Overview
PO matching is the process of linking vendor bill lines to purchase order (PO) lines in SmartVendor AP Invoices. Correct PO matching ensures that:
Invoice data is consistent with approved purchasing data in your ERP/System of Record (SoR)
Quantities, prices, and amounts are validated against the PO
Coding and descriptions can be automatically populated from the PO, reducing manual work
PO matching happens after:
A vendor has been identified and enrolled for AP Invoices
A purchase order number is extracted from the invoice or selected by the user
The PO is verified as valid, vendor‑aligned, and open
If matching is successful, SmartVendor links each invoice line to a PO line and, depending on configuration, can auto‑populate description, coding, and rate from the PO.
PO Eligibility Checks
Before line‑level matching, SmartVendor validates that the PO is usable:
The extracted PO number exists in the System of Record.
The PO’s vendor matches the normalized vendor on the vendor bill.
The PO has at least one open line with available balance.
If any of these are not true, PO matching is considered unresolved, and the invoice requires human review.
Line‑Level Matching Basics
Once the PO is confirmed as valid, SmartVendor attempts to match each invoice line to a PO line using:
Description
Rate (Unit Price) or
Amount
The core matching rules:
Try to find a match where invoice line description == PO line description.
Within those candidates, compare rate or amount depending on the type of line.
If description does not match, try matching by rate or amount alone, depending on whether it is a goods or service line.
If only one valid PO line satisfies the rule set, that line is assigned. If multiple lines qualify, deterministic tie‑breaking rules apply (see below).
Case 1: Description and Rate Match
For goods‑type lines (quantity and rate present):
Invoice description matches PO line description
Invoice rate matches PO line rate
SmartVendor applies these rules:
If only one PO line has that description and that rate:
→ Match to that PO line.If multiple PO lines share the same rate but have different descriptions:
→ Match to the PO line with the same description and same rate.If multiple PO lines share the same description and same rate:
→ Match to the first PO line that meets those criteria.
This ensures that, wherever possible, description + rate uniquely determine the correct line.
Case 2: Amount‑Based (No Rate)
For some lines, especially services or lump‑sum amounts, the invoice may show an amount only (no explicit rate).
Rules:
Invoice line is amount‑based (no rate).
First, compare using description:
If one PO line has the same description:
→ Match to that PO line.If multiple PO lines have the same description:
→ Match to the first such PO line.
If there is still no clear match (for example, different description or multiple conflicting candidates), the line will remain unmatched and need human review.
Case 3: Description Does Not Match
When invoice line description does not match any PO line description, SmartVendor falls back to rate or amount‑based matching:
For goods lines (quantity + rate present):
If the invoice rate matches exactly one PO line rate, and no description match is found:
→ Match to that PO line.If the invoice rate matches more than one PO line rate:
→ Match to the first PO line with that rate.
For service / amount‑based lines:
If the invoice line amount exactly matches the PO line amount and there is no conflicting description match:
→ Match to that PO line.
Again, if ambiguity remains, the line will be left unmatched for human review.
Single‑Line PO Behavior
If the PO has only one line and the SmartBot successfully extracted that PO number:
All invoice lines are matched to that single PO line by default.
This is common for blanket or summary POs.
Vendor‑Driven vs Non‑PO Vendors
For vendors driven by a Purchase Order:
AP analysts expect every invoice line to be associated with a PO line.
When a PO Number is present and valid, PO Number and PO Line Number columns are populated automatically based on the matching logic.
When POs are missing or invalid, the invoice requires manual intervention before write‑back.
For vendors not driven by a Purchase Order:
PO matching is not required.
Lines can be fully coded without any PO association.
User Controls and Manual Matching
When auto‑match is incomplete or incorrect, AP analysts can adjust matches on the Document Information page:
PO Number column (per line)
Users can manually edit the PO Number for a line.
The selection list is filtered to:
POs for the same vendor, and
Open POs with remaining balance.
If the user changes the PO Number, the PO Line Number is cleared and must be re‑selected.
PO Line Number (per line)
Click the pencil icon next to the PO Line Number.
A dialog shows eligible PO lines.
Only one PO line can be assigned per vendor bill line.
Multiple POs / multiple PO lines
If one vendor bill line needs to be applied to multiple POs or multiple PO lines, the user must:
Manually split the bill line into multiple lines; then
Assign a separate PO Number/PO Line Number pair to each bill line.
These tools enable fine‑grained corrections where automatic matching doesn’t fully resolve line associations.
Interaction with PO Configuration
PO matching works together with PO Configuration and template settings:
Require PO
If enabled and no valid PO is found, the bill cannot be finalized without human intervention.
Description Override
When a line is successfully matched to a PO line:
If enabled, the PO description overrides the extracted invoice description.
If disabled, the extracted description is kept.
Rate Override
When a line is matched:
If enabled, the PO rate is used on the bill.
If disabled, the invoice’s extracted rate is retained.
Allow Override with PO/Contract value (in templates)
Controls which header and line fields (e.g., Entity, Location, Account) are overridden with PO values once a match is found.
Together, these settings determine how much of the invoice is “normalized” to PO data once a match is made.
When Human Review Is Required
Even with robust PO matching logic, some scenarios always require AP analyst review:
No PO is found on the vendor bill.
The extracted PO number does not exist in the SoR.
The PO belongs to a different vendor than the vendor bill’s vendor.
The PO is closed or has no remaining balance.
Multiple candidate PO lines match equally and cannot be uniquely resolved.
Line‑level quantity, rate, and amount do not reconcile (e.g., quantity × rate ≠ amount).
In these cases, the analyst must:
Correct vendor, PO number, or PO line assignments.
Adjust quantities, rates, or coding.
Save and re‑attempt Write to SoR.
If write‑back fails, the document will be flagged as Failed to Reconcile on the Documents tab, with a hover tooltip explaining the error.
PO matching behavior for negative invoice lines
Rate-based matching is not supported for negative invoice line amounts. If an invoice line has a negative amount (for example, a credit/discount line), it won’t match to a PO line based on rate.
Negative invoice lines can still match using other available matching signals (for example, description and/or amount matching), depending on your matching configuration.
If the credit/discount line does not match using the available criteria, handle it using your normal process for credits/adjustments (for example, a credit memo or separate adjustment workflow), rather than expecting it to match via PO rate.