Who this is for. Super Admins maintaining an agent still on Collaborative Mode. See the Roles and Access.
Collaborative Mode is being deprecated. New setups should use Governed Autonomy, where these behaviors are expressed as processing rules. For more information, see Autonomy Models.
Processing and Automation controls which senders get tasks, whether qualifying attachments transfer without waiting for review, how draft orchestration works, and how the connected mailbox is labeled. It is the Collaborative Mode counterpart to Processing Rules, expressed as fixed settings rather than natural-language rules.
Most of the section is housekeeping. Two settings change what happens without a person, and are called out below.
Navigate to Processing and Automation
On the Define capabilities step, select the AP Helpdesk tab.
In the left navigation, select Processing & Automation.
Settings
Each setting is covered in its own section below; the summary here helps you pick the right one.
Table 1. Processing and Automation settings
Setting |
What it controls |
|---|---|
Tasks for Internal / External / System Cohort Senders |
Which sender types generate tasks. |
Autonomous Invoice Submission File Transfer |
Whether qualifying invoice attachments transfer without waiting for review. |
Autonomous Credit Memo Submission File Transfer |
Whether qualifying credit memo attachments transfer without waiting for review. |
Collaborative Response Orchestration (CRO) |
Gap analysis comparing processed emails against template-based drafts. Covered in AP Helpdesk Agent Replies. |
Suppress adding labels to Connected Mailbox |
Whether AP Helpdesk labels appear in the connected mailbox. |
Auto-Enroll New Vendor Records |
Whether vendor records new from SOR sync are enrolled automatically. |
Date Format |
Date formatting for the SmartVendor console, replies, and reply attachments. |
Two settings that act without a person
The autonomous file transfers are the only Collaborative Mode settings that execute before review rather than after it. They are bounded, since only attachments classified to the right type and passing the duplicate check qualify, but they are the exception to the mode’s review-everything posture.
The sender-type task checkboxes decide whose email can generate work at all. A cleared checkbox means that cohort’s messages produce no tasks regardless of the Intents & Outcomes configuration. Both gates must allow it.
Complete the section
Work through each setting using the sections below.
Select Next to continue.
Task creation by sender type
Decide which sender types generate tasks. Turning a sender type off means the Agent Co-worker still processes those emails but does not put them in anyone’s queue, which is how low-value automated mail stays out of the task list.
Figure 1. Processing & Automation, where sender-type task behavior is set.
Configure task creation
On the Define capabilities step, select the AP Helpdesk tab, then select Processing & Automation.
Select or clear each sender-type option.
Option descriptions
Three of the options control a sender type: Internal Cohort, External Cohort and System. Switch one on to add tasks for that type’s emails; switched off, the emails are still processed but never enter anyone’s queue. There is no option for Unknown senders. The remaining options on this section cover submission, draft orchestration, labels and enrollment.
Table 2. Task creation options by sender type
Option |
Description |
|---|---|
Tasks for Internal Cohort Senders |
When emails are received from internal cohort senders, with email address domains matching that of configured internal contacts, add Tasks. |
Tasks for External Cohort Senders |
When emails are received from external cohort senders, with email address domains matching that of record contacts, add Tasks. |
Tasks for System Senders |
When emails are received from configured system senders, add Tasks. |
Two gates, both must allow
A task is created only when both this sender-type setting and the intent’s Add Tasks checkbox in Intents & Outcomes allow it. An enabled intent with a cleared sender cohort produces nothing, and so does an enabled cohort with a cleared intent. For more information, see AP Helpdesk Intents and Outcomes.
Choose which cohorts to enable
External is the cohort most teams enable without hesitation. Vendor email is the work.
Internal depends on whether colleague questions should enter the same queue as vendor work, or be handled conversationally outside it.
System is the one worth considering clearing. Automated notifications rarely need a person per message, and a cleared checkbox keeps platform noise out of the queue while the email is still processed, labeled, and searchable.
These options control task creation for cohort senders, matched on email address domain. Emails from cleared cohorts are still classified, processed, and available in the Helpdesk Mailbox. They create no queue entry.
Autonomous Invoice and Credit Memo Submission File Transfer
Autonomous file transfer moves qualifying email attachments into processing straight away, instead of holding them until someone works the task. It shortens the time between a vendor sending a document and that document entering your AP pipeline.
There are two settings, one for invoices and one for credit memos, and they are switched independently.
Enable autonomous file transfer
Select Autonomous Invoice Submission File Transfer, Autonomous Credit Memo Submission File Transfer, or both.
Save the step.
What the settings do
The two settings behave identically, each transferring classified, non-duplicate attachments without waiting for review through added Tasks; they differ only in document type.
Table 3. The two settings
Setting |
Effect |
|---|---|
Autonomous Invoice Submission File Transfer |
Invoice Submission email attachments classified as Invoices and not flagged as duplicate are transferred prior to and without dependency on review by way of added Tasks. |
Autonomous Credit Memo Submission File Transfer |
Credit Memo Submission email attachments classified as Credit Memos and not flagged as duplicate are transferred prior to and without dependency on review by way of added Tasks. |
In both cases the task is still created where your intent configuration calls for one, and it remains editable and reprocessable independently of the document that already transferred. What changes is sequencing: the transfer no longer waits on the task.
Which attachments qualify
Two conditions must both hold, for either setting:
The attachment is classified as the matching document type: an Invoice for the invoice setting, a Credit Memo for the credit memo setting.
The attachment is not flagged as a duplicate. Duplicate detection runs two ways: on the file itself, and on the values extracted from it.
Attachments that fail either condition are not transferred autonomously. A misclassified or duplicate-flagged file still waits for a person. The gate is narrower than the setting names suggest, which is the main reason teams report that autonomous transfer “only sometimes” happens.
Decide whether to enable each one
The two documents carry different risk, so the decision is not the same on both.
Table 4. Weighing each setting
Setting |
Enable it when |
Leave it off when |
|---|---|---|
Invoices |
Invoice volume is high, the downstream AP Invoices process has its own review before the write to the system of record, and the day or two saved per invoice matters for early-payment discounts or vendor experience. |
Your team’s task review is the only check between an emailed attachment and your AP pipeline, or classification quality on your traffic is still unproven. |
Credit memos |
Credit memo volume is high enough that queue delay is costing you. Credits sitting in review are money you are owed and not yet applying. |
Credit volume is low, or you want a human check on a document type that is a known lever in vendor-side errors and disputes. |
A credit memo works in your favor financially: an erroneous transfer reduces what you owe rather than paying something you should not. But a misclassified document entering the pipeline as a credit still costs reconciliation effort.
The most common configuration is invoices autonomous, credit memos reviewed. Invoice volume dwarfs credit volume in most AP shops, so automating invoices captures nearly all of the speed benefit while the rarer credits keep a human check. Enabling both suits organizations where credit memo volume makes the queue delay costly in its own right.
Auto-enrollment of new vendor records
When a new vendor is added to your system of record, their contacts are not automatically eligible for AP Helpdesk processing. Auto-enrollment closes that gap, so email from a newly onboarded vendor is handled from the first message.
Enable auto-enrollment
Select Auto-Enroll New Vendor Records.
What the setting does
When SOR sync results in new Vendor records, newly added Vendor records are automatically enrolled in AP Helpdesk for AI Agent processing of vendor contact emails.
Enrollment and classification are different things
A vendor contact can be matched without being enrolled. Matching means the FROM address resolves to a vendor record, so the sender is classified External rather than Unknown. Enrollment records whether that vendor is activated for AP Helpdesk processing, shown as the Enrolled or Unenrolled status alongside the classification, and it affects the scope of processing and automation available for their email.
This is why an email from a known vendor can still receive limited handling: the match succeeded, but the record is Unenrolled.
Choose whether to enable it
Enabling it suits organizations where new vendors in the SOR are already vetted by the time the record exists, which is the normal case since vendor onboarding usually finishes before record creation. Auto-enrollment then removes an administrative step that otherwise delays first-email handling.
Leaving it cleared suits organizations that deliberately stage vendor activation, such as records created early in onboarding, before banking verification completes, where enrollment is the control point for when the Agent Co-worker may start engaging with that vendor’s email.
AP Helpdesk Labels in the Connected Mailbox
AP Helpdesk writes labels onto emails in your connected mailbox so anyone working there can see what the Agent Co-worker did. Suppress them where they clutter the mailbox or conflict with your own labeling.
Suppress the labels
Select Suppress adding labels to Connected Mailbox.
What the labels convey
AP Helpdesk adds email labels to support at-a-glance recognition of AI Agent processing outcomes in the Connected Mailbox. The labels cover:
Sender type
Detected intents
Actions performed
Processing exceptions
Selecting the setting prevents AP Helpdesk from adding any labels to Connected Mailbox emails.
Decide whether to suppress
The labels are most valuable while your team still works partly out of the connected mailbox. They are how someone in Outlook or Gmail can tell which messages the Agent Co-worker has already handled, without opening the Helpdesk Mailbox. Once the team works primarily from the Helpdesk Mailbox, where processing outcomes are visible natively, the labels add less.
Suppression is all-or-nothing: the exception labels cannot be kept while the rest are dropped, even though those are the ones with the strongest claim to staying visible in the mailbox.
This setting governs labels written to the connected mailbox only. Whether the Agent Co-worker applies labels as an intent action is set separately in Intents & Outcomes, and those labels remain visible in the Helpdesk Mailbox regardless of this setting. For more information, see AP Helpdesk Intents and Outcomes.
Suppression applies from the point it is set. Labels already written to the connected mailbox stay there. The setting is read each time a label would be applied, and nothing removes labels retrospectively. While suppression is on, Auditoria still records the label internally as a draft label; only the write to the mailbox is skipped.
Date Format in Collaborative Mode
This section covers the Date Format setting in the legacy Collaborative Mode configuration. A separate date format governs document types on the AP Invoices tab, covered in the AP Invoices guide.
Set the date format once so dates read consistently everywhere the Agent Co-worker writes them: in the SmartVendor console, in agent replies, and in the files attached to those replies.
One format applies to all output. The setting cannot follow the reader’s regional convention.
Set the date format
Scroll to Date Format.
Select one option.
Select Next.
Figure 2. Processing & Automation, which carries the date format setting.
Format options
Every option renders the same date, January 13, 2025, so the differences between formats are visible at a glance.
Table 5. Date format options
Option |
Example |
|---|---|
MM/DD/YYYY |
01/13/2025 |
DD/MM/YYYY |
13/01/2025 |
DD-MMM-YYYY |
13-Jan-2025 |
Where the format applies
The setting defines date formatting for the SmartVendor console, AI Agent Replies, and AI Agent Reply attachments.
Choose a format
A date like 03/04/2025 is March 4th to a US reader and 3rd April to most of the rest of the world, and a payment-date misreading is the kind of error that generates a vendor dispute.
Vendors in one region: the convention that region reads natively.
Vendors across regions: DD-MMM-YYYY. Writing the month as letters removes the day and month ambiguity that both slash formats share, at the cost of looking slightly less familiar to everyone.
Under Governed Autonomy
Under Governed Autonomy the Processing & Automation section is reduced to two settings, Auto-Enroll New Vendor Records and Date Format. The rest of the section described in this article does not appear. Date Format itself is unchanged and still governs reply output. A separate date format in Document intake on the AP Invoices tab applies to document types rather than to replies, so the two are not the same setting.