Gundersen Lutheran Health System Shortens Invoice Processing Cycle, Achieves Touchless Pass with Brainware and Ascend ASHBURN, Va. and BREA, Calif., Feb. 16, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Brainware and Ascend Software are proud to announce that Gundersen Lutheran Health System, one of the 2011 Thomson Reuters 100 Top Hospitals in the United States, has reduced its invoice processing cycle from more than two weeks to about 48 hours following implementation of the Brainware Distiller and Ascend SmartTouch applications for accounts payable (AP) automation. Additionally, data entry personnel are being redeployed to more strategic, analytical roles, even as three additional business units have been consolidated into the provider's shared services operation for AP. "Brainware has enabled considerable touchless processing for our PO-based invoices, turning our manual entry process into an exception handling process while providing a robust search capability for locating previously scanned invoices on the basis of any data field," said Karen Haville, Financial Systems Analyst at Gundersen Lutheran. Each incoming document is scanned on the day it is received, all exceptions are addressed by the day's end and the Ascend platform enables real-time adjustments to Lawson for non-PO invoices. Brainware and Ascend have delivered a clear benefit to our shared services operation, and we foresee continued improvements in terms of straight-through processing, simplified approvals and more. "Ascend's SmartTouch solutions deliver the highest level of automation while leveraging Gundersen Lutheran's Lawson ERP system in real-time, reducing errors, enforcing corporate policies and providing a greater level of visibility to invoices and payables data for quick decision making," said Larry Robinett, Vice President, Sales at Ascend Software. Combining Ascend's SmartTouch solutions with Brainware's technology allows our customers to do more with fewer and smarter touches. "Brainware's technology helps providers streamline document-based routines, empowering them to shift their resources away from manual data entry and towards strategic, mission-centric opportunities," said Charles Kaplan, Vice President of Marketing at Brainware. Combined with Ascend's tools for superior data management, this technology has enabled Gundersen Lutheran to achieve superior levels of productivity, increasing workloads while processing documents at more than four times the previous pace. Based in La Crosse, Wisconsin, Gundersen Lutheran Health System is a multi-specialty group medical practice with hospitals and clinics throughout western Wisconsin, southeastern Minnesota and northeastern Iowa that provide emergency, specialty and primary care services. The health system has been consistently ranked in the upper 5% of hospitals in the country by independent healthcare ratings organizations. About Ascend Software Since 1997, Ascend Software has developed business process management solutions that provide greater cost savings automation and are easy to implement. Ascend's enterprise information management solution was designed from the ground up to archive all types of information (i.e. reports, documents, images and all file types) to build a centralized archive in order to retain corporate information. Additionally, Ascend developed their advanced workflow solution that provides greater automation and is the foundation for their SmartTouch Solution suite, which features robust automation and business savvy design delivering greater cost savings to customers. Ascend's advanced automation overcomes challenges typically found in workflow solutions and is the reason for the implementation success. Ascend's solutions are implemented in all industries and distributed in fourteen countries. Headquartered in Brea, California, the company has branch offices in Tennessee, Maine, Oregon, Illinois, and Northern California. Visit www.ascendsoftware.com for more information.