Anker STI: SEMINE Streamlines daily operations and VAT management

Challenging VAT management, seasonal operations, and increasing demands for efficiency led the Anker Foundation to seek solutions that would simplify and enhance the finance department's daily tasks.

After evaluating several systems for automating their accounts payable (AP) processes and invoice management, they concluded that only the AI solution SEMINE could adequately meet their needs.

The year was 1975. "Jaws" dominated cinemas worldwide, Bruce Springsteen ruled the charts with "Born to Run," and the Vocational School Dormitory opened its doors at Ankertorget in Oslo.

Nearly fifty years later, most of the tenants are "regular" students, and the foundation has expanded its operations. This growth has been positive for the students but increasingly challenging for the finance department—precisely why the AI solution SEMINE was introduced.

Saved a Full Year’s Worth of Work Overnight

The operations are demanding: 120,000 square meters of commercial space across large parts of Oslo, 296 rooms at the Anker Hotel near Akerselva, a hostel, and an apartment building—all of this needs to be managed efficiently.

“Anker no longer receives funding from the housing bank or state support, and at the same time, we are being taxed more heavily. Nevertheless, we must try to maintain approximately the same price level. This means we must constantly look for ways to operate more efficiently—especially in the finance department,” says Kirsten Klungseth Lerum, Head of Accounting at Anker STI.

At the same time, the foundation has big plans to grow, ideally without increasing the finance department’s staff. Thus, efficiency became essential, and incoming invoices were a natural place to start.

- We previously used a module in our financial system for invoice processing that required us to manually enter KID numbers, and we actually had a dedicated person responsible for this. When we switched to SEMINE, that position became unnecessary, Hannah Giske Fosse, Accounting Controller and Payroll Manager at Anker STI.

From left: Kirsten Klungseth Lerum, Hannah Giske Fosse. The photo was taken at the new Ankertorget, where cobblestones from the original Ankertorget, established in the mid-1800s, have been reused.

Complex Operations

Anker processes only 2,000 incoming invoices per year, but the seasonal nature of their business made VAT management for the six operational areas particularly challenging.

- This requires suppliers to split orders into invoices for each subsidiary, and for Ankerkvartalet, we use a cost allocation key. Additionally, other tax and fee issues make the approval process for many of our invoices extremely demanding. When we were looking to change systems, one of the main requirements was that the new solution had to handle these complexities effectively. SEMINE was the only system that could do this, says Lerum.

Anker STI currently uses a somewhat outdated ERP system that they are in the process of replacing. SEMINE is integrated with the old system and works very well. When the new system is in place, it will open up even more possibilities.

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- We already use SEMINE for automation when invoicing internally between companies in the group, and this will work even better once we also switch the ERP system, she adds.

Simplified Daily Life in the Finance Department

Anker has been using SEMINE for three years, contributing to a simpler daily routine for the finance department's four employees.

- We are very satisfied with how ready things are when they enter SEMINE for processing: The system automatically understands who the first approver for that invoice is, how it should be coded, and how VAT should be handled if necessary. This minimizes the risk of errors, and things move faster because invoices from most of our suppliers go straight through SEMINE without manual changes, says Fosse.

This also means that when invoices are sent through the workflow, the finance department can always check their status and have full visibility over where things might be held up.

- This makes it easy for us to know who to follow up with to speed things up. It results in fewer reminders from suppliers and helps us avoid late fees and unhappy creditors, she smiles.

Saving Time in Many Ways

Lerum adds that she is very pleased with how SEMINE’s archive functions and the solution’s built-in functionality for collaborating with third parties.

I like that we can search by account, department, project number, or whatever we need to find the information we’re looking for. The solution also makes it very easy to exchange information with auditors or other external parties. We simply allow them to log into the system themselves, so we don’t have to send copies of invoices or similar documents back and forth. It’s very efficient, she says.

- All in all, we save a lot of time in many areas. I also want to mention that we’ve met many skilled and talented people at SEMINE — they stay on top of the technology and are always up to date with the latest developments. They’re simply a great partner for us, Fosse concludes.