Billing and AutoInvoice
Billing and AutoInvoice tests how external billing data becomes Receivables transactions: interface tables, the import job, grouping rules, line ordering rules, validation, and error correction.
Import mechanics
Data is loaded into the AutoInvoice interface tables, principally RA_INTERFACE_LINES_ALL, with distributions if supplied. The Import AutoInvoice job validates each line against the transaction source, transaction type, currency, customer, and sales credit rules, then creates transactions. The grouping rule assigned to the transaction source decides how many transactions result: lines are grouped by the rule's Group By and Attribute columns, such as customer, currency, transaction date, and transaction type. The line ordering rule, a SQL statement assigned to the source, determines line numbers and therefore how tax and discounts are calculated.
Worked example
Three interface lines share the same customer, currency, and date, but two carry transaction type Invoice and one carries Credit Memo. The grouping rule includes Transaction Type. Import creates two transactions, not one: an invoice with two lines and a credit memo with one line. If the rule excluded transaction type, the import would fail because the lines cannot mix types in one transaction.
Traps
- Confusing transaction source with transaction type; the source carries the grouping and ordering rules.
- Editing a grouping or line ordering rule and expecting already-imported transactions to change.
- Overlooking the purge step, which removes successfully processed interface rows.
- Correcting rejected lines in the interface and resubmitting without checking the validation message that caused rejection.