Data Capture for Supplier Invoices

Introduction

This company-specific feature, Data Capture for Supplier Invoices, is designed to automatically extract invoice information from supplier invoices received via email. Users can also manually upload invoices to IFS Cloud, where the system captures the data using AI.

The functionality leverages a combination of Optical Character Recognition (OCR) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to process invoice details. It supports PDF files and common image formats such as JPG, JPEG, and PNG.

Prerequisites

  1. Enable parameter

    The user must enable the parameter Capture Data using AI to use this feature. This parameter is located on the Company page > Invoice subpage > General tab, under the section Supplier Invoice Data Capture Parameters.

  2. Email setup

    If invoices are to be retrieved via email, the email address to which suppliers should send invoices must be entered in the Email field under the section Supplier Invoice Data Capture Parameters (Company page > Invoice subpage > General tab).

  3. Tax codes

    Tax Codes related to External Supplier Invoices must be defined on the External Supplier Invoice Tax Codes page.

  4. Supported formats

    Invoices must be in PDF, JPG, JPEG, or PNG format.

  5. Technical recommendations

    • Upload only documents containing invoices.
    • If a file contains multiple invoices, split them into individual documents before uploading.
    • If an invoice document also includes unrelated textual information, those details will not be captured, but processing tokens will still be consumed. To avoid unnecessary usage, remove unrelated content before uploading.

Steps

  1. View supplier invoices

    Retrieved via Email

    After entering an email address, invoices received at that address are automatically retrieved and displayed on the Data Capture for Supplier Invoices page with:

    • Status: Received
    • Source: Email

    This functionality uses the default MAIL_READER1 instance in the Readers page. The connector supports connecting to the preferred mail server using Basic Authentication, Client Credentials, or Authorization Code.

    Manual Upload

    Users can upload invoices in PDF, JPG, JPEG, or PNG format using the Add Invoice File command on the Data Capture for Supplier Invoices page.

    • If an unsupported file format is uploaded, an error message will appear.
    • Uploaded invoices will be displayed with:
      • Status: Received
      • Source: File Upload

    All invoices are sorted from the oldest to the most recently received.

  2. Scan and capture invoice data

    Invoices retrieved via Email

    Invoices received via email are automatically scanned by the Machine Learning Model. Captured data is displayed on the Data Capture for Supplier Invoice page, along with a preview of the invoice.

    Manually uploaded invoices

    When a user uploads an invoice file and clicks OK, the Machine Learning Model scans and captures the invoice data, which is then displayed with a preview.

    Data captured from the invoice header includes:

    • Supplier
    • Invoice Number
    • Invoice Date
    • Due Date
    • Invoice Recipient
    • PO Reference
    • Gross Amount
    • Net Amount
    • Tax Amount

    Data captured from the invoice lines includes:

    • Description
    • Unit of Measure
    • Quantity
    • Tax Rate
    • Unit Price
    • Net Amount
    • Tax Amount

    The Line Information section highlights any differences between the total of the lines and the header totals.

  3. Review and verify captured invoice data

    • Users can select one or more invoices and click Details to review them on the Data Capture for Supplier Invoice page.
    • Both header and line data can be checked against the invoice preview. Edits can be made if required.
    • Rounding differences can be entered in the Rounding Amount field at the header level. This value is included when calculating mismatches between header totals and line totals.
    • If valid Tax Codes are defined, IFS automatically matches the captured Tax Rate with the appropriate Tax Code using AI.
    • If the user manually changes the Tax Code or Net Amount, the Tax Amount is recalculated accordingly.

  4. Revert changes

    • The Revert Changes command button is visible only if edits have been made to header or line data.
    • Clicking this button restores the originally captured values.

  5. Transfer invoice to External Supplier Invoices

    • After review, users can transfer the invoice to the External Supplier Invoices workflow by clicking Transfer Invoice command button.
    • If mismatches exist between line and header totals (considering any rounding adjustments), a warning message will appear before transfer.
    • Once transferred:
      • Status updates to Transferred.
      • A new button, View External Supplier Invoices, becomes available to navigate directly to the External Supplier Invoices page.
    • On transfer, the invoice follows the standard IFS E-invoice workflow.
    • On the Data Capture for Supplier Invoices page, users can view transferred invoices by disabling the Show Invoices With Status As Received toggle in the search panel.

Important Guidelines