How Hobeck automated invoice processing

Starting point

About 160 invoices reach Hobeck every month. Almost every one raises a question the old software had no field for: which building site does the invoice belong to?

The roofing company in Belgern was founded in 1927 and looks back on 5 generations of family tradition. The invoices are for materials, tools and the vehicles, and they arrive as email attachments or uploads. Most of them belong to a building site, and that link is exactly what Hobeck needs to see what a roof cost in the end.

Software that asked for the wrong fields

There was already software for invoices. But the programs asked for what their makers thought mattered, and they could hardly be adapted. The building site had no field of its own. So people typed, looked things up and forwarded.

Someone in the office opened each invoice, typed in the supplier, invoice number, amounts and due date, looked up the building site from the delivery note or the order, and sent the invoice on for approval. If no answer came, they chased it. Whatever did not fit a field ended up in notes, emails or someone’s head.

That added up to about 5 minutes per invoice, over 13 hours a month for 160 invoices, about 3 hours a week. The Federal Statistical Office puts labour costs in German construction for 2025 at €39.60 per hour worked. So typing, looking up and chasing alone cost about €530 a month.

The status was not with the invoice

The document, its status and the approval were spread across the inbox, individual conversations and what individual people knew. Whoever had to approve got the invoice by email and, between building sites and quotes, did not always have it in view. It often took more than 7 days for an invoice to be approved.

That cost money that never shows up in an hourly calculation. Many suppliers give a 2 percent discount for payment within 10 to 14 days of the invoice date. By the time an invoice had arrived, been approved and been paid, that period had often passed. A possible duplicate was only noticed if someone remembered the earlier record. And when someone was on holiday, the others lacked the context.

Implementation

Automating invoice processing, keeping DATEV

Hobeck did not need a new accounting system or another program with someone else’s fields. It needed a reliable route from invoice intake to the DATEV handoff, one that asks for what the company needs to know.

Pharen first mapped the existing process with Hobeck: the route an invoice takes from the inbox to the bank transfer, the points where details were missing and the points where someone had to decide. That produced 8 fields: supplier, invoice number, invoice date, due date, net amount, VAT, gross amount and the purchase order or cost centre reference, which at Hobeck is usually the building site. If another field is needed later, it is added in the Hub, without waiting for a vendor’s update.

Above an internally defined invoice amount, the record also goes to management. The threshold stays confidential, while the rule itself is visible and testable in the workflow.

A team of agents reads, people approve

The work inside the workflow is done by a team of agents. It reads every invoice, fills in the 8 fields and suggests the building site, for example from the delivery address, the commission or the order number. Values it cannot recognise with confidence are flagged rather than guessed.

An invoice moves through 5 steps

1. Capture the invoice. An email or upload starts a record with a unique number. Nothing is typed in any more.
2. Prepare the data. The team of agents reads the 8 details and suggests the building site.
3. Validate the details. Required fields, possible duplicates, cost centres and uncertain values are checked.
4. Request approval. The responsible person sees the document and the fields side by side and approves, usually in under 30 seconds. The amount rule decides whether management has to take over. If an approval is left waiting, the Hub sets a reminder. Approval, questions, comments and timestamps stay with the record.
5. Hand over to DATEV. Only after approval do the document, data and decision go to DATEV, and from there to the tax adviser.

Data extraction alone would not have solved the open approvals. That is why AI process automation connects the extracted details with rules, ownership and a visible next step.

4 exceptions stop the workflow

The workflow stops when required details are missing, a possible duplicate appears, the cost centre is unclear or the extraction cannot determine a value with confidence. None of these is silently filled in or approved automatically.

About 4 times a month, the workflow holds back a possible duplicate, usually the same invoice sent by email and uploaded, or sent again with a payment reminder. Both records then sit side by side before anyone pays.

The shared list shows open records, questions, pending approvals and invoices already handed to DATEV. The team can see where work is waiting and who owns the next step, without losing the link to the document.

Result

About 12 hours less manual work a month

The office no longer types, it checks. Each invoice needs under 30 seconds to look over the suggested fields and approve, instead of about 5 minutes. Over 13 hours a month have become just over 1 hour, under 20 minutes a week.

That saves Hobeck about 12 hours a month, almost 3 hours a week. At €39.60 per hour, the labour cost in construction, that is about €475 a month.

Approval in 1 to 2 days, about €1,000 in discounts a month

Most invoices are now approved after 1 to 2 days, where they often used to wait more than 7 days. That keeps the discount period within reach. At 2 percent on about €50,000 of invoices a month that can now be paid in time, that comes to about €1,000 a month.

Together with the saved working time, that is about €1,500 a month.

Financial decisions stay with people

The workflow does not book or pay any invoice. The team of agents prepares the work. Uncertain values, exceptions and approvals stay with the responsible people, and payment and tax checks stay with the office and the tax adviser. In Pharen Hub, the workflow, roles and approvals sit on one shared record.

About 160 invoices a month, each with a building site and a status

Status and approval history now sit on the record. Anyone coming back from holiday can see in the list what was left waiting, instead of piecing it together from emails. The material costs of a building site come together as soon as its invoices are approved.

The number of invoices has stayed the same. Only now the software asks for what Hobeck wants to know: which building site, who approves, what is still missing.