Transforming the billing process with intelligent process automation 

Manual billing processes are time-consuming, error-prone and difficult to scale. From heavy data entry to reconciliation backlogs, invoice delays and compliance challenges, organizations often find that growth directly increases administrative burden. 

Traditional billing models require analysts to invest significant time in tasks like invoice creation, data entry, reconciliations and approvals. This manual approach not only slows down the process and increases the risk of errors but also makes it difficult for organizations to scale efficiently. By implementing automated billing processes in Deltek Costpoint, businesses can streamline these repetitive tasks, reduce human error and accelerate the overall billing cycle. As organizations grow, intelligent process automation (IPA) ensures billing operations remain efficient and compliant while minimizing administrative overhead. 

Empowering Deltek Project Nation through intelligent automation 

In 2019, Deltek aligned with Baker Tilly to develop digital workers that could eliminate time-consuming steps from key processes within their Costpoint system. This collaboration marked the beginning of Baker Tilly’s role as the exclusive intelligent automation partner for Deltek Project Nation. Together, we advanced Deltek’s strategic initiative to enhance customer experience by streamlining workflows and reducing manual intervention.  

Integrating IPA with Deltek Costpoint — a comprehensive ERP platform for project billing, compliance and custom workflow automation — enables organizations to boost operational efficiency, accelerate cash flow and free teams to focus on higher-impact work. These automation capabilities are fundamental to Deltek’s broader vision of connecting project data and processes across the entire lifecycle, from contract initiation through closeout, delivering a seamless and responsive experience for their customers. 

Moving from manual to intelligent 

Traditional billing models rely on analysts spending hours on invoice creation, reconciliations and approvals. IPA reimagines this approach by building a fully integrated workflow that individual pushes each bill down the digital assembly line ensuring each invoice is processed as quickly as possible.  

• Enabled end-to-end workflow orchestration, allowing teams to focus only on exceptions and high-value activities 
• Reduced billing cycle times, accelerating cash flow and improving overall operational efficiency 
• Enhanced compliance and audit readiness by automating data validation and document management 
• Scaled billing capacity without needing additional headcount, supporting organizational growth 
• Boosted employee satisfaction by minimizing repetitive work and shifting focus to analysis and strategic initiatives 

The result is a shift from reactive billing to a proactive, scalable model that grows with the business. 

Principles for successful automation 

A well-designed billing process balances efficiency with oversight. Organizations that succeed with IPA typically follow three guiding principles: 

• Happy path automation: Configure the system to review each bill and automatically process clean, error-free invoices through the workflow without manual intervention; allowing teams to focus only on exceptions. 
• Recommended approach: Use an appropriate tool for each step by integrating Deltek features, workflow applications, automation solutions and secure document management, enabling your team to save valuable hours on project administration. 
• Human in the loop: Digital workers handle routine assessments, while employees step in only when human judgment is needed, optimizing work and maintaining oversight. 

These components operate in concert, moving invoices forward like a conveyor belt — continuous, reliable and designed for scale. 

Looking ahead 

IPA lays the groundwork for transformative innovation. With digital workers seamlessly integrated into the billing process, organizations gain access to rich, actionable data that fuels continuous improvement. This data paves the way for advanced technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), which can be leveraged to further optimize workflows — automating invoice prioritization, proactively identifying potential bottlenecks and surfacing process enhancements before problems arise. 

As automation and intelligence converge, the future of billing evolves into a system that is not only faster and more accurate, but also resilient and adaptable. Digital workers remain at the heart of this evolution — driving operational excellence, reducing manual effort and creating lasting value as organizations prepare for ongoing innovation. 

How we can help 

Baker Tilly stands out as the premier Deltek implementation provider, renowned for enabling clients to fully leverage the capabilities of their Deltek solutions. As part of our holistic approach, Baker Tilly now offers the opportunity to deploy a fully integrated digital workforce to help streamline operations. These digital workers extend well beyond customer billing, helping to automate and streamline a broad spectrum of business processes including the integrated project and financial management process, billing and invoicing and time and expense management. By automating both routine and complex tasks across the organization, Baker Tilly empowers clients to drive efficiency, reduce manual effort and optimize end-to-end processes. 

Our specialists assess, design and implement IPA solutions tailored to each organization's unique needs. From identifying impactful automation opportunities to integrating RPA, workflow and document management tools, Baker Tilly unites technical expertise with deep industry knowledge. Our digital team collaborates closely with clients to develop scalable automation strategies that improve visibility, accelerate key business cycles, enhance people operations and deliver measurable value — setting the stage for future innovation driven by AI.