01 / About Tinkerbird
Practical AI for
everyday work
We help businesses put AI to work on the jobs that take up too much time, from capturing paper records to checking invoices and following up on meetings.
Tinkerbird is Akoma’s AI and digital practice. We start with the way your team works and test practical tools on your own records, before taking on a wider build.
We use these tools in our own business too, for research, project records, meeting follow-up and producing websites and proposals. That practical experience is what we bring to Devland.
Explore the Devland proposalClient work and exploration
AI across different businesses
Bakery
We’re trialling daily reports and next-day bake planning from production and stock records, with missing or conflicting figures flagged for review.
Transport company
We’re developing an invoicing proposal to reduce manual preparation and reconciliation, starting with a sample of completed work.
Family-run safari camp
We’ve built website previews bringing accommodation, activities and enquiry routes together for the family to review.
Foreign-exchange business
We’re exploring sales research, prospect management and automation around the business’s chosen customer relationship management system.
Devland / Supplier accounts
Supplier invoice checks
Muhammed spends a lot of his own time checking invoices against the deals he negotiated. A wrong price can go back and forth with a supplier’s salesman several times before it is settled.
02 / Current process
Manual checks and repeat reviews
The same invoice passes through capture, price checks and several reviews before it is ticked off against the statement.
- 01Capture the invoiceDevland
Enter each line into React.
- 02Compare the pricesDevland
Check against the deal sheet by hand.
- 03Prepare a claimDevland
Record any price difference.
- 04Recheck the claimDevland
Review the difference and supporting records again.
- 05Check the deal termsMuhammed
Muhammed checks the negotiated prices, discounts and rebates.
- 06Check the statementDevland
Tick off the invoice against the supplier statement.
A disputed price can go back to the supplier and return for another check.
A simplified view from our 22 October meeting and Zubair’s notes, to confirm with accounts. Invoice volumes and time per check are not yet measured.
03 / Proposed change
Prepared checks and an exceptions list
Use the records already in React to prepare the matching and price checks together. Accounts can review the differences with their supporting evidence, instead of assembling each check by hand.
- 01Supply the recordsDevland
Keep invoice capture as it is. Supply the React export, statement and agreed deal terms.
- 02Match and checkTinkerbird
Our tools match invoice and statement lines, compare prices and discounts, and flag differences with the evidence.
Proposed automation · matching and comparison - 03Review the differencesDevland
Accounts checks the prepared workbook and resolves missing evidence or unclear terms.
- 04Approve the resultMuhammed
Muhammed checks the exceptions and approves with accounts. Supplier follow-up stays with your team.
Tinkerbird prepares the matching and evidence. Devland keeps the review and approvals. The sample tests whether this reduces repeat checking.
The first sample starts after invoice capture, using completed records. Scanning invoices and reducing manual entry at receiving come later. A rebate that depends on volumes or dates stays flagged for a person.
Approvals: Muhammed and your accounts team approve every invoice and claim. Nothing is posted to React, paid or sent to a supplier by us.
04 / First step
Five-invoice sample
Start with around five completed invoices from one supplier, as you suggested. Compare our workbook with the work your accounts team has already done.
Sample records
One supplier statement, around five historical invoices your team has already checked, and the matching React Excel export, with your completed reconciliation, the agreed deal terms and any credits or payment evidence that affect those invoices. Include an awkward invoice if you have one.
Aadil, head of accounts, or a colleague he nominates walks us through one invoice.
Prepared workbook
An Excel workbook with a source reference for every check, plus the differences and missing evidence that need a decision.
We compare it with your completed work, explain each difference, and record the time our check took beside your team’s estimate for the same five.
Time: allow three to five working days after complete files and agreed scope. We confirm this allowance after inspecting the sample.
Fee: to be agreed before work starts, including VAT treatment and whether the demonstration is separately chargeable. No commitment to a later build or ongoing service.
Five invoices show the method. They do not prove the whole supplier balance.
Accounts first
You asked to start on the accounts side. Receiving also depends on purchasing prices and the way goods enter the business. Historical invoices let us test the checks without changing receiving or connecting to live React; the deal terms put in order here can support that later work.
05 / Longer-term roadmap
Accounts to a live business view
Your aim is to digitise in stages, towards a live view across the business. After the sample, each further step would have its own scope and price.
- 01
One statement period
A trial on one complete supplier statement period: opening balance, invoices, credits and payments.
- 02
Deal prices on record
Deal terms from supplier meetings loaded once, so every invoice from your agreed suppliers is checked against them and the claims list is drafted for accounts.
- 03
Receiving and document capture
Keep the physical goods check, then scan the invoice and check it against the same deal prices. Review stock accuracy and React integration before connecting this to live operations.
- 04
Business-wide reporting
Build towards a live view of outstanding items and spend across operations. Explore sales trends, store-price administration and promotion loading as the underlying records become reliable.
Possible later work, not included in the five-invoice sample. Each stage needs its own scope, price and approval.
06 / Immediate next step
Sample-selection session
Arrange a sample-selection session with Aadil and Muhammed through Zubair.
Use that session to confirm the supplier, the files, the fee and the review date. We agree the date when we speak.
Meeting minutes
Muhammed asked for meeting recordings turned into short minutes with clear actions. Here is a sample from our meeting on 22 October.
View the sample minutes for 22 October
A separate piece of work from the invoice check, scoped on its own if you want it.
Supporting detail
Sample review and limits
Every selected invoice ends as a supported match or a named exception. Amounts, dates, references, prices, discounts and rebate treatment agree with the source, or the difference is explained. Unclear scans and missing price terms stay open rather than guessed. Aadil, or his nominee, checks every line against the team’s finished work, and no saving is claimed before it is measured.
Conditional rebates stay flagged until their volume, date or settlement conditions are evidenced. Partial payments, credit notes, VAT, pack sizes, units and price dates follow the rules your team gives us.
No payments, ledger entries, supplier messages, claims sent on your behalf or changes to receiving are included. The first step works from Excel exports and needs no React login or integration.
Your data
We agree in writing the shared folder, who can see it, which tools process it and how long we keep it, before any file is sent. Send only what the five invoices need. No live-system passwords are required.
Proposal basis
Prepared from the three recordings of our 22 October meeting and Zubair’s notes. React, Excel exports and Aadil’s role as head of accounts are confirmed; who gives final sign-off is still to be confirmed. No Devland volume, saving or implementation commitment is assumed.