Welcome to the AP Robot Community!

We're here to help you get started and maximize your AP Robot!

Dash AP Robot

A NEW Release is coming!

Preview video here!

–review & approval (workflow!)

–assign and reassign invoices (delegation!)

–automatic supplier invoice management (archiving!)

AP Robot supports workflow rules

Do you have specific situations where invoices follow certain workflow rules? We can build a custom plugin to address your rules and further automation needs.

We can implement your rules—within some limits—right now using custom plugins. Send us an email at ddxsupport@dashdev.com and describe your rules, and we’ll have to program them.

 

AP Workflow

You can assign the owner of an invoice for review and approval within the Robot. AP Robot users can now follow the audit trail of approvers with notes, see the current status, and receive approval on invoices in REAL-TIME.

Invoice Owner

Delegation. Track and assign who is the owner of each invoice. The owner initially is the person who analyzed the invoice into the AP Robot. If a colleague is out sick or on vacation,  AP Robot users can assign and reassign invoice ownership to anyone using the AP Robot. BONUS: This release includes the view of ALL invoices across your company (not just yours!).

Reports

AP Robot users can export this information to Excel for further review. 2 reports are now available in the AP Robot to export:

  1. all unposted invoices
  2. all posted invoices

Archiving

Have you considered our DASH DDX full document management solution for SYSPRO in the past? Looking to only archive supplier invoices to start? It might be time to reconsider and try the DASH AP Robot.PLUS. This new option automatically stores posted supplier invoices from the AP Robot directly to the safe and secure DDX Archive. These invoices can be archived long-term, retention date set by you. This is a cost-effective solution to start storing supplier invoices. You can always add the full DDX in the future to store all documents and staple everything together electronically. Talk to the DASH team to learn more about this bundle.

New Columns Added

The additional columns shown are part of the added features in the new release. If you don’t want to see them you can right-click on the column headings and remove those that you don’t want to see (and you can add them back later).

new robot columns for exceptions tab

Tips to Increase Automation for Robot:

  1. Supplier addresses on the invoice match what is in SYSPRO
  2. SYSPRO default settings are set (supplier freight and merchandise GL accounts)
  3. Putting only the invoice in to analyze (no other documents)

 

AP Robot Best Practices

  • All Invoices MUST be submitted as PDF files
  • PDFs may be machine-created or scanned. However, the PDFs that did not require scanning are generally cleaner, and therefore less error-prone.
  • Avoid, if you can, including pages that are not part of the invoice itself. The AP Robot evaluates all of the pages you submit as though they are part of the invoice itself. Additional pages that are not part of the invoice may result in excessive misinterpretations. For example, including supporting documentation in the PDF – like a PO – may be easily misinterpreted as additional invoice data, causing a higher rate of exceptions than necessary.
  • Properly setting up your ERP can have a dramatic impact on the ability of the AP Robot to auto-post your invoices. For example:
    • Set up default GL accounts on your suppliers – can help automate more of your GL distribution of merchandise as well as freight.
    • Make sure the address on your supplier is the same as what appears on their invoices (improves supplier-matching for non-PO invoices)

How to manage Posting to other Periods:

  1. During the AP Robot launch, the current period is ALWAYS selected.
  2. Once launched you can change the period in settings.
  3. The Auto-Post option is independent of the period setting. But when auto-posting, we always pay attention to the period setting. So it’s possible (depending on the period setting) to auto-post to the current, prior, or prior-1 periods

 

Auto-Posting

Interested in auto-posting invoices that match up 100%? YES! In Robot settings, check the “Auto-Post” box.

Auto-Post Invoices

 

Want the Robot to capture email and put it in the incoming queue for you?

We don’t involve ourselves with setting these up or managing them, but they are accessible to you if you want them.

2 products to check out:

  1. https://www.automatic-email-manager.com/
  2. Microsoft’s Power Automate 

 

Want to get updates installed faster?

Send the Robot info to your installation team via the webpage. So easy!

 

Update your views, column order, sort, and filter all in the Robot! Watch here!

 

TIP: If the receipts came in after the document was analyzed this button will re-validate the PO and bring in any unmatched GRN’s.

When you 1st open the Robot & when you click the “Analyze” button… the Robot goes to work! Uses real-time data in many places.

Work the Robot Does to Extract Data

 

You can rotate your view of an Invoice (portrait to landscape!) watch this video on how to. So cool!

 

How to update the GL Distribution with Freight and/or Misc Charges?

 

What type of information are you looking for?

  • Have a new AP Robot™ User to On-Board? CLICK HERE
  • Looking to change the filters and views in the Robot? CLICK HERE
  • Need IT assistance and technical tips? Email us at ddxSupport@dashdev.com
  • Want information on how to install and upgrade your AP Robot™? VIDEO HERE

 

5 Quick Robot Tips!

  1. The Robot’s default is to always post to the Current Period. Under “Settings” on the “SYSPRO Settings” tab, it defaults to “Current” Posting Period – you can change this drop down to “current -1” or “current -2” as needed.
  2. Using the “Tab” key after inputting data will populate other fields with corresponding information (i.e. if you put the Supplier Name in and “Tab” it will pull all the supplier information from SYSPRO into the Robot for you).
  3. Once you correct a highlighted error and click off the field and “Tab” the highlight will often go away if the error is fixed.
  4. Hiding the hints that the Robot layers onto the Invoice (the highlights and icons that tell you how the Robot is interacting with the invoice itself) can be turned on and off by clicking “Hide Hints” on the toolbar.
  5. If you have a large number of invoices in your incoming queue, you can adjust and filter the invoices you’d like to look at first by filtering each column (video here: https://dashdev.com/video-ap-robot-filters-and-views/)

 

AP Robot Community User Group Meetings (2x a year)

Did you know? We have an AP Robot User Group! Join us!

The next event is August 20, 2024, at 11:00 a.m. CST. Register here.

 

Did You Know?

Look at all the information the Robot pulls from every Invoice! WOW!

Invoice Data Button

Robot Updates (all updates listed here):

2024.05.07

  • NEW: Added Alternate Invoice Date Interpretation option – giving the user choices in how dates might be automatically interpreted. See Documentation for details
  • Removed the option to allow Invoice Registration in SYSPRO (Invoice Posting is now the only output method)
  • Updated Tax Calculation logic to check for blank values (attempt to avoid errors)
  • Documentation updates

2024.02.07:

  • Communicate with DASH Support even faster! From the Help menu, choose “Email Support”. This will open an email to ddxSupport@Dashdev.com. That email will include a copy of the Invoice you currently have selected, and related data. This is particularly useful if you have an issue with a particular invoice that you wish to bring to our attention. It gives us a fairly detailed picture of your current situation. Of course, you should also include some description of the problem you’ve encountered; how you got there and any other info you feel is pertinent.
  • Added rounding to GL Code refresh to correct an issue where variance amount was coming out as Not a Number
  • Increased exchange rate precision to 5 decimal places
  • Fixed issue with the discount date not calculating correctly
  • Fixed issue with display refresh after custom plugins run
  • NEW Added display of currency code with currency rate
  • NEW Display Invoice data button on the toolbar displays the underlying data extracted from the invoice via the Robot’s Artificial Intelligence Engine
  • Updated GRN/Receipt matching logic to resolve incorrect matches. And where GRNS could get matched to the wrong line, or too often.
  • Resolved issue where an ampersand (&) in the GL Reference field prevented posting
  • Updated AP Terms to handle set date approach, in addition to standard number-of-days
  • Updated journal posting to only save and not post if the AP period is ahead of the GL period
  • Fixed crash on startup issue where supplier list was null and changing SYSPRO passwords
  • Misc. Documentation updates

2023.12.08:

  • NEW Added display of currency code with currency rate
  • NEW Display Invoice data button on the toolbar displays the underlying data extracted from the invoice via the Robot’s Artificial Intelligence Engine
  • Updated GRN/Receipt matching logic to resolve incorrect matches
  • Resolved issue where an ampersand (&) in the GL Reference field prevented posting
  • Updated AP Terms to handle set date approach, in addition to standard number-of-days
  • Updated journal posting only to save and not post if the AP period is ahead of the GL period
  • Fixed crash on startup issue where supplier list was null and changing SYSPRO passwords
  • Misc. Documentation updates

NOTE: It is generally best to complete all invoices in the Exception list (so no more exceptions are pending) before installing this update.

Occasionally an update to Microsoft’s .NET Framework is required. If so you will be prompted to download and install it if it is needed. If this notification occurs, it is required (not optional). We try hard to stay reasonably current with Microsoft updates for security and stability reasons.

DASH AP Robot™ Enhancements 2024

Purchase Price Variance Account Handling = DONE! (video details here!)

We’ve added an automated GL Journal Entry to make the appropriate adjustments when someone needs to change a variance account or split it amongst several accounts. This is a stop-gap measure that will be used until SYSPRO extends its e.NET offering to allow changes in variance account(s) to be directly posted with an AP Invoice.

Custom Plug-Ins (story here!) = AVAILABLE!

With a little learning and creativity, we can create a powerful add-on to your AP Robot. We’ve recently worked with a plastics company that came to us with a special idea wondering if the AP Robot could handle it, and we created a custom plug-in to do just that. We injected some custom logic, and it created an even more valuable tool. Their team is THRILLED! Everyone wins. DASH’s expert team of developers and programmers can work with you to create a tool you’ll want to tell everyone about!

Accelerated Learning = AVAILABLE!

A few steps are involved with getting this fully up and running. While the DASH AP Robot’s AI (artificial intelligence) is a culmination of 1000’s of users and DASH’s enhanced learning added in. We’re taking it to the next level as we intend to take that capability and offer it directly to individuals so they can inject their learning into the Robot and address their unique needs. That will further accelerate the learning process for individual companies. and speed up the automation process even further.

Enhanced Review & Approval Process = 2024

We will be adding a capability to “send” an invoice to someone for review, approval, GL coding, etc, and then they can “send” it back to AP for entry. All information will remain in the DASH AP Robot. Tracking of this process will include email notifications, notes, status changes, and individual user changes.

Multiple PO Matching = 2025

We will be adding a capability to match multiple POs to an Invoice. Right now the Robot can match 1 PO to 1 Invoice. Watch for this update in 2025!

 

We welcome user ideas and suggestions anytime. Please send them to DDXSupport@Dashdev.com labeled as “AP Robot Suggestion” Thank you!

DASH AP Robot Basic Training – get started here.

Here’s how to install an update for your DASH AP Robot.

See how easy it is to make changes to your Purchase Price Variance account in the Dash AP Robot for SYSPRO.

See how easy it is to send a support request email – it sends us all the information for you!

AP Robot FAQs

Want to send us feedback on the AP Robot™? Fill out this survey:

AP Automation for SYSPRO – Feedback