How Recommendations for Receipt Application Are Calculated
During payment processing, Receivables matches remittance reference information on receipts to open transactions, and presents recommendations for which transactions to apply a given receipt. This recommendation process operates for manual receipts, lockbox receipts, and receipts uploaded using a spreadsheet.
In general, Receivables generates recommendations rather than applying receipts automatically when there is a data entry error, such as an incorrect invoice number, or when no transaction meets the minimum requirements for automatic receipt application, as defined by your implementation.
Settings That Affect Recommendations for Receipt Application
These settings affect recommendations for receipt application:
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Match Receipts By rule: The Match Receipts By rule identifies the document type reference to use to match receipts to transactions during lockbox and manual receipt processing. There are six document types available to match to receipts:
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Transaction number
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Balance forward billing number (Lockbox only)
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Contract number
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Purchase order number
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Sales order number
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Shipping reference, such as a waybill number or packing slip
You can set Match Receipts By rules for document type references at the customer site, customer account, lockbox, and Receivables system option level. Receivables searches these settings until it finds an exact match or an approximate match.
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Document Type Automatic Update: Enable the Automatically update receipt match by option at the customer site or customer account level to automatically maintain the optimum Match Receipts By rule. If AutoMatch and AutoApply successfully match and apply a receipt for a customer or customer site based on a document type different from the default setting (or if there was no default setting), this new document type becomes the primary Match Receipts By rule for that customer or site.
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AutoApply: Set the Use AutoApply option for a lockbox or at the Receivables system option level for manual receipts. If you set this option, AutoApply automatically applies receipts and presents transaction recommendations based on the AutoMatch rule set, and handles exceptions based on the application exception rule set.
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AutoMatch Rule Set: The active AutoMatch rule set determines how receipts are applied automatically and transactions recommended for manual application. You can assign an AutoMatch rule set at the customer site, customer account, lockbox, and Receivables system option level.
An AutoMatch rule set defines the minimum qualifying percentage score, based on assigned thresholds, necessary to recommend transactions for receipt application. The rule set also provides string handling assistance to search for transaction matches against reference strings, such as an invoice number.
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Application Exception Rule Set: The active application exception rule set manages the handling of over and under payments after receipt application.
How Recommendations for Receipt Application Are Calculated
Receivables matches the remittance reference on the receipt to transactions, based on the active Match Receipts By rule. Receivables searches for a Match Receipts By rule to use for comparison in the order customer site, customer account, lockbox (for lockbox processing), and Receivables system options.
For example, you enter an invoice number as the reference number, and the Match Receipts By rule for a customer site is Transaction Number. Receivables looks for and displays the transactions that most closely match the number you enter. If there is an exact match, and if the AutoMatch threshold settings allow, Receivables applies the receipt to the transaction automatically. If there isn't an exact match, Receivables displays a list of recommended transactions according to the AutoMatch thresholds.
If AutoApply is enabled, Receivables presents transaction recommendations in the order of their reference score, as calculated by the active AutoMatch rule set, such that the closest matches appear first in the list. Each recommendation is accompanied by a reason code explaining why the receipt wasn't applied to the transaction automatically. For example, if a recommendation has the reason Below transaction threshold, this indicates that the receipt wasn't automatically applied because the transaction reference score didn't meet the minimum threshold required for automatic application.
- Yes: The process looks for exact matches only of remittance references to transactions. For every exact match found, the process applies the transaction to the receipt. If exact matches are not found, no recommendations are generated.
- No: The process uses the AutoMatch rule set to calculate recommendations for receipt application based on the remittance references. If the resulting recommendation score is greater than the Combined Weighted Threshold value in the AutoMatch rule set, the recommended transaction is applied to the receipt.
When you submit a lockbox, the lockbox process can in many cases match receipts to transactions and apply the receipts automatically. In cases where receipts aren't applied automatically, lockbox generates a list of recommended transactions for you to complete the receipt application process manually. If the document type reference is the balance forward billing number, lockbox can use this number to identify the customer and apply the receipt using the active AutoCash rule.
When you manually create a standard receipt, use the Submit and AutoApply Now button to automatically apply the receipt. Receivables displays either the applications it has made or any recommendations for receipt application. For proposed recommendations, you can then select the transactions that you want and manually apply the receipt.
After the receipt is applied to the transaction, Receivables updates the receipt and transaction amounts, and displays any over or under payments for processing according to the details of the application exception rule set.
Receipts Applied without a Reference
Receivables will apply a receipt to a transaction or generate transaction recommendations without a remittance reference under these conditions:
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Customer information on the receipt matches that of the transaction.
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Receipt amount is equal to or greater than the transaction amount.
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For lockbox processing, the AutoCash rule is unable to apply the receipt.