You can choose whether to delete data from the AutoInvoice Interface tables once it has been validated and transferred into Receivables. If you want AutoInvoice to automatically delete the data, check the Purge Interface Tables box in the System Options window. If you want to delete data from the AutoInvoice Interface tables later, do not check this box. You can choose to run the AutoInvoice Purge program at any time from the Run AutoInvoice window.
The AutoInvoice Purge program and the Purge Interface Tables system option only delete data from the interface tables that has been validated and successfully transferred into Receivables.
AutoInvoice provides the functionality you need to meet your sales tax and other taxing requirements, such as Value Added Tax (VAT). You can either pass tax code lines, tax exempt lines or have AutoInvoice automatically determine your tax rates using the hierarchy determined by the tax calculation flow charts. If AutoInvoice determines your tax rates, it will take into account any customer or item tax exemptions or item tax exceptions.
Use AutoInvoice to pass transactions in closed accounting periods. Receivables automatically uses the first day of the next open accounting period as your default date to determine your accounting distributions. See: Adjusting General Ledger Dates.
AutoInvoice creates invoices, debit memos, credit memos and on-account credits using the grouping and invoice line ordering rules you specify. AutoInvoice verifies that your data is valid before it creates transactions in Receivables.
AutoInvoice lets you choose how you want to determine invoice and accounting dates for your transactions. Your feeder program can either load these dates directly into the interface tables or, if you leave the date fields empty, Receivables will determine your invoice and accounting dates using a straightforward algorithm. See: Determining Dates.
AutoInvoice lets you create invoices against commitments in the same way you would with a manually entered invoice.
Note: An invoice can be attached to only one commitment. Upon import, if an invoice has multiple lines where different commitment line values are provided in the REFERENCE_LINE_ID column, then Receivables creates one or more invoices, accordingly.
Suggestion: If an invoice has multiple lines but a commitment's balance covers only a partial invoice amount, then Receivables can still create a single invoice upon import. To accomplish this, all lines must have the same commitment line value but, using the PROMISED_COMMITMENT_AMOUNT column, some invoice lines will deplete the commitment's remaining balance while other invoice lines will have an allocated commitment value of zero. See: Using Commitments and AutoInvoice Table and Column Descriptions.
You submit AutoInvoice using the Run AutoInvoice window. If AutoInvoice converts your transaction data into the required data format, and all of the data passes validation in Receivables, then you can run AutoInvoice in one step.
However, if your feeder program loads the interface tables with invalid data, AutoInvoice informs you of the validation errors in both the AutoInvoice Execution and AutoInvoice Validation reports. In this case, you must correct any errors by modifying data in the interface tables and then rerun AutoInvoice on the corrected data.
See: Running AutoInvoice.
AutoInvoice can be divided into three major phases: pre-grouping, grouping, and transfer.
In the pre-grouping phase, AutoInvoice validates all of the line-level data as well as any other data that is not dependent upon successful grouping. Some examples include validating that a transaction type is valid and validating that only one freight account exists for each freight line passed.
In the grouping phase, AutoInvoice groups lines based on the grouping rules and validates header-level data that is dependent on how your lines are grouped. Some examples include validating the overapplication rules specified for your batch source and validating that the general ledger date of an invoice against a commitment is not before the general ledger date of the commitment. If AutoInvoice incorrectly groups transactions, check the grouping rule that you are using, paying particular attention to the mandatory and optional attributes that are included in this rule. For more information, see Using Grouping Rules to Create Transactions.
In the transfer phase, AutoInvoice validates information that exists in Receivables tables, such as tax defaulting and AutoAccounting data.
Use the AutoInvoice Execution Report to review summary information about your transactions. AutoInvoice automatically creates this report each time you run AutoInvoice. The AutoInvoice Execution report lists the total number of transaction, sales credit, and distribution lines that were successfully imported, as well as those that failed. See: AutoInvoice Validation.
The AutoInvoice Execution report also includes a detailed list of the receipts that were automatically processed. This list includes receipts that were processed according to policy, as well as receipts that were put on account because a refund was not possible. See: Automated Receipt Handling for Credits.
Note: It is possible to have the number of Successfully Processed lines be less than the number Selected and have no lines that Failed Validation. This will occur when a credit memo for an invoice and the invoice itself are submitted in the same batch and the credit memo is selected first. Since the invoice has not been processed yet, the credit memo will go unprocessed during this import, but will not fail. The unprocessed credit memo remains in the interface table and will be processed the next time you submit AutoInvoice. In this example, the Interface Lines section of the execution report would appear as follows:
Selected: 9
Successfully Processed: 8
Failed Validation: 0
AutoInvoice also automatically generates the AutoInvoice Validation Report if you have records that failed validation. This report displays all error messages associated with each transaction, sales credit, and distribution line that failed validation. The report also includes the invoices that Receivables could not select for receipt handling, and why.
You can use this information to identify which records need to be modified. Refer to the next section, Correcting Errors.
For each line, AutoInvoice can only display error messages for the phase the line is in when it fails. For example, if a line fails validation in the pre-grouping phase, AutoInvoice will display all error messages encountered in the pre-grouping phase. Likewise, if a line is already in the transfer phase when it fails, AutoInvoice will display all error messages encountered in the transfer phase.
If you encounter sales credit or distribution errors, AutoInvoice prints a separate section for these errors. These sections will display below each line.
Note: The transaction lines that fail with invalid sales group IDs are also reported in this section.
Lastly, a Summary of Transactions Rejected section is printed at the end of the report. See: AutoInvoice Reports.
Use the AutoInvoice Validation Report and the Interface Exceptions window to review records that failed AutoInvoice validation. Depending on the error, you may need to make changes in Receivables, your feeder program, or the imported records in the interface tables. For example, if you receive an error message stating that the salesperson specified for an invoice does not exist in Receivables, you can either add the salesperson to Receivables or modify your feeder program to only transfer salespersons that Receivables recognizes. Use the Interface Lines window to modify invalid records in the interface tables. See: Correcting AutoInvoice Exceptions.
AutoInvoice provides you with a way to uniquely identify each transaction you import into Receivables. Use Transaction Flexfields to capture information that will help you trace transactions from Receivables back to the systems from which they originated.
AutoInvoice ensures that each Transaction Flexfield is unique so you can refer to previously processed transactions. For example, if you are importing a credit memo, you would use the Transaction Flexfield of the credit memo to refer to the transaction being credited. You can also use Transaction Flexfields to link transaction lines to other transaction lines and to tax and freight lines. See: Transaction Flexfields.