Bill routing

Bill routing

Bills can be routed automatically or manually. Automatic routing is only supported if AI Smart ScanAI Smart Scan is a tool that reads scanned invoice images or PDFs and extracts the details, which are used to populate the fields on a bill. is enabled; otherwise, bills can be routed manually.

Automatic routing

AIArtificial Intelligence Smart Scan scans invoices in Tipalti and converts the invoices to bills. Tipalti then checks for the following conditions:

  1. PO matchingThe process of matching goods and services from purchase orders to invoices (2-way matching), and receipts (3-way matching) is enabled on the payer's account.

    2. AND

  2. PO matching is enabled for the payee.

    3. AND

  3. A PO number exists on the bill OR the payee has one PO in an "Active" or "Partially billed" status.

If all conditions have been met and all required fields are complete on the bill, then it is sent for matching. Otherwise, the bill is sent to the "Pending review" subtab for internal review before it can be sent for matching.

Bills sent for matching are assigned a status of "Pending matching" and appear only on the "All bills" subtab until Tipalti begins the matching process.

If you want the ability to edit any AI Smart Scan-scanned bill before it is sent for PO matching (e.g., when units of measure don't appear on the invoice but are required on the bill), we can update your PO matching settings to allow this. Please submit a request to our Support Team.

Manual routing

Manual routing can be done from the "Pending review" or "Pending AP action" subtabs. How you route the bill differs based on whether PO matching is enabled or disabled for the payee.

You need the Approval Management role to route manually.

PO matching is enabled for the payee

  1. Consider the following when a PO number is not linked to the bill:
    1. Check the attached invoice for the PO number, then add it to the "Purchase orders" field on the bill.
    2. If the invoice does not contain the PO number, select the "PO number is not specified" check box. Alternatively, dispute the bill and ask the supplier to provide an invoice that includes the PO number.
    3. If an invoice is not attached to the bill, select the "PO number is not specified" check box.
  2. To send the bill for matching, at the bottom of the screen, click "Submit". The "Send for matching" dialog asks you to confirm sending the bill for PO matching.
  3. Click "Confirm". Bill status changes to "Pending matching" and the bill is forwarded to the "All bills" subtab.

PO matching is disabled for the payee

  1. At the top right of the screen, click "Actions" and select "Send for PO matching". The "Send for matching" dialog asks you to confirm sending the bill for PO matching.
  2. Click "Confirm". Bill status changes to "Review matching" and the bill is forwarded to the "PO matching" subtab.

When PO matching is disabled for the payee, the "Purchase orders" field is excluded from the bill, so you cannot link a PO to the bill. However, once the bill is on the "PO matching" subtab, you can link POs to it.