ARTICLE PREVIEW

AI in Automation - Timed Based Billing Example

Author: Adam Shilton, February 2024

In this article, we’re going to be looking at how you can use Make.com to set up a no-code automated workflow for a set of tasks.

We’ll first look at what a simplified process (or Scenario) looks like in Make. And then move on to building AI into our workflow as well.

Table of Contents

Context

In this article we’re going to imagine that we’re a Fractional CFO that bills their clients on an hourly basis.

We record our hours for each customer on a Google Sheet, and we also create a report in a Google Doc that provides a detailed commentary of the work that we’ve done.

To automate our process we want to:

Automatically total the hours we’ve worked during the month, and automatically create an invoice for the customer.
Include a short summary of our Google Doc report within the invoice description.
Send a copy of both the timesheets, and the Google Doc (as a PDF) to the customer too.

How will AI be used in this automation?

Our workflow includes a long Google Doc that contains a monthly report of everything we’ve done for the customer during that month.

What we want is a short summary of our work that we can include within the invoice description.

AI built into our workflow will allow us to summarise this document without having to shorten it ourselves!

Low Code / No Code Comparison

The below table shows a comparison of the most common low code automation platforms. Most of them are easy to use, but different skillsets are required depending on the complexity of the workflow you’re wanting to create.

For me the top 3 are:

Zapier - Widely known, very easy to use, best for simple workflows
Make.com - Lesser known, easy to use, can tackle simple to complex workflows
Power Automate - Widely known, easy to use, best for companies using the Microsoft stack.

You can use AI within all of the above tools and most of the below tools, using the OpenAI API as we’ll discuss later. You can now also use AI to generate Power Automate workflows from text too!

Criteria	Zapier	Make.com	Pipedream	Bardeen	Microsoft Power Automate	IFTTT	Automate.io	n8n.io
Ease-of-Use	Very High	High	Medium	High	High	High	High	Medium
Skills Level Required	Beginner	Beginner to Intermediate	Intermediate to Advanced	Beginner	Beginner to Intermediate	Beginner	Beginner	Intermediate to Advanced
Volume of Apps	Over 3,000	Over 1,000	Hundreds, plus custom integrations	Hundreds, selected focus	Hundreds, with a focus on Microsoft ecosystem	Over 600	Over 200	Hundreds, plus custom integrations
Custom Code Support	Yes, with limitations	Yes	Extensive	Limited	Yes, with limitations	Limited	Yes, with limitations	Extensive
Custom API Integration	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes, with limitations	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Pricing Flexibility	From free to premium tiers	Free tier to premium plans	Free tier, then usage-based	Mainly free, with premium features	Free tier to premium, plus per user pricing	Mainly free, with premium features	Free tier to premium plans	Free self-hosted, Premium cloud
Automation Complexity	Simple to moderate	Simple to complex	Highly complex	Simple to moderate	Simple to complex	Simple	Simple to moderate	Highly complex
Community & Support	Extensive	Good	Growing	Moderate	Extensive (Microsoft support)	Good	Good	Growing
Company size	Individuals to SMEs	Individuals to SMEs	SMEs to Enterprise	Individuals	Individuals to Enterprise	Individuals to SMEs	Individuals	SMEs to Enterprise

Automation use cases for Finance

Below are examples of automation use cases you can consider, which tools can be used and how you can integrate an API with AI to add value to the process.

Automation Use Case	Benefits	Example	AI Integration & Improvement
Invoice Processing	Automates the process of receiving, processing, and storing invoices. Reduces manual entry errors and speeds up the accounts payable process.	Set up a scenario where emails with invoice attachments trigger the extraction of invoice data using OCR (Optical Character Recognition). The data is then formatted and uploaded to the accounting software (e.g., QuickBooks) and stored in a cloud storage service (e.g., Google Drive).	AI OCR API: Use an advanced AI OCR service like Google Cloud Vision API to improve data extraction accuracy, including handwritten notes. AI can also categorize expenses based on historical data.
Expense Report Automation	Streamlines the submission, approval, and reimbursement of employee expense reports. Reduces processing time and improves employee satisfaction.	Connect an expense management app (e.g., Expensify) to the accounting software and email service. When an expense report is approved, it triggers an update in the accounting software and sends an email notification to the employee.	NLP API: Implement an AI-powered chatbot using Dialogflow (Google) for submitting and querying expense reports via natural language. Enhances user experience and accessibility.
Budget Monitoring	Provides real-time tracking of budgets vs. actual spending to prevent overspending and ensure financial goals are met.	Use a connection to the accounting software and a data visualization tool (e.g., Microsoft Power BI) to create a dashboard that updates in real time. Set up alerts to notify finance managers via email or SMS when spending approaches budget limits.	Predictive Analytics API: Integrate with an AI analytics platform like Azure Machine Learning to forecast future spending trends and provide early warnings based on predictive models.
Accounts Receivable Follow-up	Automates the process of sending reminders for unpaid invoices to improve cash flow and reduce the accounts receivable cycle time.	Create a workflow that identifies overdue invoices in the accounting software, then automatically sends follow-up emails to customers with outstanding payments, and schedules follow-up tasks for the finance team.	Sentiment Analysis API: Use sentiment analysis from Azure Cognitive Services to tailor follow-up messages based on the sentiment of customer's previous communications, improving response rates.
Payroll Processing	Automates payroll calculations, tax withholdings, and payments to employees. Ensures compliance and accuracy in payroll processing.	Integrate payroll software (e.g., ADP) with time tracking apps and HR systems. Automatically calculate hours worked, deductions, and generate pay slips. Setup notifications for payroll approvals and successful bank transfers.	AI Payroll Advisor API: Integrate an AI system like OpenAI Services in Azure that analyzes payroll data to identify discrepancies, suggest optimizations for tax benefits, and automate compliance checks with evolving regulations.
Financial Reporting	Automates the generation and distribution of financial reports (e.g., profit & loss statements, balance sheets) to stakeholders, reducing manual compilation time and improving data accuracy.	Connect accounting software to Microsoft Excel or Power BI for automatic data extraction and report generation. Schedule monthly or quarterly reports to be emailed to management and stakeholders.	AI Financial Analysis API: Use Python and AI to analyze financial data, providing insights and identifying trends not easily seen by humans. Use GPT to generate narrative summaries for reports.
Tax Compliance	Ensures timely and accurate tax filings and payments, reducing the risk of penalties and interest for late or incorrect submissions.	Automate the collection of sales tax data from sales platforms (e.g., Shopify) and integrate with tax software (e.g., Avalara) to prepare and file returns. Set reminders for filing deadlines and payment due dates.	AI Tax Advisor API: An API with an AI system can analyze transactions in real-time to provide ongoing tax improvement suggestions, optimize tax category assignments, and predict future tax obligations based on current data.
Vendor Payments Automation	Streamlines the process of making payments to vendors by automating invoice matching, approval workflows, and payment processing.	Implement a workflow that matches purchase orders with received invoices in the accounting system, obtains necessary approvals via email, and executes payment through banking software.	Fraud Detection API: Implement an AI-based fraud detection system to analyze payment patterns and flag unusual transactions, reducing the risk of financial fraud.

Which platform have we chosen?

Make

Make offers the right combination of ease-of-use and capability. You can achieve more with it than you can with Zapier which is better for simpler use cases. But it’s not as complicated as some of the more complex platforms like Pipedream where you can start manually connecting APIs together.

As we are using a lot of tools from Google Workspace, it is also a better choice than Power Automate, which may be better if you’re using a lot of Microsoft applications.

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