Real-Time 3-Way Match
Maximize your controls with the most advanced, line-by-line 3-Way Match engine available in NetSuite
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Maximize your controls with the most advanced, line-by-line 3-Way Match engine available in NetSuite
Last updated
Was this helpful?
This feature is included within SquareWorks' Automate AP Automation Suite.
The Real-Time 3-Way Match feature is available as a NetSuite Bundle that can be downloaded and installed in your NetSuite environment after a license has been purchased.
Log into your NetSuite account with the Administrator role
Navigate to Customization > SuiteBundler > Search & Install Bundles
Search for the keyword 325035
Click on the bundle name (SQW Automate: 3-Way Match)
Press Install
On the Preview Bundle Install screen, press Install Bundle
You will be redirected to a list of installed bundles in your account. Wait for the bundle to install. Once installed, you will see a green check mark in the status column.
Administrators in your NetSuite account can view and update 3-way match settings in the Setup > 3-Way Match menu. By default, the settings defined will apply to your entire account. If settings need to vary based on Subsidiary, Vendor, Item or other criteria, first define your account level settings, and then define Override settings using the Override Settings subtab.
Enabled: When enabled, the 3-Way Match functionality will be enabled based on the settings defined below.
Threshold Amount Currency: The currency selected defines the currency of the currency-based thresholds. When checking for variances, the transaction’s local currency is converted into the selected currency.
Allowed Non-PO Items: Select the item(s) allowed to be manually added to Vendor Bill item lines that do not have a matching line on the PO. Any items not selected here will immediately result in a variance if manually added to the Vendor Bill. By default, the allowed items will still be included when checking for a total variance.
Allowed Non-PO Expenses: Select the accounts(s) allowed to be manually added to Vendor Bill expense lines that do not have a matching line on the PO. Any accounts not selected here will immediately result in a variance if manually added to the Vendor Bill. By default, the allowed accounts will still be included when checking for a total variance.
Allow All Non-PO Lines: When enabled, lines not matching to a PO line (expense or item lines) will not result in an immediate variance being reported. The Allowed Non-PO Items and Allowed Non-PO Expenses settings will be ignored if this setting is enabled. By default, the non-matching lines will still be included in the total threshold validation.
Allow Save With Variances: When enabled, the user can save Vendor Bills or Receipts even if they have variances detected. If disabled and variances are detected, the user will be shown on the screen the variances and will be prevented from saving the transaction. This is enabled by default.
Enable Client Side Validation: When enabled, Vendor Bills or Receipts being saved will check for variances prior to saving to NetSuite. If any variances are detected, the user saving the transaction will be notified on the screen of the variances. Depending on the Allow Save With Variances setting, the user may be able to continue to still save the transaction. This is enabled by default.
Exclude Item Receipts Not Approved: When enabled, non-approved Item Receipts using Approval Workflow Automation will be excluded when checking for variances. By default, this feature is not enabled. Do not enable unless approvals have been first setup on Item Receipts using Approval Workflow Automation.
Hold Payment of Bills with Variances: When enabled, Vendor Bills will be automatically placed on payment hold if any variances are detected. Once variances have been resolved, the Vendor Bills will be taken off payment hold.
Roles Allowed to Override Payment Hold: Specify the role(s) allowed to remove a Vendor Bill’s payment hold when variances have not been resolved.
Compare to Receipts when Bill Before Receipt: When enabled, Vendor Bills will be compared against Receipts when checking for variances, even if NetSuite’s Bill Before Receipt preference is enabled (3-way match). By default, only a 2-way match will be done if NetSuite’s Bill Before Receipt preference is enabled.
Enable Positive and Negative Thresholds: When enabled, all thresholds defined below will be both positive and negative thresholds. Do not use this feature if multiple bills/receipts are entered against the same PO. This setting has no impact to rate thresholds, which are always positive and negative.
Line Quantity Threshold: When defined, the following validations are used:
When creating/editing a Receipt, the quantity received (across all receipts) will be compared to the PO quantity. You can define thresholds based on a percentage (e.g. you’re allowed to go 5% over) and/or amount (e.g. you’re allowed to go $2 over).
When creating/editing a Vendor Bill, the quantity billed (across all Vendor Bills) will be compared to the PO quantity and the received quantity (taking into account all Receipts). You can define thresholds based on a percentage (e.g. you’re allowed to go 5% over) and/or amount (e.g. you’re allowed to go 2 over). If an item is not receivable, Advanced Receiving is not enabled, or bill before receipt is enabled (this is possible to override), the Vendor Bill will not be compared to Receipts (2-way match only).
Line Rate Threshold: When defined, the following validations are used:
When creating/editing a Receipt, the rate an item is received at will be compared to the PO rate. You can define thresholds based on a percentage (e.g. you’re allowed to go 5% above or below) and/or amount (e.g. you’re allowed to go $2 above or below).
When creating/editing a Vendor Bill, the rate an item is billed at will be compared to the PO’s rate and all received rates. You can define thresholds based on a percentage (e.g. you’re allowed to go 5% above or below) and/or amount (e.g. you’re allowed to go $2 above or below). If an item is not receivable, Advanced Receiving is not enabled, or bill before receipt is enabled (this is possible to override), the Vendor Bill will not be compared to Receipts (2-way match only). In the scenario where an item is received at multiple rates (across multiple receipts), the billed rate needs to be within the threshold of at least one of the received rates.
Line Amount Threshold: When defined, the following validations are used:
When creating/editing a Receipt, the amount received at a line level (across all Receipts) will be compared to the PO line amount. You can define thresholds based on a percentage (e.g. you’re allowed to go 5% over) and/or amount (e.g. you’re allowed to go $2 over).
When creating/editing a Vendor Bill, the amount billed at a line level (across all Vendor Bills) will be compared to the PO line amount and the received line amount (taking into account all Receipts). You can define thresholds based on a percentage (e.g. you’re allowed to go 5% over) and/or amount (e.g. you’re allowed to go $2 over). If an item is not receivable, Advanced Receiving is not enabled, or bill before receipt is enabled (this is possible to override), the Vendor Bill will not be compared to Receipts (2-way match only).
Total Threshold: When defined, the following validations are used:
When creating/editing a Receipt, the total received (across all Receipts) will be compared to the PO total. You can define thresholds based on a percentage (e.g. you’re allowed to go 5% over) and/or amount (e.g. you’re allowed to go $2 over).
When creating/editing a Vendor Bill, the total billed (across all Vendor Bills) will be compared to the PO total and the received total (taking into account all receipts). You can define thresholds based on a percentage (e.g. you’re allowed to go 5% over) and/or amount (e.g. you’re allowed to go $2 over). If an item is not receivable, Advanced Receiving is not enabled, or bill before receipt is enabled (this is possible to override), the Vendor Bill will not be compared to Receipts (2-way match only).
Report Variance if Either Threshold Exceeded: When enabled, a variance will be detected if either of the defined thresholds are exceeded. This is enabled by default.
Non-PO Items Excluded from Total Thresholds: Select the items to exclude from the total variance check. If any item line is added manually to the Vendor Bill (not matched to a PO line) with one of the selected items, it will be excluded from the total variance check.
Non-PO Expenses Excluded from Total Thresholds: Select the accounts to exclude from the total variance check. If any expense line is added manually to the Vendor Bill (not matched to a PO line) with one of the selected accounts, it will be excluded from the total variance check.
If the account level settings need to be overridden based on Subsidiary, Vendor, Override Key, Threshold Type and/or Item, you can use the Override Settings subtab on the account level 3-way match settings screen.
When defining override settings, the additional settings are available:
Subsidiary: Optionally select the Subsidiary that should use the settings defined below. At a minimum, a Subsidiary, Vendor, or Item must be selected.
Vendor: Optionally select the Vendor that should use the settings defined below. At a minimum, a Subsidiary, Vendor, or Item must be selected.
Override Key Value: Optionally specify the 3WM Override Key field value that should use the settings defined below. The 3WM Override Key field is a hidden text field on the Bill/Receipt that is empty by default (but can be defined via a custom before load script/workflow event).
Item: Optionally select the Item that should use the settings defined below. At a minimum, a Subsidiary, Vendor, or Item must be selected.
Threshold Type: Optionally select where the override settings are applicable (e.g. Bill vs PO, Bill vs Receipt, Receipt vs PO). Multiple override settings can be defined if thresholds need to vary between threshold types.
Priority: Optionally specify the priority of the override settings. If multiple override settings can apply based on the selected Subsidiary and/or Vendor, the one with the highest priority (1 is highest) will be selected. In the case that multiple override settings are selected and have the same priority, the settings created first will be selected.
Inactive: When enabled, the settings record will not be used. This is the same as deleting the settings record.
Deduct Item Variances from Total Threshold: If enabled and item settings are used, item level variances over 0% will be deducted from the total threshold variance calculation.
The following steps outline the process to 3-way match validation:
Create or edit a Vendor Bill or Receipt that is associated to a PO.
Press Save.
3-Way validation will automatically run prior to the transaction being fully saved. If no issues are found, the transaction will continue to automatically save – no other clicks are needed. However, if any variances are detected, a dialog box will open showing you the variances:
If there was a mistake made on the Vendor Bill or Receipt, press Cancel and correct the issue. When done, press Save again to re-run 3-way validations.
Note: If you would like to see more details about the issues found, hover over the info icons to the right of the issues identified. This will show you details such as “PO Quantity: 5, Total Billed: 10”
If the issues are expected or you do not know what’s wrong, you can optionally leave a comment and press Save With Variances.
The Vendor Bill or Receipt will be saved; however, it will be flagged as having variances. You can view the variances that were found the last time the record was saved by viewing the records “3-Way Match Variances” tab:
No further action is needed by the user at this point. However, this validation is integrated with the Approval Workflow Automation bundle to handle approval routing. Approval processes can easily be configured based on the status of the bill or receipt – e.g. the bill must be routed through an additional layer of approvals if saved with 3-way match variances.
The following table describes all possible variances that can be detected when saving Bills and Receipts. Not all variances will be detected automatically and must be enabled following the directions in the How to Enable column.
Bill Before Receipt
When NetSuite is configured to allow bills to be generated before receipts are entered, our solution by default will not compare bills to receipts (however, this can be overridden in the 3-way match settings). Bills will only be compared to their related PO(s). This NetSuite setting is located in Setup > Company > Accounting Preferences > Order Management > Receiving.
Bills not Generated from POs
If a bill is not associated to a PO, our solution will not perform 3-way match validation on the bill. You can identify if a bill is associated to a PO by looking at the bill’s Related Records > Purchase Orders subtab. If no POs are shown, the PO is not associated to PO.
Bill Lines not Associated to POs
Lines on a bill not associated to a PO will automatically result in 3-way match variances (assuming there is at least one line on the bill associated to a PO) This will occur any time bill lines are added manually or an expense line’s account is changed. However, you can configure our solution to allow manually added lines based on item/account using the Allowed Non-PO Items/Expenses setting.
