Auto-AP User Guide

Auto-AP is an accounts payable automation system that processes supplier invoices received via email, extracts invoice data using AI, matches invoices against received inventory, and creates payables in RFMS along with the invoice PDF as an attachment.

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Getting Started

Logging In

Navigate to the Auto-AP login page and enter your email and password. After logging in you are taken directly to the Invoices page, which is the main working area of the application.

Navigation

A sidebar on the left provides access to all sections:

• Invoices — The primary workspace for reviewing and processing invoices
• Inventory — View all inventory items that are ready to be costed
• Suppliers — Configure supplier-specific processing rules
• Email Rules — Manage the email addresses that receive invoices
• Activities — View a log of all system events
• Settings — Refresh master data and view application info

An App Switcher in the sidebar header lets you switch between Auto-AP and other RFMSANZ applications. Your user account and logout options are available at the bottom of the sidebar.

Visual Guide (or Video) 

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How Invoice Processing Works

Auto-AP automates the accounts payable workflow in several stages:

1. Email Reception

Suppliers send invoices as PDF attachments to your configured email addresses on the @ap.rfmscloud.com domain (e.g., [e-mail]). The system automatically receives these emails and queues each PDF attachment for processing.

2. AI Extraction

Each PDF is processed by an AI process that extracts the elements needed to create payables in RFMS, including supplier name, invoice number, dates, amounts, and line items. Every vendor provides invoices in their own unique format, so this process has to try to distinguish between all the different possibilities that might exist.

3. Supplier Identification

The system identifies the supplier by matching the AI-extracted name against your RFMS supplier list. It checks for exact matches, partial matches, and any aliases you have configured in supplier rules. If no match is found, the invoice is flagged with a warning.

4. Rule Application

Once the supplier is identified, Auto-AP applies the relevant supplier rules to set default account codes, GST rates, store assignments, and due date overrides. If the supplier has no specific rules, default settings are used.

5. Freight Handling

By default, shipping/freight charges are proportionally distributed across all line items. If the email rule has Separate Freight enabled, freight is kept as a distinct value instead.

6. Automatic or Manual Processing

Depending on the configuration of the email rule and supplier rule, the invoice is either:

• Placed in the Inbox for manual review and action, or
• Automatically processed — the system creates the payable in RFMS without user intervention

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Invoices

The Invoices page is split into two panels: Invoices Received (top) and Matching Inventory (bottom).

Invoices Received

This panel shows all invoices that have been received and processed. Each invoice displays its status, invoice number, PO number, supplier, net amount, invoice total, and any error messages.

Status Indicators

Icon	Status	Meaning
Blue inbox	Pending	Invoice is awaiting review
Orange triangle	Warning	Processed with issues (e.g., supplier not found, amount tolerance exceeded)
Red circle	Error	Processing failed or RFMS rejected the payable
Green check	AP Created	Payable successfully created in RFMS

Filtering

Use the status filter chips at the top to show or hide invoices by status. By default, Pending, Warning, and Error invoices are shown. Toggle the Success chip to also see completed invoices.

A search box next to the heading lets you filter invoices by typing any text. It searches across invoice number, PO number, supplier name, and error message, and can be combined with the status filters.

Actions

• Open — Navigate to the invoice detail page (or double-click the row)
• Reprocess — Re-run AI extraction on the original PDF. Useful if the initial extraction had issues or if AI improvements have been made.
• Delete — Remove the invoice record from the system

Matching Inventory

When you select an invoice in the top panel, the bottom panel shows inventory records that may correspond to that invoice. The inventory list can be filtered by:

• Supplier — Toggle to show only inventory from the same supplier
• PO Number — Toggle to show only inventory with a matching purchase order number
• Free text filter — Search across PO number, supplier, and units

From this panel you can:

• Cost Inventory — Select inventory items using checkboxes and click "Cost Inventory" to match them against the selected invoice and create a costed payable in RFMS
• Create Matching Invoice — Select inventory items and create a new invoice record from them (for cases where no emailed invoice exists.)

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Invoice Detail

The Invoice Detail page shows the full information for a single invoice, with the PDF document displayed alongside the extracted data.

Viewing an Invoice

The page displays:

• Email information — Subject line, sender, recipient, and processing timestamp
• Status — Current status with any error or warning messages
• Header fields — Invoice number, PO number, supplier, invoice date, due date
• Amount breakdown — Subtotal, freight, GST, and invoice total
• Line items — Description, quantity, amount, and store for each line

If the invoice was matched to inventory, additional columns show the matching PO number, PO amount, and whether the match is OK.

Editing an Invoice

Click Edit to modify invoice data. You can change the invoice number, PO number, supplier, dates, amounts, and line items. You can also add or remove line items.

When saving, the system validates that the sum of all line amounts plus freight plus GST equals the invoice total (within 1 cent).

If an invoice has a "supplier not found" error, a Create Supplier button appears next to the supplier field, allowing you to create the supplier record directly from this page.

Creating a Payable

For invoices that are NOT matched to inventory:

1. Click Create Payable to enter review mode.
2. The system automatically adds freight and GST tax lines if needed, using the supplier's configured account codes.
3. Review and adjust account codes, sub-account codes, and GST codes for each line item.
4. Click Send to RFMS to create the payable in the RFMS system. The PDF is attached automatically.

Costing Inventory

For invoices matched to inventory:

1. Click Cost Inventory on the detail page.
2. The system matches invoice lines to inventory items by PO number and verifies amounts against supplier tolerance rules.
3. If warnings are raised (amount tolerances exceeded), you are prompted to either fix the data or proceed with "Ignore warnings."
4. On success, the inventory is costed and a payable is created in RFMS.

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Inventory Matching & Costing

How Matching Works

Auto-AP matches invoices to inventory by purchase order number. The matching is flexible — it normalizes PO numbers (removing # and - characters) and uses prefix matching, so an invoice with PO "FP1234" will match inventory items with PO "FP1234-01".

Verification Checks

Before costing, the system verifies the match against the supplier's configured tolerances:

Check	What It Validates
GST	Actual GST does not exceed the expected amount (based on supplier's GST rate) by more than the configured allowance rate/cap
Shipping	Freight charges are within the supplier's shipping allowance rate and cap
Line Amounts	Each invoice line amount does not exceed the corresponding PO amount by more than the configured tolerance
Supplier Match	The supplier on each inventory item matches the invoice supplier

The Costing Process

When costing is executed:

1. Inventory records are locked in RFMS to prevent concurrent changes
2. Line item costs are updated to reflect actual invoice amounts
3. Totals are recalculated with freight and GST
4. A payable is generated and created in RFMS
5. The invoice PDF is uploaded as an attachment
6. Locks are released

Auto-Costing

If configured, the system runs auto-costing on an hourly cycle. It scans for pending invoices with PO numbers, attempts to match them against received inventory, verifies tolerances, and costs automatically — no user interaction required. Results are logged in the Activities page.

Inventory Page

The standalone Inventory page shows all inventory items currently in "ready to cost" status. You can view the full list and trigger a bulk auto-cost operation using the Cost Inventory button.

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Supplier Rules

The Suppliers page lets you configure processing rules on a per-supplier basis. These rules control how invoices from each supplier are handled.

Default Settings

Click Edit Defaults to configure fallback rules that apply to any supplier without specific rules. This is a good starting point — set your most common account codes, GST rate, and tolerances here.

Supplier-Specific Rules

Click Add Supplier Rule to create rules for a specific supplier. Each rule can configure:

Processing

Setting	Description
Action	Inbox (manual review), Auto Payable (automatically create AP), or Auto Cost (automatically match and cost inventory)
Store	Default store assignment for this supplier's invoices. This store is used when creating a simple payable. When matching against inventory, the store from the inventory lines is used instead.

Account Codes

Setting	Description
Default Account / Sub Code	GL account for invoice line items
GST Account / Sub Code	GL account for the GST tax line
Freight Account / Sub Code	GL account for freight charges

GST

Setting	Description
GST Rate (%)	Expected GST rate (e.g., 10%)

Tolerances (for Auto-Costing Verification)

Setting	Description
GST Allowance	How much the actual GST can exceed the expected amount (rate % and absolute cap)
Shipping Allowance	Maximum acceptable freight charges (rate % and absolute cap)
Line Amount	How much each line can exceed the PO amount (rate % and absolute cap)

Due Date Override

Override how the due date is calculated:

• Use Invoice Due Date — Use the date from the invoice as-is
• Day of Month — Set to a specific day (1–31 or last day) in the invoice month or following month
• Days After Invoice Date — Add a fixed number of days to the invoice date

Aliases

Define alternative names for the supplier that may appear on invoices. This helps the system match the AI-extracted supplier name to the correct RFMS supplier when the names don't match exactly (e.g., "SMITH & JONES PTY LTD" vs "SMITH & JONES").

Bulk Management

• Download Spreadsheet — Export all supplier rules to an Excel file
• Upload Spreadsheet — Import supplier rules from an Excel file. The system validates the data, shows a preview of changes, and reports any errors before applying updates.

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Email Rules

Email rules control how incoming invoice emails are routed and processed. The system uses the @ap.rfmscloud.com domain for receiving invoices.

Email Address Structure

Email addresses follow a hierarchical structure:

• Root email: [e-mail] — The base address for receiving invoices
• Child emails: [e-mail] — Specific addresses for individual suppliers or categories

When an email arrives at a child address, the system first checks for a matching child rule. If none exists, it falls back to the root rule.

Rule Settings

Each email rule configures:

Setting	Description
Action	Inbox (manual review), Auto Payable (auto-create AP), or Auto Cost (auto-match and cost)
Store	Which store this email address is associated with
Separate Freight	If enabled, freight is kept as a separate line item instead of being distributed across all lines
Supplier	Optionally lock this email address to a specific supplier. If set, all invoices received at this address are assigned to this supplier regardless of what the AI extracts. Leave empty for auto-detection.

Setting Up Email Rules

1. Click Add Root Email to create your base email address
2. Add child email addresses for suppliers or categories that need different processing rules
3. Give the configured email addresses to your suppliers to start receiving invoices

The copy button next to each email address makes it easy to copy the full address for sharing.

Note: Root email rules cannot be deleted (only edited). Child rules can be deleted individually.

Suppliers Across Multiple Stores

A supplier rule is associated with a single store. If you receive invoices from the same supplier for multiple stores, this only matters for simple payables (invoices without matching inventory) — invoices that match against inventory will automatically use the store from the inventory lines.

For simple payables, you can work around this by setting up a separate child email address for each store. For example, you could create [e-mail] and associate it with the supplier and the second store. Invoices sent to that address will be processed with the correct store assignment.

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Activities

The Activities page provides a read-only audit log of all system events. Use it to monitor processing, troubleshoot issues, and verify that invoices are being handled correctly.

Event Types

Event	Description
Email Received	An invoice email was received from a supplier
Invoice Processed	AI extraction completed on a PDF
Manual AP	A user manually created a payable
Manual Cost	A user manually matched and costed inventory
Auto-AP	The system automatically created a payable
Auto Cost	The system automatically matched and costed inventory

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Settings

The Settings page provides:

Company

• PO Number Prefixes — A semicolon-delimited list of prefixes used to identify purchase order numbers on invoices (e.g., PO;PUR;ORD). During AI extraction, these prefixes help the system recognise and extract PO numbers from invoice documents. Update this list if your suppliers use PO number formats that aren't being detected.

Data

• Refresh Master Lists — Reloads reference data (suppliers, account codes, stores, GST codes) from RFMS. Use this after making changes directly in RFMS to ensure Auto-AP has the latest data.

About

• Shows the current application version.

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Common Workflows

Processing a New Invoice Manually

1. Invoice arrives via email and appears on the Invoices page with Pending status
2. Click the invoice to view it, or double-click to open the detail page
3. Review the extracted data against the PDF
4. Edit any incorrect fields if needed
5. Click Create Payable to enter review mode
6. Verify account codes and GST codes on each line
7. Click Send to RFMS to create the payable

Costing Inventory Against an Invoice

1. Select an invoice on the Invoices page
2. In the Matching Inventory panel, use the supplier and PO number filters to find matching records
3. Check the inventory items to match
4. Click Cost Inventory
5. Review any warnings and proceed or fix issues
6. The system creates the payable and costs the inventory in RFMS

Handling Errors

• Supplier not found — Open the invoice detail, click Create Supplier to add the supplier, then retry
  - Visual Guide (or Video) 

• Amount mismatch — Edit the invoice to correct line amounts, freight, or GST, then retry
• AI extraction error — Click Reprocess to re-run extraction on the original PDF
• RFMS rejection — Check the error message for details, correct the issue, and retry

Setting Up a New Supplier

1. Go to the Suppliers page
2. Click Add Supplier Rule
3. Select the supplier name and configure their processing action, account codes, GST rate, and tolerances
4. Add any aliases if the supplier uses different names on their invoices
5. Click Save

Setting Up Automatic Processing

To fully automate invoice processing for a supplier:

1. Create an email rule with the Auto Cost or Auto Payable action
2. Create a supplier rule with appropriate tolerances and account codes
3. Invoices arriving at that email address will be processed without manual intervention
4. Monitor the Activities page to verify automatic processing is working correctly