Matching with Order and Quote Data
Workist can match documents against data from your system: orders against your quotes, invoices and order confirmations against your orders. If everything matches, the document can go through automatically. If something deviates, it goes to assistance and the deviation is marked at the field.
Workist also uses the same data to prefill empty documents with line items and to assign orders to the right customer.
| Document type | Matched against | Reference on the document | Master data | Validation check |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Order | Quote | Quote number | Quotes | Offer matching |
| Invoice | Order | Order number | Orders to be matched | Order matching |
| Order confirmation | Order | Order number | Orders to be matched | Order matching |
Prerequisites
- The master data (quotes or orders to be matched) is imported and set in the channel under Master Data in the Master Data Matching block as Offer Matching Lookup ID or Order Matching Lookup ID.
- The validation check Offer matching or Order matching is switched on under Document → Validation.
- The fields to compare are configured in the channel as header fields or line item fields. Workist does not compare fields that are not configured.
Which fields are compared and which deviations are allowed is set up by Workist together with you.
What is compared
Workist looks up the record with the number from the document (quote or order number) and compares the document's fields with the columns of that record. Without special setup:
- The fields marked “Yes” in the column Compared by default are compared.
- A field is only compared if the master data contains a value for it. Workist skips empty columns.
- The values must match exactly.
Depending on the setup, Workist can also compare further fields, accept deviations within a tolerance (absolute, in percent, in calendar or working days, or as text similarity), and clean values before comparing (e.g. case, spaces, number format).
Order ↔ quote
| Level | Field on the document | Master data column | Compared by default |
|---|---|---|---|
| Header | Offer reference | offer_number | Yes |
| Header | Client | partition_id | Yes |
| Line item | Position | position_number | No |
| Line item | Item number | article_id1 | Yes |
| Line item | Part number 2 | article_id2 | No |
| Line item | Part number 3 | article_id3 | No |
| Line item | Quantity | quantity | No |
| Line item | Unit | unit | No |
| Line item | Article description | article_description | No |
Invoice ↔ order
| Level | Field on the document | Master data column | Compared by default |
|---|---|---|---|
| Header | Order number | order_number | Yes |
| Header | Sender / Supplier | partition_id | Yes |
| Header | Invoice date | order_date | Yes |
| Header | Recipient address | delivery_address | Yes |
| Header | Recipient customer number | receiver_number | Yes |
| Header | IBAN | iban | Yes |
| Header | BIC | swift | Yes |
| Header | Payment reference | account | Yes |
| Header | Payment terms: discount | payment_terms_discount | Yes |
| Header | Payment terms: due days | payment_terms_due_days | Yes |
| Header | Payment terms: type | payment_terms_type | Yes |
| Header | Payment terms | payment_terms_type | Yes |
| Line item | Position | position_number | Yes |
| Line item | Item number | article_id1 | Yes |
| Line item | Customer-specific article number | article_id2 | Yes |
| Line item | Part number 3 | article_id3 | Yes |
| Line item | Unit price | article_price | Yes |
| Line item | Price unit | price_unit | Yes |
| Line item | Quantity | quantity | Yes |
| Line item | Total price | total_price | Yes |
| Line item | Unit | unit | Yes |
Order confirmation ↔ order
| Level | Field on the document | Master data column | Compared by default |
|---|---|---|---|
| Header | Order number | order_number | Yes |
| Header | Supplier | partition_id | Yes |
| Header | Delivery date | delivery_date | Yes |
| Header | Delivery address | delivery_address | Yes |
| Header | Buyer | receiver_number | Yes |
| Header | Total amount (net) | order_total_price | Yes |
| Line item | Position | position_number | Yes |
| Line item | Item number | article_id1 | Yes |
| Line item | Part number 2 | article_id2 | Yes |
| Line item | Part number 3 | article_id3 | Yes |
| Line item | Unit price | article_price | Yes |
| Line item | Price unit | price_unit | Yes |
| Line item | Quantity | quantity | Yes |
| Line item | Total price | total_price | Yes |
| Line item | Delivery date | delivery_date | Yes |
| Line item | Unit | unit | Yes |
| Line item | Article description | article_description | No |
For customer, supplier and buyer, Workist compares the customer or supplier number; for addresses, the address number.
Assigning line items
For orders and order confirmations, Workist assigns each line item of the document to the best-matching line in the master data. It uses the compared fields and the article description. For order confirmations, a language model additionally assigns lines that are still left over, e.g. because the supplier uses its own descriptions. Workist discards uncertain suggestions; the line item then stays unassigned.
If two or more line items of an order confirmation are identical in all compared fields, Workist cannot assign them unambiguously. The document goes to assistance with a hint about ambiguous line items.
Number of line items
| Document type | Hint when … |
|---|---|
| Order | the order has fewer line items than the quote. More line items are allowed. |
| Invoice | the number of line items differs from the order. |
| Order confirmation | the order confirmation has more line items than the order, unless the number of line items with their own price matches (freight, free-of-charge items and sub-items then do not count). Fewer line items lead to a hint unless the option Order matching: Partial confirmations is switched on under Validation checks. |
Result of the matching
Match: the field gets a confidence of 100 %. In assistance, the explanation at the field shows that the value matches your order or quote data and when that data was last updated.
Deviation: the document goes to assistance. At the deviating field, the Workbench shows the expected value from the master data. Users
- correct the value, or
- confirm the value from the document with Accept deviation, or
- switch matching off for a single line item with Ignore matching (undo with Restore matching).
Only then can the document be completed. In Analytics, the deviation appears as the assistance reason “… deviates from the order” (see Validation checks and assistance reasons).
Number not found: if the quote or order number is not in the master data, the number field is marked and all compared fields show “no data found”. The document goes to assistance. When a user corrects the number, matching runs again.
Workist does not evaluate the columns valid_from and valid_until of the quote master data when matching. Expired quotes are found too. Only import valid quotes, or filter out expired ones during import (see Transformer configuration).
Orders: customer and line item data from the quote
If offer matching is active and the quote belongs to exactly one customer (partition_id), Workist uses that customer for the order:
- If no customer was recognized, Workist fills in the customer from the quote.
- If a different customer was recognized, Workist replaces it with the customer from the quote and marks the Customer field. A user confirms which customer is right.
After matching, Workist takes over the quote number and the position number from the quote for every assigned line item. This lets your ERP assign each order line to its quote line.
Prefilling empty documents
If a document contains a number but no line items, Workist takes over the line items from the master data (at most 100). This happens, for example, with orders that only reference a quote, or with collective order confirmations that confirm orders by number only.
| Document | Precondition | Values taken over |
|---|---|---|
| Order | Quote number present, offer matching active | Article number, quantity, unit, position number, quote number, article description |
| Order confirmation | Order number present, order matching active | Article numbers 1–3, position number, order number, quantity, unit price, total price, unit, price unit, delivery date, article description |
- Workist only takes over lines that belong to the recognized customer or supplier, or to no business partner.
- For quotes, Workist only takes over the main article of set articles. It recognizes set components by the entry
higher_level_positionin the extra data (extra_data) of the quote line. - Workist then completes the line items from the article master data and converts units.
- Prefilled values come from your master data and have a confidence of 100 %.
- Prefilling also happens when a user enters or changes the number in assistance, as long as the document has no line items yet.
Invoices are not prefilled.
Matching again after a master data import
Order data often reaches Workist later than the order confirmation. That is why Workist matches order confirmations again after every successful import of the order data. This applies to order confirmations of all channels using that order data if they
- arrived within the last 3 days,
- are waiting in assistance and have not been edited yet,
- contain an order number, and
- whose order was not found during the last matching.
If Workist now finds the order, it updates the matching results on the document. The document stays in assistance. Invoices and orders are not matched again.
User assignment from matching data
For orders, invoices and order confirmations, user assignment can read the responsible person from the matched quote or order. Workist reads it from the extra data (extra_data) of the record.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is a field not compared although the column in the master data is filled? The field is not configured as a header or line item field in the channel, or it is not one of the fields compared for your channel. Contact your Workist contact.
The order was not in the master data yet when the order confirmation arrived. Do I need to do anything? No, provided the order data is imported within 3 days and the order confirmation is still unedited in assistance. Workist then matches it again automatically. Otherwise, reprocess the document; manual changes to the document are lost in the process.