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Cloud-Based Accounts Payable and Procurement Automation Platform
The goal of this project was to design and implement a scalable, secure, and extensible backend system for automating the accounts payable (AP) lifecycle - from purchase requisition and approval workflows to invoice processing, supplier management, and payment scheduling.
The system needed to replace manual, paper-based processes with digital automation, enabling organizations to gain full visibility and control over their financial operations, reduce processing time, and improve compliance with internal spend policies.
Project Goal
The application needed to provide end-to-end automation - from purchase requisitions and supplier approvals to invoice capture, validation, and payment execution - all within a secure, multi-tenant, and highly available SaaS architecture. The global aim was to give mid-sized and multi-site organizations complete visibility and control over their spending lifecycle, enabling them to make faster, data-driven decisions while maintaining financial discipline and audit transparency.
Key objectives included:
- Automate the Procure-to-Pay Workflow
Streamline every stage of the purchasing process - from purchase request creation to goods receipt and invoice approval - reducing manual intervention and errors. - Enhance Financial Visibility
Develop real-time dashboards and reporting modules that provide finance teams with insights into organizational spend, budget adherence, and outstanding liabilities. - Enable Multi-Level Approvals
Build configurable approval workflows supporting multi-tier hierarchies, departmental routing, and conditional logic (e.g., value thresholds, budget centers). - Ensure Seamless Integrations
Provide secure, bi-directional integration with major accounting platforms (Sage, Xero, QuickBooks Online) to synchronize invoices, suppliers, and payments. - Reinforce Security and Compliance
Implement role-based access control, full audit logging, and GDPR-compliant data handling to maintain financial integrity and regulatory compliance. - Improve Scalability and Maintainability
Architect the platform using Clean Architecture, DDD and CQRS principles, ensuring modularity, high availability, and readiness for future microservice expansion. - Enhance User Experience and Accessibility
Expose performant and intuitive RESTful APIs to support the web portal and mobile clients, ensuring consistent performance under high transactional loads. - Support Multi-Tenancy and Global Operations
Allow multiple organizations and departments to operate securely within the same cloud environment, supporting multi-currency and multi-language requirements.
About the Client
The client is a UK-based SaaS provider specializing in financial process automation for mid-sized and multi-site organizations. Their customers operate in sectors such as construction, education, healthcare, hospitality, and retail, and require robust solutions for multi-departmental purchasing, spend visibility, and audit control.
The client sought a cloud-native application that integrates seamlessly with existing accounting software (e.g., Xero, Sage 50, QuickBooks Online) and supports multi-currency operations with granular user permissions and approval routing.
Technologies used
Modules
- .NET 8 / ASP.NET Core Web API - for high-performance RESTful APIs and modular service architecture.
- Entity Framework Core 8 / Dapper - ORM for data access abstraction and database portability. EF Core for write operations, Dapper for read operations.
- SQL Server / Azure SQL - transactional data storage for invoices, users, and workflow definitions.
- Redis Cache - caching of user sessions, workflow state, and frequent lookups for performance optimization.
- Hangfire - background job processing for invoice parsing, OCR extraction, and scheduled payments.
- Azure Service Bus - asynchronous communication for approval events and integration with external services.
- Azure Functions (Serverless) - event-driven processing for background automation tasks such as scheduled invoice imports, webhook integrations, and approval triggers.
- Azure Blob Storage - secure storage of uploaded invoice documents and attachments.
- Automapper / MediatR / FluentValidation - for clean architecture, CQRS patterns, and request validation.
- Accounting Integrations - Sage, Xero, and QuickBooks Online connectors for two-way invoice and payment synchronization.
- SSO / Azure Active Directory / OAuth2 / JWT Authentication - identity and access control.
- Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) and Audit Trails - full accountability across user and workflow actions.
- GDPR-compliant encryption - for sensitive financial data both in transit and at rest
The backend was developed using a Clean Architecture approach, separating domain logic, application services, and infrastructure layers to ensure maintainability and testability.
The system was containerized for flexible deployment and optimized through horizontal scaling using Azure App Service Plans and Azure Functions for asynchronous workflows.
Results
The current solution effectively transformed and streamlined core financial operations, resulting in the following key achievements:
- Invoice processing time reduced by up to 80%, with full automation of approval and matching workflows.
- Significant improvement in spend visibility and real-time budget tracking for finance teams.
- Enhanced data integrity and compliance, with traceable approval histories and centralized audit logs.
- Seamless integration with third-party accounting systems improved financial accuracy and reporting turnaround.
Empower smarter spending through automated accounts payable and purchase control
The system provides a unified cloud platform for managing purchase requests —> orders —> goods/receipts —> invoices —> approvals —> payments, with strong emphasis on automation, workflow, spend control and integration with existing accounting/ERP systems. it is especially relevant for organisations that need more than just “pay this bill” - they want governance, budget control, project/departmental visibility, and a digital, streamlined process rather than spreadsheets and emails.
