Scanning Invoice Documents

As discussed in the Introduction the Purchase Ledger Scanning Accessory has been incorporated into the Purchase Ledger as standard and also been made available at the Compact and Professional product levels.

Invoices and Credits received from your supplier can be scanned as part of the transaction entry and recalled for view from the Purchase Account Ledger Enquiry or from the Associate File icon on the main toolbar.

Purchase Ledger Invoice Entry

After entering your invoice details, and updating the purchase ledger, operators will be given the option to scan the invoice document received from the supplier.

Scan Method – there are three configuration options for scanning, plus an option to omit the scan for this invoice, these are:

Scan Automatically – the scan is processed automatically, no preview of the scanned document is displayed and no further user interaction is required. This option may be disabled if your scanner does not support this option.

Scan with Preview – the scan is processed automatically, but not saved and a preview of the scanned document is displayed.This can then be rescanned if not clear, upside down, etc. before saving.

Scan with Preview and Manual Settings – on selection of this option the scan isn’t processed automatically but instead your scanner software and options are loaded for the scan. When the scan is complete it is returned to the preview display for acceptance or re-scanning.

Device – this option lists the available scanners installed on your pc for selection.

Options – various run-time options are available to configure the scan, these are:

Multiple pages – if the supplied invoice is two or more pages then selecting this option ensures that the automatic scanning processes prompt for additional pages after the first page is scanned.

Scan Mode – options available here will depend on your scanner; typical options include Colour, Greyscale and Black & White.

Scan Resolution – the DPI setting for the scan process.

Once the scan is complete you can enter another invoice as required. Purchase Credit entry proceeds in the same manner, the scan options occurring after update of files but before allocation options.

Scanning with Preview Mode – if scanning with preview mode then after the scan is processed the scanned invoice document is displayed.

If the scan display is correct, and no further pages are required, selecting the SAVE button saves the scanned document and exits back to transaction entry options. Selecting SCAN asks whether you wish to replace the current page or append a further page, select as required. Selecting EXIT abandons the scan, after prompting you to confirm this is what you required.

At the bottom left are options to zoom the scan display in and out. If the scanned document consists of multiple pages then at the bottom right are options to move between the pages.

Supplier Invoicer

The supplier invoice and credit documents within the Invoicer application also support the option to scan documents. After print and update of purchase and stock files the scan ‘dialog’ as discussed in the purchase ledger invoice entry is displayed.

Purchase Order Processing

The invoice and credit documents within the Purchase Order Processing application also support the option to scan documents. After print and update of purchase, stock and order files the scan ‘dialog’ as discussed in the purchase ledger invoice entry is displayed.

Purchase Account Ledger Enquiry

The saved documents can be viewed as part of the Purchase Account Ledger Enquiry facility. When you are viewing the purchase transactions, as part of the ‘Trans’ ‘Retained’ and ‘Outstanding’ enquiries, a new button DOCUMENT has been added. This button is active for transactions that have a scanned document saved for them.

On selection of the DOCUMENT option the saved image is displayed on screen. The options available are similar to those discussed in the preview mode earlier, although SAVE is not initially an option. An option RE-SCAN is available, subject to authority levels, to rescan the document if required.

Re-Scan Documents

If not scanning documents during invoice entry you may want to scan them after the fact. This option, usually available via the Purchase Ledger Utilities menu, allows this.

Firstly you are asked a couple of questions:

Validate Reference actually on file for account – set to prevent scan of the document if the entered reference doesn’t exists for a transaction for the entered account. (You may allow this if scanningprior to invoice entry).

Add 1 to Reference for each scan – this option defaults the reference on the next scan to ‘1’ higher than the last reference. You may use this if scanning historical documents and you use a ‘folio’ number for the purchase invoice reference.

After confirming these details a second screen is displayed for you to scan the documents.

You enter the account code, <F4-Select> is available, the account name is displayed and you then enter the invoice reference to be scanned (you must enter any leading zeroes).If validating the system will check an invoice (or credit) transaction exists for the entered reference and warn if not found. If a scanned document already exists for that reference you will be warned and asked if you wish to overwrite.

Once the reference is accepted the scan dialog is displayed, as in the purchase invoice entry above, for you to scan the document.

Installation

System Profiles

The configuration options for the Purchase Invoice Document Scanning accessory are available within the Purchase Ledger System Profiles. An option on screen 1 of the profiles allows the option for ‘Scanning of Purchase Invoices’. When selected a pop-up window is displayed with additional parameters.

Check Scanner Attached – if set, then no purchase invoice transaction generation is possible unless a scanner is attached.An <F7-Option> key is available to override a run-time warning. If not set then invoice entry continues to be allowed regardless of scanner availability – if no scanner is available you will not be prompted to scan the document.

Automatic Scanning Mode – this option asks you if you wish to default to the ‘automatic scan’ mode.

Show Twain user-interface – this option asks if you wish to default to the ‘Scan with preview and Manual settings’ mode. If neither this or previous option set then the default is to ‘Scan with Preview’.

Default Scanner Name– select the scanner appropriate.

Default Scan Mode– select the scan mode from ‘Black & White’, ‘Greyscale’ and ‘Colour’ appropriate for your scanner.

Default Scan Resolution – select the DPI resolution of the scan required.

Default Image Size– select the default display size of the scanned image in preview/enquiry mode.

Save Documents as– the default of TIF creates the smallest saved file, options to save as either BMP or JPG files are also available.Note that your scan driver may not support BMP or JPG options – at runtime if the save type is not applicable the system will swap back to TIF automatically.

Authority Level to Re-scan – defaulting to 0 (highest) this asks for the authority level the operator must be before they have the option to rescan a document from within the Ledger Enquiry.

Save runtime changes– many of the options above act as defaults for the runtime settings. If these are amended this option asks whether you want to save these changes for next time.

Menu Design

A new menu option is required to rescan invoice documents – we suggest adding this to the PLUTIL.D03.

Sign-on as the CONFIG user and select the option ‘Application Menu Design’ and enter the pathname of the menu to edit. Select whether you wish to add this option on the left or right of the menu and then move down to a blank menu entry and add your option.

The menu settings are ‘P-Program’, ‘PL.EXE’ and the parameter number ‘7711’ – other options can be set as required.