Unlike many other solutions, Zetadocs AP automation is ready to go with no need to “train” the system by setting up templates and rules for each vendor, which then require ongoing maintenance. Zetadocs instead uses the Microsoft Azure AI Document Intelligence service to intelligently extract data from invoices.
Zetadocs uses Microsoft Azure AI Document Intelligence to combine powerful Optical Character Recognition (OCR) capabilities with deep learning models to analyze and extract key fields and line items from invoices, with no need for any up-front training of the system using templates and rules.
As with any OCR solution, the success rate will not be 100% depending on the format of invoices and the image quality. Zetadocs AP automation works best with more structured invoices, that have a tabular type that includes product/item codes, quantities, amounts etc.
Zetadocs displays a preview of all the information it captures, with the option to edit as required, prior to new purchase invoice or credit memo records being created in Business Central.
Zetadocs remembers changes made on the preview screen to the mappings between captured data values and Business Central data (Items, G/L Accounts and Vendors), saving you time as you do not need to manually lookup these values again in future. The Microsoft Azure AI Document Intelligence service that Zetadocs uses also keeps improving, so that it can better recognize and extract invoice data.
Zetadocs cross-checks the sum amount of the line items captured against the calculated invoice total and highlights any discrepancies. Zetadocs also checks the vendor, item and GL account information it captures against Business Central, prior to displaying this on the preview screen.
Invoices must be in a PDF format when uploaded for processing by Zetadocs.
Vendor documents need to be uploaded to a SharePoint Online folder for processing by Zetadocs within Business Central. Options for doing this include:
- Drag & drop of files
- Automatic forwarding of documents sent to a specified mailbox (using a Microsoft Power Automate flow)
- Scan paper documents directly to folder
Yes, 3-way PO matching is supported. Zetadocs will also prompt to receive and post any order lines not already received, and you can set that as a default option too.
The approval of purchase invoices and credit memos can be done using Business Central functionality. Note: Our ‘Zetadocs Approvals’ product is currently not supported for use with Business Central cloud and there are no immediate plans for this to change.
The Zetadocs Delivery & Capture Extension for Business Central and the Zetadocs SharePoint extension needs to be installed, as per installation guide. There are no additional steps needed to use the automated entry feature, except to ensure the Zetadocs licence includes the required addon.
Zetadocs AP Automation is ready to use in hours, not days. The standard Zetadocs installation steps need to be followed, after which the AP solution is ready to use with the default configuration, without any need to create templates for each vendor.
Yes. Invoice lines can be matched to order lines that span multiple purchase orders. A single purchase order can be matched to invoice lines that span multiple invoices too. More info can be found here.
Yes. Zetadocs will automatically set any default dimension values for the Business Central Vendor, Item or G/L account when creating a new purchase document in Business Central. Dimension values can also be set manually on the Zetadocs Preview Screen
Zetadocs can create unposted or posted invoices and there are settings to control non-receipted items.
Tax amounts are always calculated by Business Central (based on the tax posting groups shown on the Zetadocs Preview screen). Zetadocs will display a warning message if the total tax amount recognised on the vendor invoice differs from that which Business Central will calculate.
Zetadocs extracts all information that may be relevant from an invoice. If some of the information is not needed, then lines can be left unmapped and they will be automatically set as a “comment” type line on the new invoice, otherwise the lines can be deleted.
Yes. The Preview and Order Matching screens can be modified using the Business Central Personalization option. More information can be found here.
Yes. Zetadocs extracts a range of data fields from invoices that are commonly needed. If there are other data fields routinely shown on your vendor invoices (e.g. Job No.), then a customization is possible using a Zetadocs Capture Plus licence.
Yes. Zetadocs order matching does not rely on a purchase order number being extracted from the vendor invoice. More information on how the automatic matching process works is available here.
A Zetadocs Capture licence is required, which is a named user licence typically for a minimum of 5 users. The AP automation add-on licence also needs to be purchased, which allows for a certain number of documents to be processed annually.
Yes – AP automation can be purchased as an add-on by customers using Zetadocs Capture Essentials or Plus. Zetadocs Express customers must upgrade to Essentials to use the add-on.
No – there is a fixed price per document for simplicity
Yes, only Zetadocs licenced users can process documents using Zetadocs AP automation. However, any user with the appropriate permissions can upload invoices directly to a SharePoint location – which is linked to the Business Central document queue where invoices are processed from.
There are no minimum document volumes. Documents are billed annually in advance based on an annual estimate that is agreed in advance.
You can upgrade the number of documents at any point by contacting us so that we can apply a document volume upgrade. Zetadocs will warn you when you have 20% of your annual document count remaining so that you can avoid running out unexpectedly.
Support is for Business Central 14 or later, deployed on premises or online. Only SharePoint online is supported for electronic archiving.
Currently, it is only supported to process invoices that are in English.
Once Microsoft Azure AI Document Intelligence has extracted the key invoice data, the data is stored in your SharePoint online instance only. No vendor data is retained by Microsoft.