24th September 2007
CODA Group, the finance systems specialist, has announced the availability of “Neon”, the largest and most significant product release in its history, representing a £15m investment in new and enhanced products and almost 300 man-years of research, development and testing time. New modules include invoice matching, asset management and workflow systems.

The first customer to purchase Neon is Avis Europe which has been involved in testing the software and will be using it as the finance engine for its European shared services centre in Budapest . Among other clients to have beta-tested the Neon financial management suite is Debenhams, one of the UK 's largest retailers.

Neon includes a brand new, stand-alone or integrated procure-to-pay solution that works from the initial request for goods or services right through to payment of the chosen supplier's invoice(s). CODA says it will link with any accounting system and applies the latest collaborative technologies to offer maximum efficiency and ease of use, encouraging widespread adoption across the organisation – not just by the finance team. This includes linking into Microsoft Office 2007 with procurement menus embedded in Outlook to allow users to raise, assess and approve requests for quotations, requisitions and purchase orders from their mail system without entering a separate application.

Another new and improved product developed as part of Neon is CODA's Invoice Matching engine. It enables users to match high volumes of invoices or credit notes received from a supplier to goods received notes, return documents or orders directly. As part of the ‘procure to pay' process, it covers all aspects of tying up received invoices and credit notes to the relevant goods received notes (GRNs), return documents and purchase orders, as well as individual lines within them. This increases efficiency and consistency throughout the process.

Neon also includes two established CODA applications that have been redeveloped and enhanced. Assets – offers improved valuation reporting and control over capitalisation, disposal and depreciation, together with user enhancements and expanded international capabilities. Secondly, Workflow –provides what CODA says is powerful, flexible workflow control to maximise process efficiency across CODA's transactional systems and other integrated business systems.

In addition to Procurement, Invoice Matching and Workflow are both available as stand-alone solutions that either complement CODA solutions or integrate to strengthen any ERP or finance system.