Troubleshoot AP Automation with Purchasing

AP Automation with Purchasing is generally available. Contact your account manager or Channel Executive to add AP Automation to your company if it isn't already.

After your company is enabled at the backend, read Set up AP Automation with Purchasingto learn how to configure your setup.

If you upload a vendor document, see it in Analyzing state in the list, and then it disappears, this means that the Vendor is set to always create AP bills from automated transactions.

Solution: You can find the transaction on the Bills list. If you no longer want transactions from this vendor to be created as AP bills, learn how to remove the setting.

If AI/ML makes an incorrect prediction, you can change the transaction definition.

When you select Change to, the transaction definitions that appear in the list are those mapped for your entity, in the Purchasing configuration.

This can happen when the vendor invoice matches a source transaction that is mapped to a target transaction definition with restrictions.

Typically, this means that the transaction definition was created at the top level with some restrictions and your configuration does not override this mapping at the entity level.

For example, say you create a target transaction definition that is restricted for the Western region entity. When you set up the transaction definition mapping in the Purchasing configuration, if you do not provide specific mapping for the Western region entity, the entity inherits the mapping configuration from the top level.

When you later upload a vendor document that matches the source document mapping for the top level, Sage Intacct cannot create the vendor invoice using the target transaction that you mapped to the source. Instead, Intacct uses the PO-SYS Auto default transaction definition.

Learn how to update the transaction definition in this situation.

To change the transaction definition, the following must be true.

• The transaction must be in a draft state.
• The transaction must be created as an automated draft, not a manual draft.
• You must be in edit mode.

If you get an error when changing the transaction definition, it's likely because the transaction is still linked to a source transaction such as a purchase order or receiver. When a source transaction link exists, certain fields are locked and cannot be changed. Remove the source transaction first, then try again.

SYS-PO Automation is a placeholder transaction definition used by the Sage Intacct.

For transactions in a draft state, SYS-PO Automation indicates that you need update the transaction definition and the source match before you edit and post the transaction. Learn how to change the transaction definition.

For transactions in an Analyzing state, the placeholder only appears during transaction analysis and you can ignore it. Sage Intacct updates the transaction type when analysis is complete and the draft is created.

Collapsing all line items into a single summarized total in Purchasing can impact inventory reporting. When using this feature, to optimize for AI accuracy and inventory reporting, we suggest only making changes to the predicted lines instead of deleting and adding rows.

After you create a new vendor, Sage Intacct updates the machine learning model with this information within 24 hours.

If you upload or email purchasing documents for the vendor before the daily update occurs, Intacct might not be able to match the vendor. However, when you submit new transactions on subsequent days, Intacct is much more likely to make an accurate match.

If your transaction was created using a transaction definition that has Allow edit of vendor set to Never, you cannot correct the vendor match made by AI/ML.

Typically, when you post a transaction after making corrections, AI/ML learns from your changes and uses that information to make better predictions in the future. However, if your configuration does not allow you to change the vendor, AI/ML has no updated information to use for vendor match predictions.

Solution: Your options are as follows.

• Delete the draft and create the transaction manually, without using automation.
• If you do not require Allow edit of vendor to be set to Never, change the setting to Always or Except converted document.
  
  Remove the transaction definition from the configuration before you can change the settings. You can restore the mapping after you save your changes.

Vendor match accuracy is impacted by two factors:

• How long you have been using automated transaction matching
• The quality of your vendor data

Time is a factor because Intacct uses machine learning to determine the most likely vendor record match for the vendor invoices you submit. To make predictions, machine learning observes your transactions patterns over time and uses that information to build a model.

This means that in the beginning, Intacct will not know the best predictions to make. As you continue to use the automated transaction matching, the predictions will improve. Given the many factors that can affect matches, such as the quality of scans and vendors with similar names, you probably will not see 100% accuracy for vendor matching. However, you should notice a significant improvement over time.

The quality of your vendor data matters because if you have multiple vendor records with the same vendor name and the same address, Intacct does not know which vendor record to match. This, too, improves over time as machine learning determines which record you want.

When AP Automation with Purchasing is enabled, Smart Rules and Smart Events do not run on draft transactions until you submit or post.

This is true for any draft that you create in the Purchasing, Order Entry, or Inventory applications, even when the draft uses a transaction definition that is not mapped for automated transaction matching.

The Subtotals section does not appear when the vendor and all the items IDs are non-taxable.

When an uploaded document stays in the Analyzing state for more than 2 hours, Sage Intacct displays a Cancel link next to the vendor invoice, on the Automated transactions list.

You can allow Intacct to continue analyzing the file. Or, select Cancel to do the following:

• Stop analysis of the document.
• Create an empty draft transaction, with the document attached.

Once you cancel processing, you can enter transaction details directly, using the attached document as a reference.

Vendor invoices created from documents that are emailed, rather than uploaded, are not associated with a user. As a result, they're shown in the audit trail as being created by the system.

The Upload and Refresh buttons appear on the Automated transactions page when you have Purchasing transactions: Add permissions.

If you're a user restricted to certain locations, you can upload documents at the entity level only.

Depending on the configuration you chose during setup, Sage Intacct populates the draft vendor invoice either using AI/ML predictions or line items from the source purchasing transaction.

If you have line-level matching enabled, AI/ML compares the vendor invoice with the source transaction and predicts line matches. Lines that AI/ML determines are a near match are flagged in the Exception column, so that you can compare the item's quantity and price against the vendor document.

If you do not have line-level matching enabled, the draft vendor invoice is populated with line items from the source purchasing transaction. If the vendor invoiced you for different quantities or prices, or if they added additional items, you need to make corrections to the entries before you post.

This can happen in the following circumstance:

• Line-level matching is enabled.
• AI/ML detects a purchase order number in the vendor document that can be matched to a source transaction.
• AI/ML cannot confidently match the line items in the vendor document to the source transaction.

In this case, rather than give you questionable data as a match, AI/ML leaves the line items empty.

To identify the line items that you need to add, refer to the vendor document attached to the vendor invoice.

If a vendor invoice has been matched to a source transaction, but you have not posted the vendor invoice, the source transaction status remains In Progress.

You can only convert a purchasing transaction that's Pending or Partially converted, which means that no other vendor invoice will be matched to that source transaction until you post the matched vendor invoice.

To resolve this, review and post the matched vendor invoice before uploading additional vendor documents that reference the same source purchasing transaction.

If you already uploaded the vendor invoices, post the matched vendor invoice and then manually select a Converted from transaction for the second vendor invoice.

Setting up match tolerances in the Purchasing configurations allows you to continue viewing the exception summary. Without match tolerances enabled, the system assumes that you've made changes to resolve the discrepancies, so the exception summary is cleared and line items are no longer marked for review.

Learn more about match tolerances.

Intacct reads attachments from the header of the email message, not the body. Email messages sent using Rich Text, a legacy format, add attachments as icons to the message body, instead of adding them to the message header. These attachments cannot be read by Intacct.

Solution: In your email application, make one of the following changes:

• Change your default message format to HTML.
• Change the format of the individual message to HTML when forwarding a vendor invoice.

When you delete an entity, the provisioned mailbox is deactivated. When you create a new entity, Intacct provisions a new email address with a unique address. To do this, Intacct appends _2 after the entity ID.

For example, say that your company ID is examplecorp and your entity ID is E100. Intacct provisions a mailbox for that entity with the address examplecorpe100@sagemail.com.

When you delete the NA entity, Intacct removes examplecorpe100@sagemail.com. When you create a new entity and give it the same entity ID of NA, Intacct provisions a new mailbox with the address examplecorpe100_2@sagemail.com.

If you repeat this process, deleting the entity and creating a new one with the same entity ID, Intacct provisions a new mailbox and increments the number, like this: examplecorpe100_3@sagemail.com.

When you deactivate an entity, Intacct does not delete the associated mailbox. If you or a vendor forwards vendor invoices to the mailbox, the system will create draft transactions, but you will not be able to take action on them while the entity is inactive.

Before deactivating an entity, notify any vendors who regularly forward vendor invoices to the mailbox that the email address is no longer monitored.

See Inactivate or delete an entity for more information.

Import exceptions alerts you to issues found when the emailed or uploaded document was processed. For example, a duplicate vendor invoice or unreadable file.

In cases where Intacct cannot capture some or all of the vendor invoice information, you can fill in the details yourself, using the attachment as a reference. If the attachment is unreadable, submit a new file or ask the vendor to resend the vendor invoice.

When you edit or view a draft that has an import exception, a more detailed exception message appears. The import exception clears once you save, post, or submit the transaction.

Potential import exceptions are as follows:

To determine if an uploaded or emailed document is a duplicate, Sage Intacct compares the file you submit to previously uploaded and emailed files, for the same entity. The following are potential scenarios where a duplicate vendor invoice might not be identified as a duplicate:

• The file image is not identical to the previously submitted vendor invoice.

  If a vendor invoice was mistakenly scanned twice, and the scans are different, the system might not identify the duplicate.

• The duplicate files were submitted to different entities and not to the top level.

  If you uploaded the vendor invoice to 2 different entities, or emailed them to the addresses for two different entities, the system will not compare the vendor invoices.

• The duplicate documents were submitted simultaneously.

  If you submit a batch of vendor invoices that includes duplicates, the duplicates might be processed simultaneously. If the vendor invoices are analyzed at the same time, Sage Intacct will not have a completed draft to use for comparison. To avoid this situation, check your attachment list for duplicate file names before forwarding a batch of vendor invoices.