Automatic Document Matching
If you set up automatic matching, Continia Document Capture automatically matches incoming invoices and credit memos with their related documents based on the matching criteria that you've specified in the setup. This typically saves a lot of valuable time compared to manual matching and is particularly well suited for organizations that receive large volumes of incoming documents.
One of the matching criteria that you can set up is whether or not lines should be recognized and matched. This setting has a significant impact on the automatic matching process, as line matching differs considerably from header matching. The differences are explained in the sections below.
To set up header matching, see Configuring Automatic Matching. To set up line matching, see Setting up Line Matching.
Overall matching parameters
No matter if line matching has been enabled or not, Document Capture will apply a number of overall filters as matching parameters in an attempt to establish a link between an incoming invoice/credit memo and one or more other related documents (orders/receipts for invoices and return orders/return shipments for credit memos). The applied filters are intended to narrow down the number of potential matches before any other matching criteria relating to either header or line matching are applied.
Mandatory filters (automatically applied):
- Vendor number
- Currency code
- Open quantity:
- For order lines, Outstanding Quantity must be other than zero.
- For receipt lines, Qty. Rcd. Not Invoiced must be other than zero.
Note
This filter is applied to identify document lines that haven't yet been invoiced.
Optional filters:
- Order number – relating to the Our Order No. field in the document journal
- Vendor order number
- Vendor shipment number
Header matching
When Document Capture matches an invoice or a credit memo against related documents at header level, it matches the lines of the related documents up with the total amount of the invoice or credit memo, using the quantity and price of each matched document line. Taking an incoming invoice as an example, if the total amount of that invoice is $1,000 and Document Capture identifies a purchase receipt with a line that has a Quantity of 10 and a Direct Unit Cost (Order) of $100, that purchase receipt line will be considered a perfect match (10 × $100 = $1,000).
Note that if, for example, the total invoice amount had been $1,005 and you had set up a variance of $10, the identified purchase receipt line mentioned above would also have been considered an acceptable match. However, seeing that it would have been $5 short of being a perfect match, it wouldn't necessarily have been selected – only if no other better matches were identified.
Tip
Usually, the total amounts of incoming invoices and credit memos vary considerably. This means that each total amount is relatively unique, and that matching against a total amount is therefore often enough to ensure a reliable match. However, if there are in fact multiple identical or useful matches for a total amount, Document Capture will simply use the first match it identifies, which may not be the correct one. To avoid situations like this, we recommend that you ask your vendors to always include an order reference in documents sent to you. This provides Document Capture with an extra matching parameter (in addition to the total amount, the currency, and the vendor number), which directly links related documents and ensures a much higher degree of accuracy.
Prioritized list of search methods
When attempting to identify matches for an incoming document at header level, Document Capture searches through document lines using a number of different search methods in the order listed below. The method that provides the most accurate match is the one that's applied.
Note
For invoices, Document Capture searches for matching order lines and receipt lines, whereas for credit memos it looks for matching return order lines and return shipment lines. The following list of search methods is based on invoices, for descriptive purposes.
Note that the search methods in the list require different settings on the template card, under Purchase Documents > Matching > Match Invoice. The required template settings are indicated for each method in the list.
| Priority | Search method | Required template setting |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Match all orders and/or receipts to the total amount of the incoming invoice. | Receipt or Order |
| 2 | Match all receipts to the total amount of the incoming invoice. | Receipt Only |
| 3 | Go through each receipt to check if it matches with the total amount of the incoming invoice. | Receipt Only |
| 4 | Go through each order to check if it matches with the total amount of the incoming invoice. | Order Only |
| 5 | Attempt to match the total amount of the incoming invoice against one order and all related receipts. | Receipt or Order |
If the difference between the invoice/credit memo amount and the sum of the matched document lines is zero for any of the above search methods, Document Capture will skip any subsequent search methods.
Line matching
When Document Capture matches an invoice or a credit memo against related documents with line matching enabled, it will check the lines of the invoice or credit memo one by one and attempt to identify a matching line for each of them in the related documents, based on matching criteria specified by you. For example, if you've set the line matching setup option Match Quantity to Yes - always, any order line or purchase receipt line that's matched against an invoice line must have the same quantity as the invoice line in order to be considered a useful match.
When you set up line matching, there are a number of matching parameters available for you to choose between, and for one of these – Match Unit Cost – you can even specify a variance amount or percentage. For example, if you set the line matching setup option Unit Cost - Variance % to 5 and then match an invoice line that has a unit price of $100, Document Capture will identify order lines and purchase receipt lines with unit costs ranging between $95 and $105 as acceptable matches, provided that any other specified matching parameters are met as well.
The matching of documents at line level rather than header level, combined with the multiple matching parameters available for line matching, enables Document Capture to match in greater detail than with header matching. However, it also adds a level of complexity to the process that may not be necessary for you, so consider what's the right setup for your particular organization.
Running automatic matching
Both types of automatic matching are carried out as described below, depending on whether or not you've enabled the Autorun Perform Match feature during setup:
If the Autorun Perform Match feature has been enabled, automatic matching will be triggered when you select Recognize Fields in the document journal. If all document fields are recognized correctly during the import of the document, matching will even be carried out automatically upon import. Either way, the comments section of the document journal will confirm that the document has been successfully matched with another document.
Note
In the document journal, under Document Header, you can retrigger the automatic matching process by manually changing the identified Order No. or the Amount Excl. VAT, if necessary.
If the Autorun Perform Match feature has not been enabled, automatic matching must be triggered manually by you. To do this, follow these steps:
- Choose the
icon, enter Document Categories, and then choose the related link. - Select the PURCHASE code to open the document journal.
- In the list of documents, select the document that you want to automatically match against other documents.
- If necessary, assign a vendor to the document.
- In the action bar, select Process > Match Lines to open the Invoice Matching page (or the Credit Memo Matching page for credit memos).
- In the action bar, select Process > Perform Match.
Document Capture will now automatically match the document against other documents. On the Order Lines FastTab, the lines for which matches were automatically found will turn bold. In the document journal, the comments section will confirm that the document has been successfully matched with another document.
See also
Manual Document Matching
Handling Discrepancies, Including Partial Matching