Accounts Payable Invoice Automation (APIA) Pilot
Phase 3 of our Accounts Payable Invoice Automation (APIA) pilot begins Monday, October 19.
This page is only for users who have been invited to participate in the APIA pilot. If you are not part of the pilot, please visit the Paying in the CU Marketplace page to learn how to make payments at Columbia.
Pilot participants should review the details below to learn more about how APIA will change the way vouchers are created in the Marketplace.
An Introduction to APIA
APIA stands for Accounts Payable invoice automation. The APIA solution is part of the continuing Procure-to-Pay transformation at Columbia University.
APIA will expedite the creation of vouchers within the CU Marketplace and ensure suppliers receive their payments faster.
Throughout spring and summer, the Office of Procurement Services asked a handful of Schools and business units to participate in a pre-pilot test of the APIA functionality to ensure it was ready for a wider pilot launch for more Schools and Departments.
The following Schools and business units were involved in the pre-pilot test phase:
Business
CUIMC Admin
Finance
Law
Zuckerman Institute
These Schools and business units are fully live using APIA.
A pilot launch of APIA will be implemented in phases throughout early Fall 2026. The groupings for each phase represent approximately equal weekly invoice volumes expected at scale.
Pilot Phase 1
Start date: Monday, September 14th
The following Schools and business units will take part:
Arts & Sciences Core - Academic & Interdisciplinary
Climate School
Columbia College
Dental
Engineering
Pilot Phase 2
Start date: Monday, September 28th
The following Schools and business units will take part:
Athletics
Libraries & Info Services
Mailman
Office of Alumni and Development
School of Journalism
School of Nursing
School of Professional Studies
School of Social Work
Pilot Phase 3
Start date: Monday, October 19th
The following School will take part:
Vagelos College of Physicians & Surgeons
The Office of Procurement Services is targeting a go-live for the University community after the pilot phases are successfully completed. This will occur sometime later in Fall 2026.
More information will be released to the wider University community once the go-live date is confirmed.
Invoices will be sent to a central mailbox from which they will be digitized (electronically created) using artificial intelligence (AI). Invoice data is extracted and transposed into voucher documents in the CU Marketplace with the original invoice included as an attachment.
In the CU Marketplace, departmental Procurement Initiators will review the voucher, add or update details as needed, confirm that goods or services have been received, and then submit the voucher to the Financial Approval step in workflow.
Procurement Initiators will no longer have to manually create vouchers via data entry, which saves them time.
For exact instructions, refer to the APIA Pilot for Procurement Initiators job aid.
Procurement Initiators will still be responsible for confirming that goods and/or services have been appropriately received. They will still add more details to the voucher, such as ChartStrings for non-PO vouchers. They will attach additional documentation or insert ad-hoc approvers when needed.
Financial Approvers also remain responsible for ensuring the purchase is appropriate and within departmental policies and budgets.
Change Advisory Committee
Andrew Keen Alumni & Development [email protected]
Josh Sakolsky Arts & Sciences [email protected]
Melissa Rivera Arts & Sciences [email protected]
Kelly Tiedemann Athletics [email protected]
Anna Wojnarowska Business [email protected]
Rodbert Ellis Climate School [email protected]
Lisa Connolly Climate School [email protected]
Yesenia Capellan Climate School [email protected]
Christian Molina College [email protected]
Barbara Rosenberg CUIMC [email protected]
Susan Liquori CUIMC [email protected]
Nubia Deleon Dental [email protected];
Theresa McKenzie Engineering [email protected];
Malcolm Thaxton Engineering [email protected]
Helen Chung Finance [email protected]
Raquel Marin Finance IA [email protected]
Will Hammond Finance IA [email protected]
David Lieu Finance [email protected]
John Hannon Finance Service Center [email protected]
Natasha Genodman General Counsel [email protected]
Tanya Mottley Journalism [email protected]
Anna Lynch-McNamara Law [email protected]
Nicole Ogden Libraries [email protected]
Henry Lee Nursing [email protected]
Wayne Tang Surgery [email protected]
Milko Milkov Professional Studies [email protected]
David DeClercq Public Health [email protected]
Reina Burdie Social Work [email protected]
Ed Johnson Zuckerman Institute [email protected]
Information Session Recording
View the slide deck associated with the Phase 2 information session above.