Approval flows from invoice reference

Origin of the invoice reference

The invoice reference is read from the invoice through the mapping setup.

You can use the XML interpretation rule provided by the system for invoice reference, or another XML interpretation rule that contains the value you want to use. The important requirement is that the value must be mapped to the Invoice reference field on the Accounting document. This mapped value is then used to identify the responsible employee.

Identification of the employee

The invoice reference is compared with information in the employee register.

The following employee fields are used for matching:

• Employee number (Empl. no.)
• Name (Name)
• Email address (E-mail address)
• Mobile phone number (Mobile phone)

The matching allows some formatting differences, in order to find the employee even if the invoice reference isn't written exactly the same way as in the employee register, for example:

• Differences in uppercase and lowercase letters
• Names written in reverse order
• Names written without spaces
• Minor spelling differences
• Phone numbers written with or without spaces or country prefix

If one clear and confident employee match is found, this employee is automatically selected and added as the first approver in the approval flow. The employee will then be treated in the same way as any other approver in the flow.

If the invoice reference matches more than one employee and one clear match can't be identified, no responsible employee is selected automatically from the invoice reference. A warning is added to the document’s Status history so that you can review the situation and, if needed, select the correct approver manually.

The document may still be sent on flow if other approvers are found through the normal approval setup, for example from supplier flow groups, company flow groups, or other routing rules. If no other approver is found, the document won't be sent on flow automatically.

Sending the document on approval flow

The employee identified from the invoice reference follows the same approval rules as other approvers.

This means that:

• The employee is placed first in the approval flow.
• The employee must be granted the Voucher approver role.
• If the same employee appears later in the flow, for example through a supplier flow group, the employee isn't added twice.
• If the invoice amount is above the employee’s attestation amount limit, the required superior approvers are added according to the company’s approval setup.

The invoice reference employee is used both when documents are sent automatically and when they are sent manually.

Sending on flow automatically

When automatic flow is enabled, Business NXT attempts to route the document automatically when it arrives.

If an employee is identified from the invoice reference, that employee is added first in the approval flow. The rest of the approval flow is then built according to the existing approval setup.

Sending on flow manually

When the document is sent manually, the employee identified from the invoice reference is suggested in the Send dialog.

You can review the suggested approval flow before sending the document.

Warnings in Status history

Information is added to the document’s Status history when the document can't be routed using the invoice reference.

Warnings may be shown in the following situations:

• The identified employee hasn't been granted the Voucher approval role.
• The invoice amount is above the employee’s attestation amount limit, and no superior with a sufficient amount limit can be found.
• The invoice reference matches more than one employee, and Business NXT can't determine which employee should be selected.

Excluding an invoice reference approver from the flow

You can select Invoice reference under Exclude from approval flow in the Company information table to prevent that an employee identified from the invoice reference is added to the approval flow.

The rest of the approval flow is still created according to the normal approval setup. This means that approvers from supplier flow groups, company flow groups, or other routing rules may still be added. If no other approver is found, the document isn't sent on flow automatically.