Vic.ai provides an AI-based intelligent 2-way, 3-way, and 4-way PO matching workflow. Vic.ai will match line items on invoices to Purchase Orders (PO) across multiple fields of data.
You can set acceptable tolerances, see perfect matches, as well as POs that require exception handling due to mismatches.
PO Matching Types
Two-way match
Between the PO and Invoice
Focuses on the Quantity Ordered
Three-way match
Between the PO, Invoice, and Tracking Slip
Focuses on the Quantity Received
Four-way match
Between the PO, Invoice, Tracking Slip, and Internal Quality Control
Focuses on the Quantity Accepted
Purchase Orders Tab
Find everything PO-related in the special section of Vic.ai, Purchase Orders. It works hand-in-hand with our existing Invoices section to code all associated PO expenses.
Here you'll be able to see all POs from your ERP, and see the:
PO status (open or closed)
Open: The PO has available quantities to match to
Closed: The PO has no available quantities to match to, or the PO has been entirely fulfilled.
Matching invoice(s) that fulfill a PO
Order details such as Item ID, UOM, Quantity, Unit Price, and Amount. Not all of these attributes will be on a PO, but we expect the following data points to exist on a PO for smooth workflows:
Quantity
Unit Price
Amount
Invoices Tab
Here you can see all invoices, including whether or not they've been matched to a Purchase Order, which is communicated by new icons in the Document Type column.
Invoice that matches a PO
Invoice with a partial PO Match
Errors such as a closed PO or no matching PO #
How Matching Works
In a perfect world, there is a one-to-one match between POs and Invoices. This is an imperfect world, so Vic.ai is here to assist you with all scenarios, such as:
Invoice fulfills one PO: One-to-one fulfillment
Invoice can fulfill multiple POs: Invoice fulfills multiple POs
Invoice can have Expense and PO Item Lines: Invoice contains both PO and normal expense items
Multiple Invoices to one PO: PO is fulfilled by multiple invoices
Matches are made between POs and Invoices by examining:
PO #
Open POs for that Vendor
PO Lines are matched to Invoice Lines on:
Item ID
Non alpha-numeric characters are discarded, so
123456would match to123456,123 456,123-456, and123.456
Item Description
Quantity
2-way match: Requested Quantity
3-way match: Received Quantity
4-Way match: Accepted Quantity
Unit Price
Total Amount
Note, as PO values are updated in the ERP, such as Quantity, the AI will automatically retrigger matching for any associated invoices, allowing the item lines to match to the newly available quantities.
Assumed PO Matches
The AI focuses on the important part of matching a PO, the unique string of numbers and letters. This will save your users time as they should use the AI-predicted PO on the invoice, and not make any unnecessary corrections.
Users save time by not making these corrections to make that perfect match between the document and PO number for these commonly-used prefixes and punctuation marks:
PO
BPO
CPO
PPO
POR
Punctuation of
-or#
The AI will treat these POs the same for automatic matching purposes as seen in the example:
PO123
PO-123
PO#123
123
In addition, one suffix, at the end of the PO number, is ignored as well:
/0/0
If the AI can't automatically make an assumed match because the Item ID, Item Description, Quantity, Unit Price, and Line Amount are too different on the PO and Invoice, the full PO number needs to be added to the invoice in order to make manual matches.
Predicting PO when not on Invoice (Implicit PO matching)
If a vendor leaves a Purchase Order off an invoice, Vic.ai can predict the number anyways, based on open invoices for that vendor and matching open POs that correspond to the line items.
You'll know a PO has been predicted by the AI in this manner if you see a double line as the confidence icon.
PO Edits & Rematching
If the AI has incorrect predictions, you can update the values and then let the AI attempt to rematch item lines to a PO with the updated values.
To do this, make the edits, and then either:
Click the Rematch Invoice button
Exit the invoice
The invoice will then be briefly inaccessible and show "Matching POs..." while the AI is at work!
For Group of Companies Configuration (GOC), only:
When the Company prediction is updated, the invoice will run through ai processin and PO matching.
Manual Matching
When the AI doesn't make an item line match, you can create a manual match by following these steps.
Enter an invoice with a PO
Make sure the PO lines are expanded (make sure the View PO toggle is green)
Click "Enter Manual Match Mode"
Click "Find Match", or "Unmatch" if a match was made incorrectly.
Select the correct item line and then click "Match"
PO Matching Roles
PO Requester: The creator of the purchase order and can be set as the mismatch approver.
PO Mismatch Approver: An approver who can approve or reject mismatched items that exceed the set tolerances.
Duplicate Remediation:
PO #
Vendor
PO Mismatch Flows
To determine how exact the PO Match must be, there is tolerance generator, allowing your Organization and Company Admins to decide how exactly much of a tolerance is required across different values.
The different triggers that can be combined are:
Vendor Name or Vendor Tags
Invoice Quantity, Unit Price, or Line Amount
Tolerance can be:
Exact
Off by a percentage of the PO value
Off by a specific number of the PO value
When an Invoice with PO Line Items exceeds the tolerance flows, you can initiate a bespoke approval process that will flow as designed, to a combination of:
PO Requester
Vendor Owner (if integration supports this, please contact Support)
Site Owner (if integration supports this, please contact Support)
PO Mismatch Approver
Prior Approver's Manager
For further reading, please check out our PO FAQs.