A leading European financial institution needed to transform its Purchase-to-Pay (P2P) and Accounts Payable (AP) processes. By implementing Celonis Process Mining, Winning provided transparency into hidden inefficiencies, helped the organisation improve compliance and governance, and ultimately unlocked more than €1 million in measurable savings.

This use case illustrates how to combine technological expertise with deep knowledge of financial processes to create sustainable impact.

 

Context

P2P and AP processes are essential for managing cash, supplier relations, and compliance.

In this case, the client was facing delays, errors, and inconsistent approvals. Existing SAP reports only showed fragmented KPIs, without giving a full view of how processes actually ran. Leadership lacked the visibility needed to act, measure financial impact, and drive lasting improvements.

 

The Challenge

The institution faced recurring inefficiencies that were difficult to measure without robust data:

  • Invoices before purchase orders → undermining procurement policies and creating non-compliant spend.
  • Missing goods receipts → causing mismatches and reconciliation issues.
  • Duplicate invoices → raising the risk of double payments and audit concerns.
  • Reactive operations → teams spending excessive time on manual checks and rework.
  • Lack of consolidated KPIs → no reliable indicators such as first-pass match rate or touchless invoice percentage.

The challenge was clear: provide fact-based transparency into P2P and AP execution, and help the shift from reactive firefighting to proactive, data-driven optimization.

 

The Approach

To address this challenge, Winning implemented Celonis Process Mining, creating an end-to-end digital twin of the P2P and AP processes.

The first step was to integrate SAP data into Celonis. Historical transaction logs were loaded to establish a baseline, while real-time connectors ensured that new data flowed continuously into the platform. With this setup, the client could see not just a snapshot but a living, constantly updated view of process execution.

Once the data was in place, Winning reconstructed the actual process flows. Instead of assuming that operations followed the standard design, the team could visualise every deviation: purchase orders created late, invoices arriving before goods receipts, approval loops that stretched cycle times. For the first time, leadership could see with precision where inefficiencies were occurring and how often they repeated.

From there, Winning developed analytical dashboards tailored to different stakeholders. Senior management gained access to consolidated KPIs that had previously been scattered across multiple reports. Procurement teams could drill down into Maverick Buying cases by vendor category or company code. Accounts Payable gained tools to detect and prevent duplicate invoices, supported by both strict and fuzzy logic matching.

But the real breakthrough came from automation. Winning worked with the client to design Action Flows that turned insights into corrective measures. When an invoice arrived without a purchase order, a notification was automatically triggered. Suspected duplicates were flagged and routed directly to AP teams. Instead of spending hours searching for errors, teams could focus on resolving issues before they caused financial impact.

Crucially, this was not just a technical implementation. Winning facilitated workshops with business stakeholders to align on KPIs, assign ownership, and define escalation paths. A governance framework was put in place to ensure that improvements were sustained, not lost once the initial project ended.

 

Results

The results were both financial and operational. Within months, the institution recovered and avoided more than €1 million in costs, primarily through duplicate invoice detection

and the reduction of non-compliant spend. The first-pass match rate improved significantly, reducing the need for manual interventions. Maverick Buying cases decreased, strengthening procurement discipline.

Beyond the numbers, the institution gained something even more valuable: confidence in its processes. Leaders could rely on real-time data to monitor compliance and efficiency. Teams had a clear view of priorities and were equipped with tools to act quickly. The organisation moved from reactive problem-solving to proactive governance, embedding continuous improvement into its daily operations.

The strengthened control environment also had ripple effects. Audit findings were reduced, suppliers benefited from more predictable payments, and working capital management improved through more accurate forecasting of outgoing cash flows. What started as a technology project evolved into a fundamental shift in how the organisation managed financial processes.

 

Conclusion

This case shows how to apply Process Mining to bring transparency, efficiency, and measurable savings to financial processes. It demonstrates that Hyperautomation is not just a concept, it can be successfully applied in a financial context.