Lake Forest, CA - May 2007 - Running a multi-national major airline is a challenge under the best of circumstances. This task becomes much more complicated when the airline is also going through the Chapter 11 bankruptcy process. This was the challenge that faced Delta Air Lines in September 2005. One area that was significantly affected by the bankruptcy was the accounts payable function.

From a vendor payment standpoint it was as if Delta was two different companies-one the day before the bankruptcy petition was filed and a different company the day after. It was the responsibility of the accounts payable staff to analyze every invoice and determine whether it was a pre-petition or post-petition invoice and then apply the appropriate payment rules. The accounts payable staff reviewed thousands of invoices in a 60-day period. This task was even more daunting since the staff had been reduced significantly.

A major factor that contributed to Delta's ability to manage vendor payments through the bankruptcy process was the use of the InvoiceWorks technology, an Internet invoicing application provided through iPayables. Delta had been using InvoiceWorks, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) electronic invoicing standard for the aviation industry, since 2004. At the time of the bankruptcy filing 11,000 of Delta's suppliers already had invoices being processed through InvoiceWorks. This enabled Delta to quickly adjust its payment process to the new environment after the bankruptcy petition was filed.

"Once the bankruptcy filing was made, one of the first calls that we made was to iPayables," stated Deborah G. McNamara, Delta Air Lines InvoiceWorks Specialist. "We needed changes in our Invoiceworks product to be done very quickly. iPayables was very responsive and had the necessary system changes in place before the next business day."

iPayables, through InvoiceWorks, was able to assist Delta as it worked through bankruptcy in many ways. First, Delta was able to quickly identify all the invoices that were submitted prior to the petition filing. Delta was able to tag these invoices so they would not be improperly paid. They were also able to provide instructions to the suppliers how to manually resubmit these invoices for consideration as part of the bankruptcy process.

Second, Delta was able to quickly and accurately identify those invoices that were submitted after the petition date which Delta was legally obligated to pay.

A significant benefit of InvoiceWorks during the bankruptcy was the two-way communication between Delta and its suppliers. iPayables sent out "blast" messages on behalf of Delta informing the suppliers of the transitional changes. The dispute feature within InvoiceWorks enabled suppliers to contact Delta with questions about a specific invoice. This reduced the number of telephone calls from suppliers to Delta. Additionally, Suppliers were able to view the status of specific invoices on a 24/7 basis.

iPayables also customized the vendor home page of InvoiceWorks to contain specific Chapter 11 instructions. For example, some suppliers may have wrongly assumed that any invoices submitted prior to petition date were worthless. The information in InvoiceWorks instructed suppliers how to resubmit these invoices for payment consideration. InvoiceWorks also provided suppliers with information on which invoices were pre-petition vs. post-petition.

On April 30, 2007 Delta emerged from bankruptcy. But that is not the end of the partnership between iPayables and Delta. They continue to work together to find additional ways to streamline Delta's payment processing operations. For example, Delta uses InvoiceWorks to monitor the petty cash accounts of various internal departments. This provides greater accountability and enhances the ability of the company's financial teams to audit these accounts.

Additionally, Delta uses InvoiceWorks to provide the accountability of financial transactions as required by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX). The SOX was passed by Congress to protect investors in response to the high-profile failures such as Enron and WorldCom by improving the accuracy and reliability of corporate disclosures.

"This is where iPayables excels," stated Ken Virgin, iPayables CEO. "Our applications can support the large number of suppliers and invoices of the world's largest organizations, yet are flexible enough to accommodate these type of requests."

InvoiceWorks is a product of iPayables, a leading provider of Internet invoice delivery and payment services. iPayables reduces accounts payable paper-processing costs with a blend of technology and service. Founded in 1999, they provide invoicing services for most of the major airlines worldwide in addition to a number of other Fortune 1000 companies in other industries. More than 35,000 companies in 150 countries, including over one-half of the Fortune 100 companies have invoices flowing through the InvoiceWorks application.