About AP Automation

AP Automation streamlines AP purchase invoice entry by automatically creating draft AP purchase invoices from AP purchase invoice documents that you email or upload. Sage Intacct automatically identifies the supplier and fills in the AP purchase invoice details for you, attaching the source AP purchase invoice document for reference.

Contact your Sage Intacct account manager or Channel Executive to learn about enabling AP Automation.

Get the most out of AI-powered automation

Streamline the process of creating and matching PO purchase invoices to purchase documents by enabling Purchasing automation, an add-on to AP Automation.

Learn more about AP Automation with Purchasing.

How AP Automation works

The automated billing process is triggered by the following events:

  • You upload AP purchase invoices within Intacct, using the Upload button on the AP purchase invoices list.

  • You forward AP purchase invoices to the email address that we provide.

    Intacct assigns a unique email address to use for AP purchase invoice automation to each entity in your company and the top level. Learn how to Find your Sage-provisioned email addresses.

For each AP purchase invoice document you submit, the system creates a corresponding Sage Intacct AP purchase invoice in draft state and attaches the original AP purchase invoice document.

Using artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML), Intacct fills in AP purchase invoice details, automatically matching supplier information and including:

  • Data captured from the uploaded or emailed AP purchase invoice, such as the AP purchase invoice number, date, line items, and amounts
  • Details from the supplier record
  • GL account and dimension coding, based on your previous coding patterns
  • Additional machine learning insights learned from your corrections

When the analysis is complete, AP Automation saves the AP purchase invoice as a draft, ready for you to review and then submit or post.

Curious about the specifics? Learn How AP Automation populates draft AP purchase invoices.

Reviewing and posting incoming AP purchase invoices

Draft AP purchase invoices created using AP Automation appear in the AP purchase invoices list. When you first load the AP purchase invoices page, it shows new incoming automated AP purchase invoices. At any time after loading the page, you can select Refresh to see newly arrived AP purchase invoices and updated AP purchase invoice states.

To make reviewing and posting of automated AP purchase invoices easier, use the Draft AP purchase invoices standard view. This view shows all AP purchase invoices with a state of Draft or Analyzing. Because it is a standard list, it includes the Attach icon. Select Attach to open the attachment AP purchase invoice directly from the list.

To view the AP purchase invoice document alongside AP purchase invoice details in view or edit mode, enable Split view in your personal preferences.

As you review the drafts, you might find AP purchase invoices that need more information before you can submit or post them. This is especially true when you first begin processing automated AP purchase invoices, when AI/ML does not yet know your preferences. When you post an AP purchase invoice after a field that AI/ML populated based on a prediction, that information is fed back to the AI/ML system and is used to improve future predictions.

To understand more about how AI/ML improves over time, read How AP Automation uses AI.

Handling import issues

From the AP purchase invoices list, you can see whether any of the automated draft AP purchase invoices triggered import exceptions. Standard views such as All and Draft AP purchase invoices include columns with information specific to AP automation.

  • Source: Shows the service used to receive the AP purchase invoice, either AP purchase invoice upload or Email
  • Import exceptions: Alerts you to issues that need your attention

Import exceptions can be as follows: 

  • Resolve: You need to take action to complete the AP purchase invoice. For example, if Intacct cannot match the supplier with enough confidence, you need to select the correct supplier. If a problem with the AP purchase invoice document prevents data extraction, you need to edit the AP purchase invoice details or resubmit the AP purchase invoice.
  • Duplicate: Intacct detected that this AP purchase invoice is already in the system. To avoid double billing, the system alerts you to the duplicate.

To get details about an exception, hover over the exception in the Import exceptions column. Or, you can view or edit the AP purchase invoice to see details.

For drafts flagged as duplicates, you can view the original AP purchase invoice when you view or edit the duplicate, as long as you did not delete the original. Incoming AP purchase invoices are compared to AP purchase invoices that you previously submitted using AP Automation.

After you edit a AP purchase invoice and either save it as a draft, submit it, or post it, Intacct removes the exception flag.