How to submit invoices automatically
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How to submit invoices automatically
- 5 Minutes to read
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Article Summary
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Submitting invoices automatically frees you from manual expense creation and updates
Submission Requirements
- Invoice must be PDF format, attached to your dedicated submission email or else uploaded to the web interface (drag and drop or by file list)
- One invoice per email submission (multiple invoice support coming)
- Emails must be sent to your customized email address
- Invoice automation can not process tables or free text in submission email body outside properly formatted Tags (details below)
- Invoice automation can only process English language invoices
- Email to budget automatically identifies the invoice currency, but if it's not in the budget currency list or cannot be detected, the currency field will be left blank.
To submit an invoice for automation by email
- Your customer success manager can provide you with an email address (upon request).
- Note that the default owner of the expense is who sends the email.
- You can specify the name of the expense you want to create from your invoice by using the tag "Expense Name:", otherwise we will derive a name for your expense from the timeframe, vendor, and invoice number.
- (optional) Annotate your email submission using Tags (details below)
- Attach the PDF invoice to the email
- Send it!
Please ensure that the date of your invoice falls within the 'budget from' and 'budget end' dates of the corresponding budget, otherwise you may not be able to create a new expense through email to budget. However, please note that this restriction may be lifted in the future.
You can have your vendor include a campaign or expense group ID from Planful on your invoice, and when we read your invoice for processing, we will place it in the appropriate campaign or expense group. These IDs can be copy and pasted from the campaign/expense group detail pages.
Your invoice will appear momentarily in your account on the expense page.
To submit an invoice for automation from the web interface
- Navigate to the Invoices mode of the expense page, either from Manage > Invoices or by going to the Expenses page and clicking on the Invoices tab.
- Drag and drop one or more PDF invoices onto the screen (it will tell you when you can drop them like they're hot) or click the Upload Invoices button and select invoices from your file system menu.
- You'll see an indication that processing has begun, and be notified when it is complete.
Annotate your email submission using Tags
Invoices often lack relevant details which ensure the resulting expenses end up with all the information you want or need. To address this, the automation process allows you to augment your submission to include additional expense data.
This is accomplished by adding Tags to the body of your email. They are optional, but can be very powerful.
Example
Imagine you have an invoice you want to fall under a specific GL and go into a specific campaign. Perhaps you also want to add a note. This can be accomplished by simply adding a few tags to your email:
In this case:
The system ignores other text in your email body & will only process tags it recognizes.
See the reference table below for full details.
In this case:
- Campaign - August Trade Show
- GL Code - 1004010
- Notes - Approved by John Smith will be added or appended to the new expense.
The system ignores other text in your email body & will only process tags it recognizes.
See the reference table below for full details.
Tag Formats
Considering the different writing habits of users, the automation process provides four different supporting formats.
- <tag_name>: <value>
e.g. Expense Name: Swag for Aug Event form John - <tag_name> - <value>
e.g. Expense Name - Swag for Aug Event form John - <tag_name>, <value>
e.g. Expense Name, Swag for Aug Event form John
| Submission Annotation Reference | ||
| Email Tag | Example | Notes |
| Segment: | Segment: Events | If not specified, the system will attempt to select most appropriate option |
| Campaign: | Campaign: 123456 | Users can copy and paste a unique ID from the Campaign detail page to insert an invoice to a specific Campaign upon submission |
| Expense Group: | Expense Group: 47283 or Expense Group: Swag | Users can either copy and paste a unique ID from the Expense Group detail page, or enter the Expense Group name to insert an invoice to a specific Expense Group upon submission |
| Expense Name: | Expense Name: Trade Show Swag | If not specified, email Subject is used |
| Expense Type: | Expense Type: Promotional Items | If not specified, the system will attempt to select most appropriate option |
| Expense Timeframe: | Expense Timeframe: June | Interpreted from the PDF submission If specified, the system will use this instead |
| Expense Owner: | Expense Owner: John Smith | Must match current user If not specified, submitter will be assigned as owner |
| Vendor: | Vendor: ACME Dog Treats | If not specified, the system will attempt to select most appropriate option |
| GL Code: | GL Code: 1004010 - Trade Shows | Must match current GL Code, including the code and its description If not specified, the system will not add this |
| Campaign: | Campaign: NA Events | Must match current Campaign If not specified, the system will not add this |
| PO Number: | PO Number: PO-12345 | If existing PO # exists, specified PO # will be appended |
| Invoice Number: | PO Number: 12345 | If existing Invoice # exists, specified Invoice # will be appended |
| Notes: | Notes: Approved by John Smith on Sept 20 | If existing Notes exist, specified Notes will be inserted as a new line at the bottom |
Limitations of Invoice Automation
The following items are current limitations of Invoice Automation functionality.
Multi-Language Support
Did you know that Rechnung für Ausstellungsstand is German for Invoice for trade show booth? Neither does our automation.
While you can submit invoices in various languages, automated invoice processing is currently unable to extract, translate & process them reliably.
For that reason, we don't recommend submitting multi-language invoices at this point.
Automatic Currency Identification
When you submit an invoice, we extract the invoice amount and will make a best effort to match currency symbols if present and your budget supports multiple currencies. Sometimes currency can be ambiguous, though.
Why?
- The currency symbol (i.e., $) is not a reliable way to identify currency. For example, the dollar symbol is used for > 25 different currencies.
- The only way to reliably extract currency is via the ISO currency code ($1.00 USD vs. $1.00 CAD vs. $1.00 AUD), which is often not indicated in invoices.
Invoice Automation only creates expenses, it does not update them
Submitting a new invoice via email will always create a new expense. It will not update an existing expense. To avoid creating duplicate expenses, we recommend searching for an expense equivalent to an invoice you are submitting before you submit it if you are unsure whether it exists in your Planful account already.
You can always attach an invoice to an existing expense right from the expense detail drawer!
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