Learn about identification methods

Identification is the process of identifying the source of imported documents, in this case the vendor. Document Capture will automatically suggest a vendor based on the information contained in each individual document. It does this using a hierarchy of identification methods: The identification method with the highest priority is carried out first, and if no vendor is found with this method, Document Capture moves on to the next method in the hierarchy. If a vendor is identified, the identification process will stop and all subsequent methods will be skipped.

The hierarchy includes the following three identification methods, which are used in the order specified:

1. Template search texts
2. Identification templates
3. Identification fields

Template search texts

If you want specific keywords in a document to determine which template Document Capture should automatically use, you can use search texts. A search text could be a bank account number, a phone number, a customer number, or any other numbers or even words. You can add as many search texts as you like to any given template.

It’s important to pay special attention to what words you use as search texts. For example, if you’ve used the search text Freight for the vendor DHL, Document Capture may also identify this word in documents from other vendors, such as UPS. This means that the same vendor template will be used for two different vendors, but only one of them is correct. To solve this issue, make sure you add search texts that are unique to one specific vendor.

As you can see in the screenshot below, search texts are visible in the column Search Text in the document journal. To open the document journal from the Role Center, go to Continia Document Capture Activities, and then select Ready to Register. Note that when you access the document journal this way, it will be named Ready to Register:

Identification templates

Out of the three identification methods mentioned above, the one that involves identification templates is the most commonly used. Identification templates use VAT numbers to identify the sources of imported documents. Invoices usually have a VAT number, and the same goes for any vendor created in Business Central, so this is the obvious connecting link for Document Capture to search for.

During document recognition, Document Capture will search for a VAT number in the imported document and then try to identify a vendor with the same VAT number. If a matching vendor is found, Document Capture will use the template associated with this vendor.

Identification fields

The identification-fields method is the method with the lowest priority out of the three, and it will only be used if no vendor is found using the other two methods.

The main difference between this method and the other two is that it attempts to identify a vendor for a document by comparing multiple different document fields with corresponding vendor table fields, such as phone number, address, name, and bank account, just to name a few. The vendor with the highest confidence score is assigned to the document along with the vendor's default template. The compared fields don't have to be identical, meaning that a vendor could end up being assigned although none of the compared fields are 100 percent identical. For more information, see Setting up Identification Fields.

Video

This video explains how Document Capture identifies a vendor for an imported document.