Process flow

This sequence outlines the process flow:

  1. Emails with supplier invoices attached as PDF files arrive in a specified email account and folder. One separate email folder is configured for every M3 Accounting Entity (Company_Division).

    The RPA solution also monitors designated local or network folders. It automatically picks up and processes any new invoice files placed in these folders.

  2. RPA triggers, either in attended or unattended mode, to read PDFs.
    • For emails: The source email is automatically marked as read. This serves as a clear indicator that the invoice enters the processing system.
    • For network folders: The source file is automatically moved from the initial input folder to a designated In Progress folder. This prevents the same file from being picked up again and provides a clear audit trail of what has been processed.
  3. In RPA, key information from the PDF file is extracted and processed by IDP, which uses OCR (Optical Character Recognition) for extraction and GenAI for interpretation.

    See Supported features.

  4. RPA performs validations to identify any missing information. It also performs a lookup of M3 Supplier number based on captured data such as VAT registration number, Tax ID number, IBAN Bank Account number, supplier name, and address.
  5. Exception Routing to the Review Center

    If any of the initial validation checks fail, either due to missing information such as no invoice date or validation failures such as supplier not matched within M3 PO, the automated process stops. The invoice is then automatically routed to the Review Center, a dedicated user interface for manual exception handling. In the Review Center, a user reviews the identified errors, corrects the data, and submits the invoice for processing.

  6. RPA sends the PDF document to IDM with the SupplierInvoice as the document type, along with a Globally Unique Identifier (GUID). This GUID, also known as the Correlation ID in M3, is transferred to M3 to enable tracing back to the corresponding invoice document in IDM.
  7. RPA generates a Load.SupplierInvoice BOD with all the available information. This BOD is sent to M3 through ION Messaging Service (IMS).
  8. Infor Enterprise Collaborator (IEC) receives the LoadSupplierInvoice BOD from ION and processes it by using the APS450MI API to insert the invoice data into the 'Supplier Invoice Batch. Open' (APS450) program. The validation of the supplier invoice is then automatically initiated through APS455MI API.
  9. After the RPA process is completed, an inbox notification is sent to a specified user or user group. The user can view this notification to review the received invoices and, if necessary, add any missing information in 'Supplier Invoice Batch. Open' (APS450).
  10. When the supplier invoice is transferred to Accounts Payable and posted to the General Ledger, it reaches status 90 – Updated in APL in (APS450). At this point, a SyncSupplierInvoice BOD is triggered to update the IDM document with attributes such as supplier, invoice number, invoice year, and voucher number. A mapping in ION then transforms the SyncSupplierInvoice BOD into the IDM ProcessContentDocument BOD.
  11. The attributes in IDM are later used to link the invoice in M3 with the document in IDM using the contextual widget Related Information. IDM Business Context Models are used for this action, as the supplier invoice number only is not a unique ID in M3.