Demo: Automated Global Supplier Payments in Oracle Financials

• 0:06 — Webinar introduction and agenda — The presenter introduces the topic of automated global supplier payments in Oracle Financials Cloud using the APRO tool, and outlines the agenda: a personal introduction, the challenges of supplier payments, how the APRO banking gateway addresses them, and a demonstration creating two invoices in Oracle Payables and paying them through APRO.
• 0:52 — Speaker background and payment challenges — The presenter describes almost a decade at APRO and over 15 years working with Oracle Cloud and E-Business Suite, including many implementations. The core challenge discussed is the time it takes to build a payment format the bank will accept; a rejected payment means starting over, and correct banking formats typically require heavy IT involvement.
• 2:07 — Why use APRO: formats, rejections, approvals — APRO carries more than 1,900 banking formats covering banks worldwide, available out of the box with no development for the format or the bank connection. Rejection handling is per transaction — one bad payment in a 200-payment batch can be voided while the other 199 are paid — and built-in approvals let management approve batches for all banks in one place instead of going bank by bank.
• 3:38 — End-to-end payment flow and acknowledgements — The flow runs from invoices to a payment batch, optionally through Oracle payment approval, into APRO where approval can also occur, and then straight through to the bank. APRO fetches the acknowledgement file back from the bank and rejects transactions that fail — for example a wrong IBAN or wrong currency — keeping them out of the payment, and it also sends payment specifications to suppliers.
• 5:09 — Demo: invoices arriving by email — The demo starts in Outlook, where two supplier invoices are moved into a monitored folder. APRO fetches invoices from that folder and, once processed, moves the emails to a backup folder so no invoices or emails are lost.
• 6:06 — APRO import run and invoice recognition — The APRO interface, which resembles Oracle Cloud in look and feel, shows invoices waiting to be sent to Oracle. The import overview fetches from the mail account and processes the invoices into the workbench; both PDF and XML are supported, and where straight-through processing is enabled on the supplier, invoices skip the APRO workbench and go directly to Oracle Payables.
• 7:38 — Validating invoices into Oracle Payables — The two captured invoices show complete header and line information with tax codes pulled from Oracle. Both are non-PO, though PO matching is supported. They were held back only because straight-through processing was not permitted; save and validate sends each one via API into Oracle Payables.
• 9:47 — Invoice history and management screens — The invoice history screen lists the invoices processed that day with their interfacing status and whether they are paid, since APRO fetches data from Oracle every five to ten minutes. The invoice management screen shows what APRO recognized on each invoice and which criteria were used for each field — for example the IBAN used to identify the supplier.
• 11:48 — Invoices confirmed in Oracle — Back in Oracle, the newly created invoices appear as processed, validated, and not paid. Opening one shows it was imported by APRO moments earlier and that the source PDF is attached to the transaction.
• 12:19 — Creating the payment process request — In Oracle Payables the presenter creates a new payment process request named "webinar demo 6", selects a template, and submits it to pick up all invoices for that entity. After reviewing which invoices are included — the payment method was set to immediate — the batch is submitted, a step that can also be scheduled instead of run manually.
• 14:04 — Resuming the batch and approving in APRO — The payment process is resumed from the action menu and the batch reaches completed status, at which point it appears in APRO's supplier payment workbench. Transactions below a defined amount require no approval while the others do; approval can involve more than one person through gradual signing in the APRO banking gateway.
• 15:52 — Payment file created and sent to the bank — Once approved the batch becomes ready for creation and is processed, producing a SEPA payment file for the bank that can be opened and inspected. With no live bank connection in the test environment, the file is shown arriving on an SFTP location, and payment specifications are then emailed automatically to each supplier.
• 17:15 — Acknowledgement file and rejection handling — The presenter places a self-made acknowledgement file containing a rejection so APRO picks it up. In the payment history, recent batches show no acknowledgement status while one shows a rejection caused by an invalid IBAN, and the affected transaction is already voided in Oracle.
• 19:07 — Voiding a payment and confirming in Oracle — Opening the rejected batch shows how it came in, the rejection reasons and codes, and the related Oracle transaction. The presenter voids the payment from APRO and confirms it by searching the payment number under Manage Payments in Oracle, where it shows as voided.
• 20:47 — Reprocessing, supplier notifications, and bank connectivity — Because nothing is wrong with the underlying invoice, running the same template again would pick the transaction back up and send a new payment file to the bank. Payment notifications go out automatically to each supplier from a template that is customizable with the company's own details, and the bank link is a direct host-to-host connection, with EBICS available as a more involved alternative.

What problem does the APRO banking gateway address for Oracle Financials Cloud users?

Creating a supplier payment file in a format the bank will accept is time-consuming and typically requires significant IT involvement. If the bank rejects the file, the payment has to be created again from scratch. APRO supplies the banking formats and the bank connection so this work does not have to be built or maintained in-house.

How many banking formats does APRO support?

APRO has more than 1,900 banking formats, covering effectively any bank format needed worldwide. Organizations working with one bank or many banks can use the formats out of the box, with no development required for either the format or the connection to the bank.

What happens when a bank rejects one transaction in a payment batch?

The bank returns an acknowledgement file that APRO fetches and processes. Rejection handling works per transaction, so a single failed payment — for example one with an invalid IBAN or wrong currency — can be voided while the rest of the batch is paid. In a batch of 200 payments, that means 199 can still go through.

If a payment is voided in APRO, does Oracle stay in sync?

Yes. Voiding a payment in APRO applies the void directly to the corresponding transaction in Oracle, which can be confirmed by searching the payment number under Manage Payments. Once voided, the underlying invoice becomes available again and a subsequent payment run using the same template will pick it up and generate a new payment file.

Where do payment approvals happen?

Approvals can be done inside APRO rather than logging into each bank separately, so batches for all of a company's banks are approved in one place. Approval thresholds apply — transactions below a defined amount need no approval — and more than one approver can be required through gradual signing in the APRO banking gateway.

How do invoices get into Oracle Payables in this setup?

APRO monitors a designated email folder and fetches supplier invoices from it, moving processed emails to a backup folder so nothing is lost. It performs recognition on PDF or XML invoices, capturing header and line data and pulling tax codes from Oracle, then pushes validated invoices into Oracle Payables via an API. Where straight-through processing is enabled for a supplier, invoices bypass the APRO workbench and go directly into Oracle Payables.

Does this work only for non-PO invoices?

No. The two invoices used in the demonstration were non-PO invoices, but PO matching is also supported in APRO with full invoice detail.

Do suppliers get notified after a payment is made?

Yes. Once the payment file is created and sent, APRO automatically sends payment specifications to each supplier listing the invoices that were paid. The notification template is customizable with the company's own name and details.

How does the payment file reach the bank?

After approval in APRO, the payment file for the correct bank is generated — a SEPA payment file in the demonstration — and sent to the bank automatically. The bank link is a direct host-to-host connection; an EBICS connection is also possible, though it is a more involved setup.