Ten Years Strong: How Rack Room Shoes Built a Smarter, Scalable AP Operation with DataServ
Key Results:
- Over 41,000 invoices processed per year
- Near-zero invoice capture error rate
- 99.8% or greater system uptime every month
- 72% of invoices received via email, reflecting steady year-over-year growth in digital submission
- 24% of invoice volume now processed through Intelligent Vendor Capture (IVC)
Key Stats:
- Client since 2016
- ~4,000 associates
- Headquartered in Charlotte, NC
- Industry: Retail
- 500+ stores in 33 states
Executive Summary
Rack Room Shoes is an American footwear retailer with more than a century of history, approximately 4,000 associates, and 500+ stores across 33 states. Before partnering with DataServ, the company’s high invoice volume created real operational strain: paper accumulated across seven file cabinets, decentralized invoices sat on department desks instead of moving through AP, and misfiled documents made audits stressful and month-end accruals unreliable.
Rack Room Shoes engaged DataServ in 2016 and has relied on the platform ever since. Nine years in, the partnership has grown into a fully integrated AP automation operation covering invoice capture, automated workflow, vendor management, payment processing, and real-time analytics. In the most recent 12-month review period, Rack Room processed 41,220 documents with near-zero capture errors, average IPM turnaround under 25 hours, and system uptime at or above 99.8% every month.
Outcomes
From Paper Overload to a Centralized, Digital Operation: When Rack Room Shoes first came to DataServ, five of nine AP full-time employees were dedicated to handling paper invoices from the roughly 10% of the vendor base that did not submit via EDI. Seven file cabinets of paper accumulated each year. DataServ centralized invoice capture through the Invoice Processing Machine™, moved document storage fully digital, and replaced manual routing with automated workflow. Rack Room reduced seven file cabinets of paper invoices to two. The remaining manual processing covers only travel and confidential invoices that require a brief human review before system entry.
Consistent, High-Performance Invoice Processing: Year over year, Rack Room’s Invoice Processing Machine performance has remained strong. From March 2024 through February 2025, Rack Room processed 41,220 documents, up from 39,069 the prior year. Capture error rates were effectively zero, reaching 0.00% in 11 of 12 months in the review period. System uptime tracked at 99.8% or higher every month. In a retail environment where invoices arrive continuously, this reliability prevents the supply chain and vendor relationship disruptions that come with any processing downtime.
Growing Digital Adoption and Intelligent Vendor Capture: The continued shift toward fully digital invoice receipt reflects a maturing AP operation. Email-based submission has grown year over year, reducing manual handling at the front end of the process and accelerating time-to-processing. Intelligent Vendor Capture (IVC) now drives automation for 24% of Rack Room’s total invoice volume, with 23% of received email addresses recognized by the system. IVC automates vendor identification and metadata extraction at the point of ingestion, allowing the AP team to focus on exceptions rather than routine processing.
Audit Readiness and Full Lifecycle Document Retention: Before DataServ, annual and sales tax audits required pulling physical invoices on demand, and frequently misfiled documents created real risk of incomplete responses. DataServ’s platform resolved that. Full audit log access gives the AP team a complete record of who touched a document and when, and Rack Room can now grant auditors direct read access to the platform, eliminating the retrieval burden entirely.
Continuous Improvement and Strong Partnership: From the initial deployment in 2016 through today, DataServ and Rack Room have maintained a collaborative relationship anchored in regular Executive Business Reviews, proactive performance monitoring, and responsive support. This decade-long partnership reflects confidence in DataServ not just as a software vendor but as a long-term operational partner.
Business Impact
Efficiency: Automated invoice capture and workflow routing have significantly reduced manual touchpoints across the AP team. Invoice volume has grown year over year without a corresponding increase in staff, and average processing times remain consistently within SLA.
Visibility: Real-time dashboards and analytics give Rack Room’s leadership and AP team a clear, current picture of invoice status, outstanding liabilities, and process performance, resolving the month-end accrual visibility gaps that existed before DataServ.
Audit Confidence: Digital document retention and full audit logs allow Rack Room to respond to audits on demand. Auditors receive direct platform access rather than manually produced documentation, reducing preparation time and the risk of retrieval errors.
Thoughts from Rack Room Shoes
“DataServ worked with us to make sure our needs were met. Partnership is key.”
Keri Morgan, Manager, Accounts Payable, Rack Room Shoes