Email Parser for Invoice Data Extraction
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
The processing of electronic mail receipt data for transactions involves multiple parties, increasing the likelihood of errors and reducing accuracy due to data entry mistakes, misplacement, or failure to forward receipt data.
Innovation Solution
A system and method that utilize mail transport agents to intercept and parse invoice emails, extracting receipt data and pushing it directly to an expense management system associated with the recipient, reducing the number of parties involved in processing through the use of proxy email addresses and self-describing data encoding, facilitating reconciliation and expense management.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If multiple parties are involved in processing receipt data manually, then the receipt data can be processed through various intermediaries, but the accuracy of results deteriorates due to increased opportunities for error introduction
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the receipt data directly from the email using automated parsing technology, removing it from the manual handling chain. The system identifies and extracts receipt data from email attachments and body content, pushing it directly to the expense management system without human intervention, thereby eliminating errors introduced by multiple processing parties.
Solution Approach 2:
The system enables self-service by allowing the email system and expense management system to communicate directly through automated integration. The transport agent automatically detects receipt emails, extracts the data, and pushes it to the appropriate expense management system without requiring manual forwarding or intermediate processing by employees or administrators.
2Reliability
If manual processing of receipt data is used, then parties can review and validate the data, but productivity deteriorates due to time-consuming data entry and forwarding
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the mechanical manual processing system with an automated electronic system. The transport agent uses pattern matching and parsing algorithms to automatically identify, extract, and transfer receipt data from emails to the expense management system, substituting human manual operations with automated computational processes that are both faster and equally reliable.
3Adaptability or versatility
If receipt data is forwarded through multiple intermediaries, then data can be distributed to relevant parties, but loss of information increases due to misplacement or forgetting to forward
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a new intermediary - the automated transport agent and integration system - that acts as a reliable mediator between the email system and expense management system. This automated intermediary ensures complete data transfer by systematically processing all receipt emails according to predefined patterns and rules, eliminating the human errors of misplacement or forgetting that occur in manual forwarding chains.
Data Source
AI summary
Systems and methods for modifying electronic mail having receipt data for interception by mail transport agents. An invoice email sent by an email server is received when a transport agent of the email server detects a pattern within content of an inbound email. The invoice email is parsed to extract receipt data and an email address that identifies a recipient of the inbound email. The receipt data is pushed to an expense management system associated with the recipient for further processing.