Process Development - Case Study of Altia Plc Transport Order Project

The purpose of this Master's thesis is both to provide comprehensive understanding on continuous improvement, its theories and methods, and on the case company's current invoice handling process and to find ways to improve it. The focus of the research is on process modelling and development. The main research question is "How can the invoice handling process be developed and what are the benefits that process improvement brings?" The sub-questions of this main question are "How to improve the invoice handling process?", "What are the factors that influence the success of process development?" and "How can the information systems be better utilized in the invoice handling process?" The research method is qualitative research and more particularly a case study. Data collection was carried out by interviewing, observing and exploring relevant documents and research reports. The case study was the development of the invoice handling process in Altia Plc. As an essential part of this, a freight invoice automatization project was executed. The objectives of the project were the automatization of freight invoice matching, reduction of manual work and better cost awareness of transportation. As the result of this research, the current purchasing process has been modelled from ordering to handling invoices, its defects have been determined, the new process has been described and improvement proposals have been listed. In addition, the research gave the company useful information and experience about the implementation of an automated freight invoice processing system.