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Document subtypes

There is another component to document types, the document subtype.

The Extraction service uses document types to describe the type of incoming documents that you want to process and the information that you want to extract from the documents. Document types still provide this vital function; however, now there is another component, the document subtype.

Subtypes introduce a new way of working with document types. You can think of subtypes as an additional description that provides more information about the purpose of the document type. For example, you could have document type for British invoices with a subtype, "purchase orders." In this example, the subtype tells you that this document type is for processing PO invoices.

Currently, these subtypes are available in the Document type dialog:

  • Purchase order
  • General expense
  • Credit note

Each subtype is configured with the appropriate fields that you expect. For example, the purchase order subtype contains purchase order fields, whereas the general expense subtype does not have purchase order number fields.

Document subtypes are helpful for administrators because they consolidate and simplify document-type settings. For Office users, it means Tungsten AP Essentials can automatically detect the document type when uploading invoices. AP Essentials Office users can also change the document subtype during verification.

Automatic document type classification

AP Essentials Office To take advantage of automatic document type classification, you must:

  • Enable all three subtypes.

  • Specify the Country setting of the customer account and any buyers that exist.

    If you process documents from multiple countries, use buyer organizations to differentiate between each country. In other words, create a buyer for each country and specify the Country setting of each buyer. Also make sure you have enabled the corresponding document types for each country you require.

  • Select Only use country-specific subtypes and the XML document type in the Extraction service settings.

    This setting validates your setup to make sure you are not combining generic document types with country-specific document subtypes, with one exception: you are also optionally allowed to use the XML document type. The validation also warns you if, for example, any buyer organizations do not have a country specified.

    Partner users cannot select Automatic classification in the Document type setting when uploading documents.

When uploading invoices to AP Essentials Office, select Automatic classification in the Document type setting. During extraction, AP Essentials uses several methods to determine the correct document type.

  • The country of the customer account or buyer determine the locale of the document type.

  • If a credit field is found, or if the gross amount is negative, the credit note document type is chosen.

  • If an order number field is found, the purchase order invoice document type is chosen.

  • If neither a credit field nor a negative gross amount nor an order number field is found, the expense document type is chosen.

If the wrong document type or buyer is determined, AP Essentials Office users can correct this during verification without having to upload the invoice again. If you change the subtype or buyer during verification, the fields that are displayed change according to your selection. If any fields use default values (specified in the Use default value setting), the default value is also updated according to the default value of the current subtype. Note however, that if you use the XML document type with subtypes, and a document is interpreted using the XML document type, you cannot change the document type during verification because the XML document type is not a subtype.

Require PO numbers to improve classification

Sometimes you receive an invoice whose PO number is not found or does not match the required format. As a result, AP Essentials can classify the document incorrectly as a general expense, which requires manual correction later. To avoid this issue and improve automatic classification, you can enable the Invoices require PO setting, so invoices from specific suppliers require a PO number. Alternatively, you can specify the corresponding XML element in the supplier master data.

How it works

Assume you use automatic document type classification and enable Invoices require PO for a supplier. Whenever you receive a document from this supplier, AP Essentials checks if the document is a credit note by looking for credit fields and negative amounts. If the document does not appear to be a credit note, it is automatically classified as a purchase order invoice, even if no PO number is found. If no purchase order number is found, the invoice order number field is marked with a validation error. In contrast, if you do not enable Invoices require PO and no PO number is found, the document is classified as an expense invoice.