OCR and Invoice Scanning
Scan invoices using Squareworks' classic OCR (Optical Character Recognition) technology
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Scan invoices using Squareworks' classic OCR (Optical Character Recognition) technology
Last updated
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Automate’s dashboard is your central hub for managing Vendor Bills and other payable transactions. The dashboard can be accessed via Automate > AP Automation > Dashboard > ☰ Payables.
When viewing the dashboard the following reminders are available:
Bills To Review: Number of bills ready for review that have been uploaded and scanned via OCR.
Bills To Submit: Number of vendors bills to be submitted for approval.
Bills To Approve: Number of bills waiting to be approved by any approver.
The following graphs are available:
Bills Scanned: The number of bills per month that have been scanned via OCR.
Bills Created: The number of bills reviewed and created per month.
The following actions are available on the left-hand menu:
Upload Bills: Opens a screen to allow PDF bill upload via drag and drop.
Bill Queue: Opens the queue of bills uploaded but not reviewed.
Enter Credit: Enter a new vendor credit into NetSuite.
List Bills: List all bills within NetSuite.
Not Submitted: Report on all reviewed bills not submitted for approval.
Pending Approval: Report on all reviewed bills pending approval.
Rejected: Report on all reviewed bills rejected in their approval process.
Automate allows for multiple bills to be uploaded through drag and drop or email attachments. When uploading, please be aware of the following restrictions:
Only PDF files are supported. Non-PDF files attempted to be uploaded via email or drag and drop will not be uploaded to NetSuite and will not be visible on the Invoice Queue.
PDF files must be less than 10mb.
Up to 20 PDFs can be attached per email.
Only the first 10 pages of a PDF will be scanned to extract information. Additional pages are not scanned but will still be visible in the NetSuite UI. If the document contains multiple bills, only the first bill will be used to extract information.
Log into NetSuite using a role with access to create Vendor Bills.
Go to Automate AP Dashboard > ☰ Payables > Upload Bills.
If you uploaded a single PDF document, you will be directed to the Vendor Bill screen with a side-by-side view of the document. Review and save the Vendor Bill.
If you uploaded multiple PDF documents, you will be directed to the Bill Queue. Refer to the Bill Queue section of this user guide for more details.
Email one or more PDF attachments to your NetSuite account’s dedicated email provided by Automate. This email address will be provided during the implementation process.
PDFs attached will appear in the Bill Queue automatically. Up to 20 PDFs can be attached per email.
Employees can open the Bill Queue by going to Automate AP Dashboard > ☰ Payables > Bill Queue.
Any PDF that has been uploaded (either via drag and drop or email) will appear in the Bill Queue. The documents will remain in the queue until a Vendor Bill has been generated or they have been manually removed from the queue.
Bills uploaded within the past 5 minutes will appear highlighted in the queue. To change filters, expand the Filters section above the queue. The queue can be filtered by Owner, Subsidiary, Date Uploaded, OCR Status
When viewing the queue you can take one of the following actions for each bill:
View Document: Clicking on the document name will let you view the original document that was uploaded. From this view you can take one of the two actions listed below.
Create Bill: This link will bring you to the Vendor Bill create screen to save the Vendor Bill. Refer to the Vendor Bill Data Capture section of this user guide for more details. Once a Vendor Bill has been created, the bill will be removed from the Bill Queue.
Remove from Queue: This link will remove the bill from the queue without creating a Vendor Bill. This will not delete the underlying document from the File Cabinet.
Queue Columns
Create Bill: A link that will bring you to the Vendor Bill create screen to create a Vendor Bill.
Duplicate: If a document has been previously uploaded with the same file contents, an exclamation point will be shown in the duplicate column. Clicking on the exclamation point will show you the duplicate documents.
Document: The name of the document uploaded. Clicking on the document name will let you view the original document that was uploaded.
Owner: The name of the employee who uploaded the document (either via drag/drop or email). Owner will show “System” if Vendor sends a bill directly to the NetSuite email, or if the sender does not have an employee record in NetSuite. The owner can be changed by clicking on the document name and pressing Edit, or by setting up an OCR rule by an Administrator.
Date Uploaded: The date/time the document was uploaded.
OCR Status: The status of the OCR upload process.
In Progress: The document is still being scanned and will be ready within 15 minutes. You will see rows with this status if they were uploaded via email or you pressed the cancel button after dragging and dropping invoices into NetSuite. Vendor Bills can still be created for invoices with this status, however, the Vendor Bill form may not be automatically populated. If you would like to force NetSuite to check to see if the OCR scan is complete (instead of waiting up to 15 minutes), you can click the Document link and then click on the Refresh OCR Status button. Alternatively, clicking the Create Bill link will force NetSuite to recheck the status before bringing you to the Vendor Bill screen.
Complete: The OCR scan is complete and is ready for a Vendor Bill to be created.
Failed: There was an issue scanning the document. Vendor Bills can still be created for invoices with this status; however, the Vendor Bill form will not be automatically populated. Failed scans do not count against your monthly usage.
Not Enabled: OCR scanning is not enabled and is ready for a Vendor Bill to be created. Not Enabled will be shown if OCR is disabled or you have exceeded your OCR monthly limit (which can be optionally defined on the ABM Settings screen)
Vendor Name: The name of the vendor extracted from the document. If a vendor is found in NetSuite, the Vendor Name column will display the actual vendor’s name from NetSuite (not the extracted vendor name from the document). The following logic is used to lookup a vendor, in priority order (stops at first one that applies):
Select a vendor based on applicable rules (see section on rules within this guide)
If a matching PO can be found, select a vendor based on the related PO.
Search prior uploaded documents with the same extracted vendor name and bill subsidiary. Use the most recently uploaded invoice document to select the vendor from the document’s associated bill.
Search for vendors based on the extracted vendor name and subsidiary.
Subsidiary: Subsidiary associated to the document. This only applies for one-world accounts. If no subsidiary can be determined, this field will be empty. The following logic is used to lookup a subsidiary, in priority order (stops at first one that applies):
Select a subsidiary based on applicable rules (see section on rules within this guide)
If a matching PO can be found, select a subsidiary based on the related PO.
Search prior uploaded documents with the same extracted bill to name. Use the most recently uploaded invoice document to select the subsidiary from the document’s associated bill.
If the vendor was looked up by searching prior documents uploaded (see logic above for Vendor Name), select the bill’s subsidiary.
If the vendor was defined via a rule or looked up by name, default to the vendor’s primary subsidiary.
Use the Default Subsidiary defined on the ABM Settings.
Invoice Number: The invoice number extracted from the document.
PO Number: Purchase order number extracted from the document.
Invoice Date: The invoice date extracted from the document.
Invoice Total: the invoice total extracted from the document.
Remove from Queue: A link that will remove the invoice from the queue without creating a Vendor Bill.
Once a bill PDF document has been uploaded, it needs to be reviewed before a Vendor Bill is created. There are two primary ways to navigate to the Vendor Bill review screen:
Dragging and dropping a single PDF into the Bill Upload screen.
Clicking the Create Bill link in the Bill Queue.
The Vendor Bill Data Capture Screen provides a split-screen view of the PDF document and the Vendor Bill form:
If the bill was uploaded via email, you can also see a copy of the email details by pressing View Email on the Vendor Bill form:
The Vendor Bill form on the right is the same form that would be used if you were to create a Vendor Bill manual in NetSuite. However, Automate will automatically populate the form based on information extracted from the invoice.
Once you have reviewed the auto-filled Vendor Bill and made any adjustments, press Save to save the Vendor Bill. Once the Vendor Bill is saved, you will still have access to view the PDF document or email using the View Invoice and View Email buttons. Saving the Vendor Bill will remove the document from the Bill Queue.
Drag and drop one or more PDF documents onto the screen and press Upload:
Wait for the documents to be scanned. If you press Cancel in the middle of this process, your bills will still be scanned but may take up to 15 minutes to complete. You will be directed to the Bill Queue after pressing the Cancel button.
The split screen view can be opened in a separate window by using the button on the split screen view. The split screen view can also be closed by pressing the X button.
When saving a Vendor Bill, Automate’s 3-Way Match will automatically check for variances if the Vendor Bill is associate to a PO (learn more here: ).
When a Vendor Bill has been saved, it will need to be routed for approval before it can post to the GL or be paid. Automate’s Approval Automation is used to route your Vendor Bills for approval (learn more here: ).