Channel Configuration — Document
In the Document tab of the channel configuration, you define the core processing settings for an individual channel: time zone, automation thresholds, date and number formats, unit conversion, validation checks, document-type-specific options, the filling of missing values, and the automatic sorting out of unsuitable documents.
The page is a sequence of independent topic blocks. Each block has its own Save button. Changes made in one block are not applied if you switch to another block without saving.
Prerequisites
- A Workbench account with access to the channel configuration of the relevant channel.
- Clarity about which fields, validations, and document types are relevant for this channel. If you are unsure, ask your contact at Workist — many values are sensibly pre-populated from the moment of setup and do not necessarily need to be adjusted.
The settings apply to this channel only. Where applicable, they override values configured at the customer level (e.g. the time zone). If several channels are to share the same settings, you must maintain them per channel.
Opening the Page
In the Workbench, open the desired channel, click Channel Configuration, and select the Document entry under the Document Processing group. The page shows the topic blocks from top to bottom in the same order in which they are described in this guide.
Step 1 — Localization
In the Localization block, you set the temporal and calendar context of the channel.
| Field | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Time zone | Time zone of the channel. By default, the time zone specified at the customer level is used. Here you can override it for this channel — relevant for the interpretation and display of date and delivery-time fields. |
| Holiday calendar | Which statutory holiday calendar is used for delivery-date calculations, dunning deadlines, and similar logic. You can choose federal, state, and US-state calendars (e.g. Germany — Bavaria or USA — California). |
Click Save once you have entered the desired values.
Leave the time zone and holiday calendar empty if the customer settings are appropriate. Entered values override the default for this channel only — an accidental deviation can lead to incorrect delivery dates.
Step 2 — Automation
In the Automation block, you define whether and above what level of confidence documents are passed fully automatically to the target system without human assistance.
Automation is normally set up and configured together with your contact at Workist. Making your own changes to this switch and to the confidence thresholds is not recommended and is done at your own risk. The following description is intended to help you understand the values.
| Field | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Automation enabled | Global switch. When off, every document goes into assistance — regardless of the thresholds. |
| Confidence threshold for header data (%) | If the average confidence of the header data fields is above this value, the header data may be applied without assistance. |
| Confidence threshold for line items (%) | If the confidence of all line items is above this value, they may be applied without assistance. |
The two thresholds can be set separately — typically the value for line items is chosen somewhat lower than the one for header data, because a line item is often more ambiguous than, for example, the order number.
Step 3 — Data Formatting
In the Data Formatting block, you set how extracted values are interpreted and written to the output file.
| Field | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Date format | How date values from the document are written. Pre-populated options are %d.%m.%Y (e.g. 31.01.2026), %d/%m/%Y, %d-%m-%Y, and %m/%d/%Y. Using Custom… you can enter your own date format. |
| Address format | The order in street details: Street name first (e.g. Main Street 123) or Street number first (e.g. 123 Main Street). Affects the normalization of extracted addresses. |
| Decimal separator | Which character is used as the decimal separator in the output: Comma (567,89) or Period (567.89). Has no influence on how the document is read — only on the outgoing file. |
Each of these settings shows a small sample output to the right of the selection, using your current values — so you can immediately see how the resulting date or formatted amount will look.
The date and decimal format must match the target system, not the document content. Workist automatically recognizes incoming values in the common notations and only converts them here for the output file.
Step 4 — Unit Conversion
When the unit of measure in the document differs from the order unit of your target system (e.g. piece instead of box of 12), Workist converts using the stored conversion factors. In this block, you determine how this conversion is performed.
A unit conversion can only take place if corresponding Master Data for unit conversion is stored for the channel. Without this Master Data, the configuration in this block has no effect.
| Field | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Conversion style | How Workist handles non-round results (see below). Three options are available, plus a free field Custom…. |
| Conversion overwrites original fields | When active, Workist replaces the original values (quantity and unit from the document) with the converted values. When off, the original values are delivered in addition, alongside the converted values. |
| Best-effort conversion | When active, Workist attempts a conversion even when not all information is unambiguous. When off, no conversion is performed in such cases and the document goes into assistance. |
| Partition-specific unit conversion | When active, conversion factors are evaluated per partition (e.g. per plant or tenant). Helpful when an item has different order units depending on the location. |
The three options under Conversion style differ in how non-integer results are handled:
- No conversion — the quantity and unit stated in the document are applied 1:1. Use this option if you already receive quantities in a suitable form from external logic.
- Round the converted quantity up to the next integer value — every non-integer result is rounded up to the next full unit. Useful when the target system does not accept decimal quantities and you would rather deliver slightly too much than too little.
- Round mathematically and lower the confidence if the rounded quantity differs from the original quantity by more than 30% — classic commercial rounding. If the result deviates strongly from the initial value, Workist additionally lowers the confidence so that the document is more likely to go into assistance.
When you activate Conversion overwrites original fields, the original value is no longer included in the output after processing. Only activate this option if your target system can work with the converted value.
Step 5 — Validation
In the Validation block, you set which business checks Workist applies to the document during processing. You can also store keywords that force the document into assistance, as well as words that should be ignored during customer extraction.
Validation Checks
The validation checks are a multiple selection. Each activated check is applied to every document; if it triggers, the document goes into assistance and the respective notice is shown to the processor.
The most important checks at a glance:
| Check | Affects |
|---|---|
| Total amount | The total amount stated in the document is checked against the sum of the line items. |
| Line item sum | Per line item: quantity × unit price must match the line amount. |
| Line item number | Consecutive line item numbers (1, 2, 3, …) without gaps or duplicates. |
| Forgotten items | Plausibility check of whether further line items are visually visible in the document that were not extracted. |
| Incomplete items | A line item is missing required fields (quantity, item, …). |
| Maximum quantity | Quantities above a configured maximum value are flagged — protects against typos ("1,000 instead of 10"). |
| Remove bulk order summary | Detects aggregated summary line items and automatically removes them from the output. |
| Internal customer note | Flags the document if the free text contains a note such as "please follow up" — assistance is then usually required. |
| ERP block | Raises a warning if the customer is blocked in the ERP. |
| Multiple sales organizations | Flags the document if multiple sales organizations are combined in one delivery. |
| Thousands separator in quantities | Detects suspicious notations such as 1.000 in the quantity column and sends the document into assistance. |
| Unique order number | Prevents the same order number from being processed more than once. Important for duplicate control. |
| Matching of item descriptions (experimental) | Compares the item description stated in the document with the Master Data description — a notice is shown to the processor if there is a large deviation. |
| Order matching | Matches the extracted values against a known order base (order matching lookup). |
| Quote matching | Analogous, for quotes (quote matching lookup). |
| Open quote check (only if quote matching is enabled) | Additionally searches for still-open quotes that could match the order. |
| Field length check | Checks whether the extracted values exceed the maximum permitted character length in the target system. |
Which checks are available depends on the document type — the list above shows the maximum scope for orders. For invoices, order confirmations, or delivery notes, individual checks are not meaningful and are hidden.
Keywords for Assistance
Store terms (each confirmed with Enter) whose occurrence in the document always sends the document into assistance — regardless of the confidence. Suitable for, e.g., "rush order", "correction", "please follow up".
Words Ignored When Extracting the Customer
Terms that occur in customer names but should not contribute to identification — for example legal forms ("GmbH", "AG") or generic additions ("North branch", "Headquarters"). They are removed from the customer field before the Master Data matching.
Only activate the validation checks that are meaningful for your use case. Each additional check increases the number of documents in assistance. After each change, observe whether the hit rate of the respective check justifies the extra effort.
Step 6 — Document-Type-Specific
This block appears only for channels whose document type brings its own options (in particular orders and invoices). It contains settings that are only meaningful for exactly this document type.
| Field | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Training examples for variant extraction | Input field for example mappings for variant extraction. As a rule, this is maintained together with your contact at Workist. |
| Default currency | Which currency is used when the document does not explicitly state a currency. Pre-populated options are EUR and USD; you can enter your own codes via Custom…. |
| Country code of the document recipient | Used as a fallback for the date locale (e.g. to interpret 07/04/2026 as 4 July instead of 7 April). Set the country in which your supplied location is based. |
| Remove freight cost line items | When active, Workist automatically removes detected freight cost line items from the output — useful when your target system expects freight costs separately via the header data. |
| Support order forms | When active, Workist also processes classic order forms (templates with checkboxes and quantity columns next to an item list). |
| Enable Factur-X detection (invoices only) | Enables support for electronic invoices in the Factur-X / ZUGFeRD format. Workist then reads the embedded XML data in addition to the visible PDF. |
| Use commission number from the header as fallback | When active and Workist finds no commission number at the line item level, the one from the header is applied. |
Which fields are visible depends on the document type of the channel. If a field documented here is missing for you, it is disabled for your channel type and not relevant.
Step 7 — Filling
When a field in the main document cannot be extracted unambiguously, Workist can fill it from additional sources — typically from the email text or from a second attachment in a different format.
| Field | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Fill with email data | When active, Workist may pull missing values from the email text of the message with which the document was received (subject, body, signature). |
| Document formats for filling | Which document formats may be used as a second source when a document arrives in multiple formats: All document types, PDF files, or Excel files. |
Filling only supplements missing fields; values that have already been extracted in the main document are never overwritten.
Filling from email data is especially useful when your customers regularly state order numbers or delivery dates in the email body. Switch it on for a test and observe whether the hit rate for the corresponding fields increases.
Step 8 — Document Filtering
In the Document Filtering block, you enable an automatic pre-classification of incoming documents. Workist then recognizes the document type (order, invoice, delivery note, …) and automatically sorts out documents that do not belong in the channel before the actual processing starts.
In the inactive state, only the toggle in the top right is visible. Click the toggle to activate the classification — two additional fields then appear below it:
| Field | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Sort out document types | List of all document types. Activate the switch per type if these documents are to be automatically excluded. The channel's own document type (e.g. Order) is permanently disabled. |
| Filter sensitivity | How aggressively Workist sorts out: Strict (95% confidence required), Balanced (90%), or Light (80%). |
The list of document types comprises:
- Delivery note
- Invoice
- Quote
- Order
- Order confirmation
- Price inquiries
Each type activated here is sorted out before extraction — the document subsequently runs through the discard workflow (see Discard) instead of regular processing.
The three sensitivity levels differ in how certain the classification must be for a document to be sorted out:
- Strict (95% confidence) — only sorts out when Workist is almost certain. Risk: a few unsuitable documents still slip through.
- Balanced (90% confidence) — the standard recommendation.
- Light (80% confidence) — also sorts out at medium certainty. Risk: occasionally, correct documents are mistakenly discarded as well.
When you newly activate document filtering, start with Balanced and check over two to three days which documents were discarded. Only then decide whether you want to filter more strictly or more lightly. Discarded documents are not lost for good — they are forwarded or logged according to the configuration in the Discard tab.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I have to explicitly save after every change? Yes. Each topic block has its own Save button. If you switch to another block or another page without saving, your changes are lost.
Why don't I see the "Document-Type-Specific" block? The block appears only when the document type of your channel brings corresponding options. For some document types (e.g. pure delivery note channels), it is not relevant and is automatically hidden.
Do the confidence thresholds also apply to individual fields? They are the global threshold. Individual fields can be given their own threshold in the Header fields and Line item fields tabs, which overrides the global one. The checkbox Field should not block automation is also available there.
What happens to documents that were sorted out here? They end up in the discard workflow (Discard tab). There you can store one or more forwarding addresses so that processors can review them manually.
Help and Support
If you are unsure which setting is sensible for your channel, or if documents are no longer processed as expected after a change, contact your contact at Workist and have the following information ready:
- the channel name,
- the relevant topic block (Localization, Automation, …),
- the changes made (which value before, which value now),
- a specific example document on which the problem occurs,
- for validation topics: the exact validation check that triggers incorrectly or fails to trigger.