Recommendations for optimizing XML invoices

The ultimate goal is to be able to automatically process XML invoices through the system with as little manual intervention as possible. Initially, however, when you start receiving XML invoices from a new supplier, for example, it is important to verify that the values that are extracted from XML invoices are correct. If the XML invoices you receive adhere to an XML invoice standard but do not do it correctly, for example, it is possible that incorrect values could be misunderstood to be correct and invoices could be automatically approved. This requires a period of time during which the XML invoices that are received must be verified manually and that the invoice definitions or profiles they belong to must be optimized when needed until you are satisfied with the results.

This topic provides recommendations for what to think about when optimizing XML invoices.

Prerequisites

In order to be able to optimize your XML invoices properly, you need to answer some questions about your system and the fields you need to capture, before you start:

My INVOICES system

• How many buyers do i have?

Knowing which buyer an invoice belongs to simplifies the process significantly. If you receive XML files by email, you can use email addresses to separate them by buyer.

• Is my material sorted by buyer?
• Do I use master data?
• Do I have both GE and PO INVOICES profiles?

Fields to be captured

You need to know what information needs to be captured on your invoices. Start by looking at the XML Layout. Compare the fields it contains with those found in your INVOICES profile.

• Make a list of all of the fields in your INVOICES profiles (both standard and custom).
• • Indicate if they are system fields or custom fields.
  • Include the field type and the field name.
• Decide if you need to add fields (most likely if you have your own field types)
• Since XML invoices normally contain much more information than paper invoices, you might consider creating a separate INVOICES profile just for them. You would then add the additional fields that you want to extract to the new INVOICES profile.

General guidelines

Always follow these guidelines when optimizing XML invoice definitions:

• Name and SupplierNumber are both extremely important values for both supplier and buyer. Make sure that these four are correct (and do not remove them).

• All fields do not need to be optimized so that a green icon () is displayed for the field status. Keep in mind that the first match that COLLECTOR finds is what is displayed in Verify.

• If the field status is indicated by a green icon (), a perfect match has been found for what is expected in the XML invoice standard that the invoice is associated with. Check that it is correct, and if not, map it to the correct value.

• If the field status is indicated by a yellow triangle (), multiple matches have been found for what is expected in the XML invoice standard that the invoice is associated with, and it is the first one that is displayed in Verify. Look at the XML and at the alternatives. If all of the values are the same and correct, you may be able to leave it as it is. Another alternative is to pick which of the values you want to use and create an advanced rule to extract it. When this is the case, it would be appropriate to look at the XML for multiple invoices from this supplier to try to get a broader perspective as to which value is the correct one.

• If the field status is indicated by a red stop sign (), there is no suitable match for what is expected in the XML invoice standard that the invoice is associated with, or there is no value in the XML and the field is empty. You can either pick the correct value directly from the list of alternatives on the Field tab, or you can right-click the correct element/attribute in the XML (on the XML tab), and select Map element to the selected invoice field: <name of field>.

  If the field is empty, you can either leave it the way it is (that is, the field is empty in the image), or you can remove the field from the invoice.

• Whenever you change anything, use the Extract button to test the results to make sure they are what you expect. Doing this also updates the field status icon providing a visual indication of how good your choice is. If you pick a candidate from a long list and click Extract, for example, the program will limit the list to only those items in the list that are the same (that is, the icon would change from to ). You could then create a rule to make the match exact.

• Note that you need to decide if each change should be on the XML invoice profile level (that is, affects all invoices associated with the profile including all connected definitions) or XML invoice definition level (affects the invoices associated with the definition only).

Recommendations for optimizing invoices

This section provides a list of steps that can be followed to best optimize an invoice definition that belongs to one of the supported standards. If this is done with care, you may not need to verify the invoices that belong to the invoice definition – or you may only need to approve them, depending on how the INVOICES job has been set up.

Pre steps

1. If you have many XML invoices to optimize, sort them first by XML format and then by supplier.

2. For the best and fastest results, make sure that you have at least three XML invoice examples for each supplier that you can use to test and set up the system to work with XML invoices.

3. Look at each of the XML invoice samples for each supplier (using Internet Explorer, for example), and try to find the file that contains the most data.

4. Run that file through Interpret.

Steps to optimize the invoice from the pre steps

1. Start by expanding the Supplier fields on the Fields tab in the XML Mapper. (Note that Supplier is not listed first.)

   • If master data is not used, map all supplier fields according to your needs. The goal is to get the image to look  the way you want it to.
   • If master data is used:
   • • Make sure the values mapped match your list of suppliers.
     • Keep in mind that the supplier must have the same Corporate Group ID as the Buyer.

Notes:

2. • • When using master data, this is the default order fields are used to identify the invoice: SupplierNumber, Name1, Name2, Description, POBox, Street, StreetSupplement, PostalCode, BuyerAddressPostalCode, City, CountryCoded, CountryName, TelephoneNumber, FaxNumber, VATRegistrationNumber, TaxNumber1, TaxNumber2, CorporateGroupID.
     • Supplier Bank Fields can also be used for identification.
3. Switch to the XML tab in the left pane, select the first supplier field in the Fields tab on the right, and work through the fields from the top down:
4. Is the Name field correct? This is absolutely the most important field to match. Make sure that the value is extracted from the right place. If master data is used, ensure that the spelling matches it exactly.

5. Is the Supplier number field correct? This is the second most important field. Make sure that it is extracted from the correct location and matches master data if used (in combination with the Supplier name).

6. If master data is used, and the Supplier name is unique there, this field is not technically needed. In that case you could disable extraction for the field. Then the field would not be visible in the image, and the value would be taken from the master data.

   If, on the other hand, you still want the field to be visible, it could be good aesthetically to ensure that the extracted value is correct, even though technically there is no need for it to match the master data.

7. Click Save XML definition when those two fields are correct. The correct supplier name should now be visible at the top of the XML Mapper window.

8. Depending on how the identification of invoices goes in INVOICES while using master data, it may be necessary to correctly extract additional fields to find a unique supplier. For example, if you have multiple suppliers with the same name and number, the address or some other field may determine the match. Look at your master data, check the settings specified in the [BuyerIdentification] and [SupplierIdentification] sections of Eiglobal.ini, and read Help to understand the default order for the fields that are used to identify the supplier. (See INVOICES-INI-File-help.chm for more information.)

   For example, in eiglobal.ini:

   [BuyerIdentification] section

   • BuyerField1
   • BuyerField2
   • BuyerField3

   [SupplierIdentification] section

   • SupplierField1
   • SupplierField2
   • SupplierField3
9. When master data is used, only those fields that are connected to it are technically required (only a few supplier buyer fields are necessary - a single match can be enough to get an exact match in the master data). The values that are included in the output are actually taken from the master data and not from the XML. This means that you can decide how much additional supplier and buyer data you want displayed with the invoice image. So after you check and optimize all of the fields that may be needed to map values against master data, review the remaining fields to decide if and how they should be displayed. If your XML invoices from a particular supplier conform to the standard well, there is not much to do for Supplier fields except for Name and Supplier number mentioned above.

10. Next, review the Buyer fields using the same steps outlined for supplier fields above. (Buyer is listed first on the Fields tab in the XML Mapper.)

11. If you only have one buyer in the system, make sure that the information you want is correct.

    If you have several buyers (that is, the <SYSTEM> profile is specified in the job settings), make sure that the mapped values match your list of buyers. By default, fields are mapped in this order: Name1, Name2, Namesupplement1, Namesupplement2.

    • You probably want to disable extraction for fields that are not of interest.

    • Check the remaining fields, and if any do not follow the standard entirely, adjust how those fields are found.

    Notes:

    • If you have to change the buyer and reinterpret the XML invoice, make sure to delete the corresponding INVOICES definition before the invoice is re-interpreted.

    • VatRegistrationNumber is not used for XML invoices (but it is very important in connection with paper invoices).

    • You can change the matching order in eiglobal.ini.

12. Expand the Fields section on the Fields tab in the XML Mapper. The list of fields found here is usually much longer than what is normally found in your INVOICES profiles. It could be a good idea to remove unnecessary fields (for example SupplierAccountNumber3) from the layout in Maintenance before you start testing the XML invoices.

    Note, however, that fields that are removed in this way are removed from all of your XML invoices, not only those from a specific supplier. If you only want to remove a field for a specific supplier, do that in Optimize.

13. if you are working with a custom XML profile:

    1. Ensure that the Invoice order number is mapped correctly, so that INVOICES can select a GE or PO INVOICES profile.

    2. Fix the Invoice Credit field. This field is special in INVOICES. It must either have the value 0 for invoices or 1 for Credit invoices.

14. Review all of the fields that are included in the XML.

15. Fix (normal) fields

16. Fix the layout by adding or removing fields.

17. Map line-item fields.

18. Map attachment fields.

Related topics

Processing XML invoices using COLLECTOR: Overview

Mapping invoice fields to the corresponding XML element/attribute

Mapping line items to elements/attributes in XML invoices

Creating rules to map values for fields in XML invoices