Coupa’s Release 38 (R38) production rollout through the first quarter of 2024 has brought a host of valuable upgrades to Coupa admins and users. Considered one of the biggest updates yet, procurement and spend management teams can expect substantive changes to various modules, interfaces, and applications commonly used in their day-to-day.
For an in-depth exploration of all things R38, watch our recent webinar. To understand some of the key R38 highlights selected by Biovell ’s Coupa implementation and transformation experts, here’s a good place to start:
1. InvoiceSmash Scanned Invoice Extraction With AI
Continuous improvements to Coupa’s artificial intelligence (AI) engine have enhanced InvoiceSmash’s ability to extract information from scanned image PDFs. This new capability is in addition to existing extraction capabilities for text PDFs and credit notes. Note: Users must enable this feature and agree to the terms.
For text-based invoice extraction, nothing has changed. For image-based extraction, InvoiceSmash will automatically begin parsing. Coupa states that “If the AI has low confidence in the extraction, it sends the invoice to Ready for manual entry, just like your existing workflows for scanned images.”
2. Multi-Factor Authentication for Supplier Payment Accounts
While multi-factor authentication (MFA) is already a requirement for creating Supplier Payment Accounts (SPA), as of R38, it will now be required during the approval process as well. This update applies to all SPAs, with the only exception being if SPA or Supplier Information Management (SIM) is auto-enabled.
MFA may create additional steps for users, but the update is critical to application security and process integrity.
3. Third-Party Check Printing
Coupa Pay can now facilitate the printing and mailing of checks to beneficiaries. Payments are sent to a trusted third-party provider that generates physical checks and mails them via USPS First Class mail. The provider handles all processing, meaning suppliers who aren’t yet equipped to receive digital payments can still quickly and securely receive payments.
The entire process originates within Coupa Pay.
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4. Invoice Entitlement and License
Coupa admins can now more easily grant (or control) invoice licensing to new users ad hoc or in bulk. Users added to Coupa accounts via API or CSV upload can automatically be given invoicing credentials at point-of-setup. Admins should keep this step top of mind when adding new users, as they’ll be prompted to select the appropriate licensing box, which will determine ongoing access control.
The invoicing license is required for anyone who may need to view invoices.
Change Management Is Essential
In some cases, no action is required to access and benefit from R38 upgrades; in others, admins must manually enable a specific feature. It’s important to recognize that each Coupa release provides an opportunity to elevate the value Coupa can bring to the organization, and capitalizing on this value is only possible if users effectively implement and get comfortable with these new features.
Although it may seem like another tedious change effort to leave for another day, it’s best practice to adopt Coupa upgrades as they come online. As an award-winning Coupa implementation partner, Biovell can help organizations maximize Coupa ROI and integrate each new release holistically across the Source-to-Pay lifecycle.
Contact Biovell to get started.