Automatic coding suggestions

Assume you enabled automatic coding suggestions and code an invoice on account "456" with 100% of the amount in the debit column and zero in the credit column. You also specify "1044" as the cost center and "003" as the project.

Then you click OK to complete the approval process and send the invoice to the target system.

The next time you code an invoice from the same supplier, the coding row is automatically filled in for you. In this example, 100% of the invoice amount is in the debit column. Likewise, the account, cost center and project are the same as the previous coding.

You enable the Automatic coding suggestion setting on the Coding tab in Admin Center. Then make sure Include in coding suggestion is selected for each coding field that should utilize coding suggestions.

Tungsten AP Essentials creates an accounts-payable coding history for each supplier. For each invoice that has been completely processed through the system, a coding template is created from the coding data. The templates from the last ten invoices are used to determine which account codes and amounts to suggest during coding. The template that has been used most often in the coding history is used as the coding suggestion. If all ten coding templates are unique, the most recent template is used as the coding suggestion.

Each coding template is characterized by:

• The number of lines it contains. Each template can contain up to 100 coding lines.
• Which accounts are specified.
• The order the lines occur, using the account as an index.
• The coding dimension values.
• The amounts as a calculated percentage of the total amount.

If any of the characteristics above differ from one template to another, they are considered unique. Consider the following example which represents a chronological coding history from one supplier with the most recent template at the top of the table and the oldest at the bottom. After a document has been completely processed, its coding template is added to the first position at the top of the coding history, and the oldest coding template is removed from the bottom of the list. In this manner, the coding history always consists of the most recent ten coding templates.

In the example above, invoice 1, 2 and 3 have the exact same coding template (template A). It is the most popular and most recent template. Therefore, it will be used as the automatic coding suggestion on the next new invoice from this supplier. Examples 7, 8 and 9 (template E) are also exactly the same. However, they lose the popularity contest because instances of template A appear more recently in the coding history. If the coding on the next invoice is manually changed to match template E, template E would become the most popular template, with four entries in the coding history.

The coding history can be shared on different levels: partner, customer and buyer. The level determines how coding suggestions are shared. For example:

• If you share the coding history on the partner level, all customers of the partner account contribute to and use the same coding suggestions. This can be useful if the customers use the same account codes and have many invoices from the same suppliers.

  If you share the coding history on the partner level, all customers must have the same selection in the Balancing amount setting.

  Balancing against the gross amount is the default behavior when Allow balancing against total amount is not selected. Read more about amount balancing.

• If you share coding history on the customer level, the code-suggestions stay within the customer and is only shared amongst the buyers of the customer (if the customer has multiple buyers).
• If you share coding history on the buyer level, the code-suggestions stay within the buyer.
  The coding history is only shared behind the scenes. There is no way for one customer to see the coding data of another customer.

Sometimes you make changes which require you to refresh () coding suggestions. Tungsten AP Essentials prompts you to refresh your coding suggestions when the:

• Buyer is changed.
• Supplier is changed.
• Invoice/Credit field is changed.
• Net/Gross amount is changed.

In addition to the points above, if you use line items as your coding-suggestion source, Tungsten AP Essentials also prompts you to refresh your coding suggestions when:

• Line items are added or removed.
• The line-item table is redrawn.
• A line-item amount is changed.

It is possible to share the coding history across multiple levels. When you select multiple levels in the Coding settings, the coding history  is shared upwards through the hierarchy. For example, assume you select all three levels. This has several implications:

• When you code an invoice on the buyer level, Tungsten AP Essentials checks if there is a suitable coding suggestion on the buyer level. If no suggestion is found there, Tungsten AP Essentials checks the customer level, and if no suggestion is found there, Tungsten AP Essentials checks the partner level.
• When you code an invoice on the buyer level, the coding history is updated on the parent customer and partner.
• When you code an invoice on the customer level, the coding history is updated in its own customer level and in the parent partner level.

In order to share coding data between partners, customers and buyers, the suppliers must have a value for:

• the supplier number field.
• the VAT registration field or the organization number field.

Automatic coding suggestions can come from one of three sources, which you specify in the Coding configuration settings:

• Online coding - Uses historical data from Tungsten AP Essentials to determine the default coding suggestions.
• Line items - Inserts each line item as a coding row and uses historical data from Tungsten AP Essentials to determine the default coding suggestions.

  When your default account type is general ledger, coding suggestions are made for account fields if you used the same account for all rows when coding previous invoices from the same supplier.

  Coding amounts for invoices are placed in the debit column, whereas coding amounts for credit notes are placed in the credit column.

  If the current document type does not have any line items, Online coding is used. If the current document type does have line item fields, but no line items are captured, no coding suggestions are created.

• External system - Uses coding suggestions provided by an external system. This option is only supported when you use Tungsten AP Essentials with Visma Business.