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Workflow Example — Finance Ap / Invoice Processing

function

Finance / Accounts Payable

workflow pattern

Invoice ingestion → validation → approval → exception handling → posting prep

reliability focus

deterministic execution, auditability, human oversight for exceptions

System
User
AI Actor
Assistant
Approver
User
Finance Analyst
Assistant
Accounting System
API
Ingest Invoice
Inputs
Outputs
Data
Extract Fields
Inputs
Data
Outputs
Data
Validate Required Fields
Inputs
Data
Outputs
Data
Run Policy and Consistency Checks
Inputs
Data
Outputs
Data
Route to Approval
Inputs
Data
Outputs
Data
Handle Exceptions
Inputs
Data
Outputs
Data
Finalize Approval and Prepare Posting
Inputs
Data
Outputs
Data
Log and Publish Audit Record
Inputs
Data
Outputs
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What This Workflow Demonstrates

This example shows how to design an AP workflow that is:

  • explicit about validation and approval logic
  • resilient to missing or inconsistent invoice data
  • safe to augment with AI for extraction without delegating judgment
  • auditable end to end

Example Workflow Structure (Steps + Actors)

Actors (who does the work)

  • System Actor: invoice intake and routing
  • AI Actor: document extraction under guardrails
  • Finance Analyst: exception review and corrections
  • Approver: approval decisions based on policy
  • Accounting System: posting preparation / export

Steps (what happens)

  1. Ingest invoice Accept invoices from email, portal upload, or shared drive intake.

  2. Extract fields (AI-assisted) Extract vendor name, invoice number, dates, line items, totals, and PO references.

  3. Validate required fields Verify required fields exist and match expected formats.

  4. Run policy and consistency checks Examples:

    • duplicates (invoice number/vendor)
    • totals match line items
    • PO exists and is open
    • vendor is approved

  5. Route to approval Route based on threshold and category rules.

  6. Handle exceptions (human-in-the-loop) If validation fails or a policy exception is detected:

    • route to Finance Analyst
    • require explicit resolution outcome
    • capture notes and attachments

  7. Finalize approval and prepare posting On approval, generate posting payload for the accounting system.

  8. Log and publish audit record Record what ran, who approved, and what data was used.

Human-in-the-Loop Checkpoints

This example keeps humans in control for:

  • policy exceptions
  • disputed totals
  • missing PO or mismatched vendor
  • approvals above thresholds

AI Guardrails (Recommended)

AI is used only for:

  • extraction
  • normalization
  • summarization

AI is not used for:

  • approval decisions
  • policy overrides
  • changing system-of-record fields without review

Related pages

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