This tool models the financial saving your dealership group could achieve by automating accounts payable with PaperTrail. Enter your figures on the left and the projected saving updates in real time. All inputs are adjustable — use it as a working model, not a fixed quote.
📊 What the tool shows
Three automation scenarios
Conservative, Realistic, and With GL Auto-Coding — each showing invoices automated, hours saved, and monthly saving across a realistic range.
Annual saving headline
The projected saving per year at the Realistic scenario. When the Solution Investment panel is visible, this switches to the net saving after PaperTrail's cost.
Per PL average
When more than one Purchase Ledger is entered, a per-PL breakdown appears — useful for branch or ledger-level discussions.
📋 Dealership details — left panel
Invoices / month
Total supplier invoices received across the group per month. Click the number to edit it directly.
GL coding
Your current method of assigning general ledger codes to invoices. Select the option that best describes your team's process today.
Statement reconciliation
How supplier statements are currently reconciled. Informs the automation narrative — does not affect the saving calculation directly.
Previous AP tools
Whether you have assessed AP automation before. Contextual background — no effect on the calculation.
Number of sites / Purchase Ledgers (PL)
Used to calculate per-PL figures and, when pricing is visible, the monthly subscription total.
⟷ Adjust assumptions — sliders
Base automation rate
Percentage of invoices processed without manual intervention at go-live. Conservative uses this exactly; Realistic adds 2%; GL Auto-Coding adds 5%. Established automotive deployments typically reach 80–92% for Parts and GRN invoices over time.
Time per invoice (mins)
Average time per invoice manually — data entry, matching, coding, and approval routing. The default of 5 minutes covers straightforward invoices. Independent benchmarks put the real average at 8–15 minutes including exceptions and supplier queries. Adjust to reflect your team's experience.
AP staff cost (£/hr loaded)
Fully loaded hourly cost per AP team member — salary, employer National Insurance, pension, and overhead. Adjust to match your actual cost structure.
Tip: These sliders are the most useful part of the tool. If any assumption doesn't feel right, change it — the saving updates immediately. The model is yours to stress-test.
📈 Automation scenarios explained
Conservative
Base rate
Go-live floor
★ Realistic
Base +2%
After stabilisation
GL Auto-Coding
Base +5%
With GL automation
All three figures are staff-time saving only — they exclude error-cost reduction, early payment discounts, and bank reconciliation saving.
⚙ Settings (gear icon, top right)
🔵
Show Solution Investment
Reveals PaperTrail's indicative pricing and switches the annual saving headline to net of PaperTrail cost.
🟢
Show Headcount Context
Reveals a panel showing the FTE equivalent freed by automation and the potential saving from natural attrition. Only shown once a confirmed headcount figure has been provided.
£ Solution Investment panel
Per invoice / image (£)
Per-image processing rate. Multi-page invoices generate more than one image — average pages per invoice is worth clarifying as part of discovery.
Monthly subscription (£/PL)
Monthly subscription per Purchase Ledger, multiplied by the number of PLs entered in Dealership Details.
Onboarding / setup (£/PL)
One-off setup fee per Purchase Ledger, amortised over the contract term in the contract total comparison.
Note: All figures are indicative and subject to confirmation. This tool is a starting point for the commercial conversation, not a binding quote.
💾 Saving as PDF
Click Save as PDF in the top bar to generate a clean PDF of the current view. The PDF reflects exactly what is on screen.
