Product spotlight: Factorial’s smart document scan software

Here at Factorial, we are always striving to improve our products and better meet the needs of busy HR professionals. This month, we’ve been making exciting updates to many of our features, including our popular Document Management System. With our new document scan software, users can scan and fill expense reports automatically, alleviating professionals from the task of manually filling forms one-by-one.

In this article, we’ll discuss our new feature in detail, highlighting its benefits and how to use it. Then, we’ll look into more of Factorial’s document management features and explain how they are used in tandem with our other products.

Why invest in document scan software?

By investing in software that allows you to keep paperwork and manual processes to a minimum, you can make a lot of progress on many fronts. What it comes down to is that no one likes paper-pushing and tedious tasks. It’s bad for morale, bad for productivity, and can be extremely expensive for businesses. In fact, according to a McKinsey report, employees lose an average of 1.8 hours out of every day searching for and gathering documents–that’s roughly 9.3 hours per week! 

Document scan software automates the process of gathering and reporting business expenses and cuts out all of the manual hassles. Factorial’s all-in-one solution, for example, uses optical character recognition (OCR) to recognize characters and text from physical paper documents and convert them into digital files. Essentially, you can scan a receipt with your phone’s camera in the same way that you would scan a QR code, which greatly facilitates the process from beginning to end. Here are some of the specific ways that this feature can benefit companies:

Speed up expense reporting

Reporting expenses manually means hours of going through piles of paperwork, searching for receipts, and punching in numbers. And for many growing businesses, there’s no extra time to waste.

With smart document software, you can complete the entire process within seconds. You make better use of your team’s time and talents, increase efficiency and reduce expenses. Not only will you save on labor costs, but also, if you are keeping records of printed receipts, you can make better use of office storage space.

Reduce margin of error

When it comes to expense reporting, little mistakes can lead to big consequences. For that reason, you’ll want to use a tool that reduces the possibility of human error. After using our smart document scanning tool, you can quickly look through the digital files to make sure that everything is correct before submitting reports.

Free your team of monotony

There’s nothing more demotivation or demoralizing for a team of qualified professionals than having to fish through paperwork and spend hours repetitively entering information. With this update, you can relieve your team of this time-consuming task and encourage them to dedicate time to more engaging activities. For example, strategic decision-making tasks that help your business to scale. 

How Factorial’s smart document scan feature works

You might be wondering how this new feature actually works. Here, we’ll go through step-by-step instructions on how to report expenses using Factorial’s mobile app.

Open Factorial’s expense reporting feature

To open the expense reporting feature, first, open the mobile app. Select “more” from the bottom right menu on the screen.

From there, you will find the option to open “expenses” and access the reporting feature.

Upload invoices

Next, you will need to upload invoices or receipts into the program. In order to do this, simply select the “+” symbol in the top right corner of the screen. This will give you the option to add a new expense.

Then, you will be prompted to select one of the following options: take a picture, select an existing picture, or select an existing document. If you are taking a picture of a receipt from your phone’s camera, make sure that all of the important information is visible and scannable. After taking the picture, you will see a white box appear to adjust and crop out any unnecessary areas.

Once you’ve finished, click “✓” to accept the changes. Afterward, the OCR will automatically process and read the document to find the necessary information

Review collected information

Factorial’s expense reporting feature only takes a few seconds to read and automatically fills expense report forms. This tool is also extremely accurate, however, it’s always best to double-check to make sure that everything was scanned properly before submitting your final report.

Whether you’ve used a photo or a document, after the tool has scanned the information, you will see a form with expense detail fields filled automatically. Factorial’s tool is capable of recognizing and determining the type and quantity of expense incurred. When you see the expense detail screen, at this point, you should check to make sure that the tool collected and processed the following information:

• Expense categorization
• Name of the business/vendor
• Type of currency
• Total amount
• Sales tax
• Date

Additionally, you should see a copy of the original photo attached to this form. That way, you can keep your records located in one central space.

Once you’ve checked to make sure that everything is correct and in the right place, all that’s left is to click “send for final approval” at the bottom of the screen. If you’d prefer to wait before sending off the expense, you can opt to save everything as a draft instead.

Expense reporting from Factorial’s desktop application

Although we’ve gone through the process of reporting expenses with Factorial’s mobile app, you can do so just as easily with the desktop application. The process is basically the same. From the “expenses” tab, you can “add a new expense”, upload the document, and save the expense report within seconds.

More of Factorial’s document management features

Our new document scan software adds to our comprehensive document management system, also known as electronic document management system (EDMS). From payroll to e-signatures, to contracts, this tool allows users to process and store documents securely and efficiently.

Aside from using our document scan software feature, here’s what you can do with Factorial’s document manager:

• Create a custom archival system in which you can store employee files, IDs, payslips, leaves, contracts, onboarding documents, and more
• Organize and store files in a centralized document repository. And thereby minimizing hours spent tracking down paperwork. 
• Request and approve e-signatures for legal documents, such as contracts or timesheets. 
• Speed up your processes by creating automated workflows for documents that require approval from more than one party. 
• Control and manage document access. Which is particularly important to stay compliant with data security and privacy regulations.
• Use bulk actions to upload many documents at once. This can save you a large amount of time with paperwork, especially if you have to upload and distribute 50 or 100 documents at a time.
• Create custom reports based on document data. For example, regarding employee salaries and demographic information

In addition to the aforementioned features, Factorial’s document manager allows you to send signature requests and document updates to employees directly. Whenever there is a new document that an employee needs to review or sign, they will automatically receive a notification on their employee dashboard and via email. Overall, this means less back and forth and smooth, hassle-free processes.

Say goodbye to time-consuming tasks with Factorial

When it comes to simplifying and streamlining your processes, document management is just the beginning. With Factorial’s all-in-one HR software, you can empower your employees with the right tools and the right business practices. Here are some of the core features included in our solution:

• Time off management- Automate time off requests and approvals for your team. Set time off allowances and visualize employee vacations in a calendar view.
• Attendance and shifts- Create custom templates for rotating shift schedules, keep track of employee absences, and stay compliant with federal and state time-tracking laws.
• Employee dashboard- Give your team the autonomy to update their personal information and access records. With this feature, you can send company-wide communications and notifications to your team about important events, surveys, and milestones.
• Performance management- Support your team’s growth and development with personalized performance review questions and templates. Make more informed decisions regarding promotions and succession planning by taking into account qualitative and quantitative data.
• Talent acquisition tools- With our applicant tracking system, you can create a customized career page and tailor the application pipeline to your organization’s specific needs.
• Reports and analytics- Gain insight into your team’s productivity and the company’s success with our reporting features. This tool allows you to stay on top of KPIs and create custom charts based on employee data. 
• Payroll- Generate payslips, set fixed supplemental pay, automate communications with employees, calculate overtime pay, bonuses, and more. 

Ultimately, Factorial’s solution will help you do more than just carry out your daily functions. It will take monotonous manual tasks off your plate and allow you to focus on your company’s growth. With Factorial, you aren’t just investing in software, you’re investing in your team’s success. Get started with Factorial today.