Rulebook

Who this is for. Super Admins. AP Helpdesk Managers, Specialists and Analysts cannot open AP Intelligence. See the Roles and Access.

The Rulebook holds rules written in plain language that guide how the agent handles mail. The tab describes itself as: “Manage organization-wide, team-level, and personal rules that guide the collaborative automation pipeline.”

It is the one place in the product where you tell the agent what to do in a sentence rather than by setting a field.

Figure 1. Rulebook Management

Rule format and examples

Rules are sentences, not forms:

• Always escalate bank detail changes for manual verification

• Escalate PO discrepancies over $1,000 to AP manager

• Do not create email drafts for Invoice Submission email category

• Assign all Inquiry and contact-update tasks to a named analyst

• For all Update related tasks, set the Priority to Medium

They cover escalation, assignment, priority, and whether a draft is produced at all.

Rules in the Agent Co-worker configuration

The Rulebook and Processing Rules are one set of rules with two entry points. They are not two features, and a rule does not have to be assigned to one or the other.

Table 1. Ways to reach the same rules

Both open the same list for the agent you have selected. A rule added in one appears in the other, and turning a rule off in one turns it off in both. The two headings are the product using different wording in each place, not a difference in what the rules do.

For what a rule can direct, how rules are applied at runtime, and the reply preview, see Create and Manage AP Helpdesk Processing Rules. That article covers the rules in full; this page covers reaching them from AP Intelligence.

Not to be confused with business rules. Business rules are IF-THEN logic that sets field values on an AP Invoices document. They are a separate feature, covered in the AP Invoices guide.

Rule metadata

A Show rule metadata switch, at the top right of the rules list, adds an expand control to each rule row. Expanding a row shows the directive compiled from your wording, under Trigger, Action and Scope, which is useful when two rules appear to contradict each other and you need to see what each one resolved to.

Scope

Organization-wide, team-level and personal rules are listed together, so read the metadata with Show rule metadata when it matters which scope a rule carries. A personal rule affecting only its author looks identical in the list to one affecting everyone.

Add a rule to the Rulebook

Rules are added from Rulebook in the AP Intelligence left rail. A rule is a sentence, and the product checks it before it saves, so writing one is quick, but writing one that behaves takes a little care.

Add a rule

1. In the navigation rail, point to SmartVendor and select Settings from the menu that opens.

2. Confirm the instance selector names the agent you intend to change.

3. Open the Rulebook tab.

4. Write the rule as a plain sentence in the text box at the foot of the list, then select + Add Rule. This does not save the rule. It runs a safety and conflict check first.

5. Finish from the result: select Confirm & Add when the check is clean, or Add Anyway when potential conflicts are listed. A rule blocked for a safety or compliance violation cannot be added at all.

Figure 2. Entry box at the foot of the list, with Add Rule beneath it

If you edit the text after a check, the button becomes Re-check Rule and you have to run the check again before you can save. The check applies to the exact wording, not to your intent.

Write a rule that behaves

The rules that work best share three habits.

Table 2. Habits

The second habit matters most. “Handle bank detail changes carefully” states an intent and gives the agent nothing to do; “Always escalate bank detail changes for manual verification” states an action and works.

Rules naming an individual, such as “assign to a named analyst”, break silently when that person leaves. Nothing in the product prompts a review, so a rulebook referencing people needs an owner and a periodic check.

Before you add one

1. Check whether an existing rule already covers it. Two rules on the same ground is how contradictions start.

2. Write it, run the check, and read any conflict the check reports rather than selecting Add Anyway reflexively.

Edit or remove a rule

Every rule in the list carries a toggle at the left of the row and its own menu at the right-hand end. The menu holds Edit, with Delete on your own personal rules.

Figure 3. Menu on a rule row

Table 3. Maintaining a rule

This is the half of the job to schedule rather than react to. A rule naming an individual keeps working after that person leaves. It continues assigning to that person, and the product raises no warning. Whoever owns the rulebook should read it through on a regular cadence and edit or turn off what no longer holds.

Permission requirement for rules

A rule can be written correctly, pass its check and still do nothing visible, because the Rulebook decides what the agent should do and the pipeline switches decide whether it may act without a person.

A rule that drafts a reply produces a draft either way. Whether that draft is sent depends on Auto-reply. The same holds for forwarding and for document submission. If a rule appears to be ignored, check the switches before rewriting it. See AI Pipeline Settings.

Related information

• Create and Manage AP Helpdesk Processing Rules

• AI Pipeline Settings

• Open SmartVendor Settings