paperwork, and unpaid invoices for good.
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