How to Submit Invoices Automatically
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How to Submit Invoices Automatically
- 5 Minutes to read
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Automated Invoice Submission Frees You From Manual Expense Management
Submission Requirements
- The invoice must be in PDF format and attached to your dedicated submission email, or uploaded to the web interface through drag and drop or by file list.
- Only one invoice is allowed per email submission (multiple invoice support is coming soon).
- Emails containing the invoice must be sent to your customized email address.
Current Limitations
- The invoice automation system cannot process tables or free text in the submission email body outside of properly formatted tags (details below).
- Invoice automation can only process invoices in the English language.
- When identifying the invoice currency, the Email to the Budget system will automatically detect it, but if it's not on the budget currency list or cannot be detected, the currency field will be left blank.
To submit an invoice for automation via email
- You can get your email address from your customer success manager.Note:The default owner of the expense is the person who sends the email.
- If you do not specify the name of the expense you want to create from your invoice using the tag Expense Name, the system will derive a name for your expense based on the timeframe, vendor, and invoice number.
- Optionally, annotate your email submission using Tags (details below).
- Attach the PDF invoice to the email.
- Send the email.
Notes:
- The date of your invoice must fall 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.
- If you provide your vendor with a campaign or expense group ID from Planful to include on your invoice, our system will automatically assign it to the corresponding campaign or expense group upon processing. You can find these IDs on the campaign/expense group detail pages and simply copy and paste them onto your invoice.
Your submitted invoice will appear in your account shortly on the expense page.
To submit an invoice for automation from the web interface
- To access the Invoice mode on the expense page, go to Manage > Invoices or click Invoices from the Expenses page.
- Drag and drop one or more PDF invoices onto the screen or click the Upload Invoices button to select invoices from your file system.
- Once uploaded, you'll receive a notification that the processing has started, and you'll be notified once it's complete.
Annotate your email submission using Tags
The automation process enables you to add extra expense information to your submission to compensate for the insufficient details often found in invoices. This ensures that the resulting expenses contain all the necessary information.
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:
When your submission is processed, the system extracts your tags and inserts them in the resulting expense.
In this case:
- Campaign - August Trade Show
- GL Code - 1004010
Notes:
- Approved by John Smith will be added or appended to the new expense.
- All other details extracted from the invoice (amount, invoice number, vendor, etc.) are used.
- 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
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 from John - <tag_name>, <value>
e.g. Expense Name, Swag for Aug Event from John
| Submission Annotation Reference | ||
| Email Tag | Example | Notes |
| Segment | Segment: Events | If not specified, the system will attempt to select the 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, the system will use the concatenated name of the Vendor, Invoice #, or Timeframe. |
| Expense Type | Expense Type: Promotional Items | If not specified, the system will attempt to select the most appropriate option. |
| Expense Timeframe | Expense Timeframe: June | Interpreted from the PDF submission. If specified, the system will use this instead. |
| Owner | Expense Owner: John Smith | Must match the current user. If not specified, the submitter will be assigned as an owner. |
| Vendor | Vendor: ACME Dog Treats | If not specified, the system will attempt to select the most appropriate option. |
| GL Code | GL Code: 1004010 - Trade Shows | Must match the current GL Code, including the code and its description. If not specified, the system will not add this. |
| Campaign | Campaign: NA Events | Must match the current Campaign. If not specified, the system will not add this. |
| PO Number | PO Number: PO-12345 | If an existing PO # exists, the specified PO # will be appended. |
| Invoice Number | PO Number: 12345 | If an existing Invoice # exists, the 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.
The automated invoice processing system is currently unable to reliably extract, translate, and process invoices in various languages. Therefore, we do not recommend submitting invoices in multiple languages at this time.
Automatic Currency Identification
When you submit an invoice, we extract the invoice amount and make our best effort to match currency symbols, if present, and if your budget supports multiple currencies. However, in some cases, currency may still be ambiguous.
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 (USD 1.00 vs. CAD 1.00 vs. AUD 1.00), which is often not indicated in invoices.
Invoice Automation only creates expenses, it does not update them
When submitting an invoice via email, a new expense will always be created, and any existing expense will not be updated. To avoid duplicating expenses, we recommend searching for an equivalent expense before submitting the invoice. If you are uncertain whether the expense already exists in your Planful account, we recommend searching. Also, you can attach an invoice to an existing expense from the expense detail drawer, which will help you to keep all the relevant documentation organized and easily accessible.
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