[Music] hi everyone mark brousseau here one of the hottest new television shows finds restaurant chefs hanging outside at grocery stores the challenge is to make gourmet meals from the groceries purchased by unsuspecting shoppers the twist is that the chefs can't ask the shoppers what's inside their grocery bags before they buy them from them this got me thinking about the way that some accounts payable departments go about automating they plow into automation without ever asking themselves five important questions that could really make or break the success of their automation project first you need to ask yourself what are your current challenges are your cycle times too slow are your costs too high do you have too many calls from suppliers second you need to ask stakeholders what it is they're trying to achieve and how that might align with accounts payable automation third you need to ask yourself how it is you'll define success this will give you a benchmark to work against fourth you need to ask yourself how it is you're going to manage the significant changes that come with automating your accounts payable processes and finally you need to ask yourself how it is you're going to continually measure your progress against your goals it's one thing to try and make a meal without ever asking what's inside a grocery bag it's a whole nother to try and automate accounts payable without ever asking these important questions upfront