ENGIE

ENGIE drives supplier invoice automation with Basware while preserving a standard SAP S/4HANA environment

As ENGIE accelerates its transition to SAP S/4HANA®, the global energy group faces a challenge familiar to large, diversified companies: how to modernize its ERP without carrying forward legacy complexity. With nearly 900 legal entities, multiple ERP systems and millions of invoices processed each year, supplier invoice management is central to this transformation.

Instead of embedding supplier invoice processing within S/4HANA®, ENGIE chose a different path. By combining SAP S/4HANA® with Basware Invoice Lifecycle Management, the group has created a clear and scalable supplier invoice management model that delivers automation, compliance and control on a global scale.

ENGIE operates in energy production, infrastructure, and energy sales and supply, generating €70 billion in annual revenue and employing more than 100,000 people worldwide. Over time, this scale resulted in a fragmented application landscape with multiple ERPs such as SAP, Oracle, Sage and other local systems.

This fragmentation created inefficiencies across systems, processes, and controls. Contracts were managed in one dedicated application, while orders and invoices were processed in another. For finance teams, this increased the complexity of control implementation and drove a rise in manual solutions.

To remedy this, ENGIE launched a group-wide transformation program aimed at standardizing SAP S/4HANA® while deliberately decoupling certain processes. General purchasing was transferred to SAP Ariba, while supplier invoice management was moved to Basware.

“These processes affect a large number of users, and we found that the ease of use and functional depth of specialized tools were superior to SAP S/4HANA® on its own,” explains Arnaud Droissart, responsible for the deployment of Basware at ENGIE. “Moving accounts payable outside of S/4HANA® also allowed us to significantly limit custom developments in the SAP Core Model.”

Why Basware was selected alongside SAP S/4HANA®

For ENGIE, the decision to choose Basware was directly linked to its SAP S/4HANA® strategy. The objective was not simply to automate invoices, but to maintain a standard SAP environment while enabling the deployment of a global supplier invoice processing solution.

SAP S/4HANA® forms the backbone of ENGIE’s financial transformation. Directly integrating invoice and tax processing into the ERP would have required additional configuration and long-term maintenance. By outsourcing accounts payable to Basware, ENGIE avoided custom SAP developments while gaining a purpose-built platform for the global complexity of accounts payable. Several requirements motivated this decision:

• SAP-certified integration to ensure long-term compatibility with SAP S/4HANA® without maintaining custom interfaces
• Support for enterprise scale invoice volumes, with a target of approximately three million invoices per year
• Global compliance coverage, including e-invoicing requirements across Europe and other regions
• A strong partner ecosystem to support rapid deployment in all regions

“Connecting SAP to an AP automation solution can quickly become complex,” says Arnaud Droissart at ENGIE. “With Basware, SAP-certified connectors are already in place. Field mapping and business rules are preconfigured and, when SAP is upgraded, full compatibility is maintained.”

Preserving a standard SAP while applying a single AP automation core model

One of the central objectives of ENGIE’s S/4HANA® program was to implement a core model while considering local requirements, particularly those related to legislation. Basware became the operational layer that made this possible.

This approach enabled ENGIE to handle supplier invoice processing complexity in a dedicated system, independent of SAP S/4HANA®. The ERP remained standardized, while Basware managed different invoice formats, reconciliation logic, workflows and local compliance without specific SAP development for each country.

Before moving fully to automated invoice processing, ENGIE ran controlled pilot phases. In France, an initial run of 10,000 invoices enabled the team to identify issues and refine processes before rolling out at scale.

Data quality became a priority, with supplier master data cleaned to prevent downstream exceptions. Invoice receipt and reconciliation were automated using Basware’s Best Fit Matching, which matches invoice totals to combinations of purchase orders and goods receipt lines. VAT codes were assigned automatically within the same workflow.

ENGIE has also deployed Basware SmartPDF to support invoice capture. With upcoming reforms in e-invoicing in France, this functionality is essential for processing invoices from international suppliers and non-mandatory flows.

“SmartPDF allows us to create recognition templates by supplier,” notes Mr. Droissart. “We are also extending SmartCoding to automatically fill in accounting fields, particularly for invoices without purchase orders.”

Tangible results across the company

The impact was rapid. In France alone, ENGIE automated the processing of more than 500,000 invoices in a few months.

“Our automatic matching rate has increased from around 20% to 82% within 2 years,” explains Arnaud Droissart. “This level of processing without human intervention fundamentally changes the way our supplier invoice processing teams work.”

A future ready AP foundation for SAP S/4HANA®

By combining SAP S/4HANA® and Basware, ENGIE’s procurement department has created an accounts payable model that adapts to changes in the business and local legislation while maintaining a standardized ERP environment. Complex invoice processing, AI based automation and global compliance are managed outside the SAP core but remain fully integrated with S/4HANA®.

As ENGIE continues its transformation, Basware remains a strategic part of its financial architecture, supporting growth, regulatory changes and operational resilience across nearly 900 legal entities worldwide.