Overview

Introduction to AP Invoices

AP Invoices is a SmartVendor capability that processes vendor invoices and credit memo documents received into your AP (accounts payable) flows. It focuses on:

• Validating invoice documents using configurable checklist rules.

• Controlling which documents can be written automatically to your system of record (SoR).

• Providing clear status indicators for documents that need attention.

• Offering audit history to show how documents were created, updated, and written to SoR.

• Supporting tagging so users can organize and find documents more easily.

AP Invoices can run on their own or together with AP Helpdesk. When both are enabled on the same SmartVendor instance, AP Helpdesk continues to detect invoice-related intents on AP mailbox emails, while AP Invoices manages the downstream document processing and validation.

What AP Invoices does

Document validation checks

AP Invoices validates every invoice and credit memo document against a configurable checklist.

• All documents are automatically validated against checks configured in the AP Invoices Checklists section under SmartVendor Settings.

• This validation runs for all documents, whether or not autonomous writing is enabled.

• All validation checks run in parallel.

• If any validation check fails, the document:

  • Shows a specific status on the Active Data tab.

  • Is visually identifiable as needing review.

Status indicators and sum-of-line mismatch

AP Invoices uses status indicators to show when documents need attention.

• Documents that fail one or more validation checks show a status on the Active Data tab.

• A specific status is used when the sum of line items does not match the extracted total:

  • Status: Total doesn't match line items

• Documents with this mismatch status do not qualify for autonomous write to SoR if autonomous mode is enabled for the vendor or SmartFlow skill.

Autonomous processing and write to SoR

AP Invoices can write validated documents automatically to your SoR when autonomous writing is enabled.

• When autonomous writing is enabled:

  • Only documents that pass all configured validation checks qualify for automatic write to SoR.

  • Documents that fail any validation rule are excluded from the autonomous write queue and must be handled manually.

• When autonomous writing is disabled:

  • Documents are still validated.

  • Status indicators still show which documents need attention.

If you use Composite SOR (system of record):

• A Write to SOR section is available in the Composite SOR settings on the system settings page.

• When you check Write to SOR:

  • All connected systems appear as selectable options.

  • You select which connected systems are allowed for write-back.

  • Write-back is only possible when at least two connected systems are available and selected.

• You can update the selected systems at any time from the system settings page.

Auto-population from purchase orders (POs)

When AP Invoices finds a purchase order (PO) match, it can auto-populate invoice fields from that PO.

• When a PO is matched, AP Invoices automatically populates PO-linked fields on the Document Information page. Examples include:

  • Vendor Name

  • Currency

  • Subsidiary

  • Service Period

  • Amount

  • On Behalf Of

  • Location

  • Supplier Note (from PO Description Line 1)

• All PO-linked fields are auto-populated, not only the example fields above.

• If PO matching fails, users can manually populate the required fields.

Configuration:

• A Allow PO Override checkbox is available in SmartFlow configuration.

  • When checked, PO-driven fields are overridden by PO values.

  • Tooltip: “Only available for limited header and line fields.”

• Users can specify PO formats (for example, prefixes or suffixes) for matching.

Matching behavior:

• PO number has priority for matching and field population.

• Fuzzy matching is not used for PO matching in this configuration; this is surfaced in SmartFlow configuration.

• The system covers different PO/invoice scenarios, including:

  • Single- or multi-vendor POs.

  • Summary line and multi-line POs.

  • Service and goods POs.

  • Handling of closed POs and line-matching logic.

• Vendor assignment:

  • If the PO has one vendor, that vendor is assigned from the PO.

  • If the PO has multiple vendors, vendor assignment uses matching logic and may require user review.

Additional notes:

• Summary line POs (for example, blanket POs with a single line) populate all details from the PO.

• For multi-line POs, summary handling uses the first open line with available balance.

• Date fields are not sourced from the PO. They are extracted from the invoice document itself.

Tagging for document organization

AP Invoices supports tags so users can organize and filter documents.

• Tags can be created, edited, assigned, and deleted only in:

  • Active Data tab

  • Dismissed Documents tab

• Users can assign tags to:

  • Invoice documents

  • Credit memo documents

• Tags cannot be added to documents in Written to SoR.

Tag behavior:

• The tag list is shared across Active Data and Dismissed Documents.

• Tags persist:

  • When documents move between Active Data and Dismissed Documents.

  • When classification changes between an invoice and a credit memo.

• Tags are automatically removed if the document is reclassified as Other.

• Tags appear in the document details header:

  • Multiple tags are supported.

  • Two tags are shown by default, with an ellipsis (...) for more.

• There is no limit on the number of tags that can be created or assigned.

• Each tag can be up to 20 characters in length, with no restrictions on the characters used.

Permissions:

• Only Superadmins and Procure-to-Pay Manager roles can create, edit, and delete tags.

• All users can assign existing tags to documents.

Filtering:

• Users can filter documents by tag to find specific groups of invoices or credit memos.

How AP Invoices works with AP Helpdesk and AP mailboxes

When AP Invoices and AP Helpdesk are enabled for the same SmartVendor mailbox:

• AP Helpdesk:

  • Detects Invoice Submission intent on incoming emails.

  • Applies an InvoiceSubmission soft label during initial processing.

  • Applies this label to all external senders, including unknown senders.

• AP Invoices:

  • Handles downstream invoice document processing, including validation, tagging, and (when enabled) autonomous write to SoR.

Configuration for suppressing AP Helpdesk tasks:

• In SmartVendor Settings, when both AP Helpdesk and AP Invoices are enabled, an optional checkbox is available:

  • Label: Suppress AP Helpdesk Tasks when AP Invoices Documents Added

  • Description:
    AP Helpdesk Tasks will not be added for emails with attachments, resulting in added Documents (AP Invoices) when:

    • No AP Helpdesk business intents are detected, and Documents are added.

    • The email message body is empty and Documents are added.

• This setting is intended to avoid creating AP Helpdesk review tasks when an email is only an invoice submission and does not contain a business question or request.

Impact on metrics and recovery:

• The InvoiceSubmission soft label persists even when tasks are suppressed.

• Invoice submissions continue to be counted in AP Helpdesk dashboard metrics:

  • Intents Detected

  • Emails Processed → Intent Outcomes

  • Tasks by Detected Intents (when tasks exist)

• When Collaborative Mode is also enabled, a note warns that this configuration can limit recovery paths:

  • If AP Helpdesk fails to detect a business intent on an email that created an AP Invoices document and the checkbox is enabled, no task is created.

  • Without a task, users cannot edit task details to add undetected business intents or trigger reprocessing.

Document audit history

AP Invoices provides a document-level audit history, so users can see how each document was processed over time.

Access:

• A View Document History button appears on the Document Information page.

• Selecting this button opens a right-side panel displaying the document’s audit trail.

Coverage:

• Audit history is available when the document is in:

  • Active Data

  • Written to SOR

  • Dismissed

Tracked items:

• System and SmartBot updates, including:

  • Extraction

  • Fuzzy matching

  • Vendor defaults

  • Bill classification defaults

  • PO matching

  • Supplier contract matching

  • Predictive coding

  • Last bill entity reuse

• User edits:

  • All field changes, including “before” and “after” values.

  • When a user edit triggers auto-updates to related fields, those follow-up changes are logged as SmartBot (system) edits.

  • Edits to related worktags are tracked under user edits.

• Line-level actions:

  • Line-level extractions, with line and field references.

  • Deletion of line items, with updated line references.

  • Bulk line-item updates with correct line referencing.

• Key events:

  • Document creation.

  • Dismissal.

  • Classification changes.

  • Write-to-SOR events.

  • Move to Active Data.

  • When summary line logic is applied (for vendors where summary line is enabled).

Display:

• Timestamps use:

  • The user’s local time zone.

  • 24-hour time format, aligned with user configuration.

• The audit history panel can be closed by selecting the X button.

Limitations:

• For documents with no audit history (including older documents), the panel shows:
  No audit history available.

• Tag assignment and unassignment are not included in audit history for this release.

• Audit logs are not available for SmartFlow skills that use Composite SOR.