The Validation Rule module displays a customized set of rules that have been imported into Compello Process  in XML format or from your ERP. Consultants at Compello can create these rules as XML files and import them toCompello Process.

Functionality: to replicate ERP rules or to create customized rules for use in Compello Process.

In Compello you can see the rule and delete it, but you can not edit or add. This must be done either via your ERP System or by editing the original XML file.

Need an example?

Here are some examples of Validation Rules in use:

Context: Your company receives many invoices from different suppliers. Many of these always have the same account for a certain supplier and they all have to have a cost center on any line where there is an account.

Aim: You want to automate the choice of account based on the supplier and you want to make sure users enter the correct information. In addition, you want approvers to be reminded to use VAT code 2 every time they enter accounts 665, 6653 and 456.

Compello can create a set of rules for you, in an XML file, that will remind users to enter the required information and will stop them from entering incorrect values. You will be able to see these in the Validation Rules tab and you can delete a rule when it is no longer useful.

Result: your company decreases the time it takes to enter data on invoices, users who work with the invoices containing accounts 665,6653 and 456 get  pop-up messages reminding them of which tax code to use  and that they must remember the cost center. 

General Rules

You can create general rules for existing posting lines. When the rule is activated the system fills in the information to the posting lines automatically.

Good to know: You can copy rules from one client to another.

Need an example?

Here are some examples of General Rules:

Example 1

Context: Your company constantly receives invoices from Catering Supplier AAA. Kate Johnson in your company is responsible for ordering food beverages. Kate is an Approver in Compello Process.

Aim: You want to make sure that all invoices from Catering Supplier AAA  are sent to Kate.

Result: The rule ensures that Kate Johnson automatically receives all the invoices from Catering Supplier AAA for approval.

Example 2

Context: Your company receives many invoices from Energy Supplier BBB. All invoices from BBB are posted with account “65620” and VAT code “1”.

Aim: You want account "65620" with Tax Code "1" to be posted automatically on all invoices from Energy Supplier BBB.

Result: When invoices from Energy Supplier BBB come to Compello, account number "65620" and VAT Code "1" are entered automatically, saving time and reducing mistakes.

How to create new General Rules in Compello ?

Below you will see a detailed instruction that consists of three parts.

Part 1:

Steps:

1. Open the Bookkeeper Module.
2. On the left-hand Sidebar Menu menu click .
3. Click the Rules tab.
4. Choose a Client from the list or Search bar.
5. Click to create a new rule.
6. Create a name for your Rule.
7. Choose the user or users that this rule will apply to (usually you should leave this field on “All users”).
8. Select the Document Status you want the rule to apply to unless it is for all of them.
9. Choose the Document Type you want the rule to apply to unless it is for all of them.

Part 2:

Next you need to set the criteria for your Rule: 

IF:

1. Choose the table or field you want (e.g. Credit or Project) from the list on the left and then click the arrow to move it into the IF section.
2. Search for and select the item you want (e.g Supplier “AAA” or Cost Centre “Marketing”.
3. Select whether the IF criteria is to apply to the supplier line, all other lines (except the supplier line) or all lines.
4. Optional Step: You can add more than one IF criteria if you want.

THEN:

4. Choose the table or field (e.g account, VAT code, Project)  you want as the result of your  from the left-hand column and click the arrow to move it over to the THEN section.
5. Search for and select the item you want (i.e which account, VAT code, Project) .
6. Select whether the THEN criteria is to apply to the supplier line, all other lines (except the supplier line) or all lines.
7. Decide if the Rule can be overwritten
   4. Activate- The result - e.g. at VAT code is just a suggestion and you can change it.
   5. Leave empty- You can NOT change any values in the posting line that are the result of the rule. 

Part 3:

Add Approvers to the Rule

1. Click on the list of approvers and select the one or ones that you want.
2. The system will suggest the same line option as elsewhere in the rule so if the THEN result is set to “any other lines” then the approvers will be too. You can change this if you need to.
3. Decide if the Approvers are set in Order.
   1. activate- approvers receive and approve the invoice in the given order. The next approver will not receive the invoice until the previous one has approved.
4. Using Last approver hold
   This is relevant only where the approvers are NOT set to receive in order and there are three or more of them. If this choice is activated the first approvers will get the invoice at the same time, but the last one on the list will not see the invoice until the others have approved it.
5. Click Save.

Templates

If you want to have several lines created and posted automatically on an invoice, then a template will help you do this. Templates can be activated manually or automatically (generally by choice of supplier). You can also create a template in the Editor after you have processed the document. 

Need an example?

Here are a couple of examples.

Example 1

Context: Your company receives an invoice for rental of the office premises. As well as the actual rent it includes cleaning services, toilet and kitchen supplier. You need to apply a percentage of these to accounts 6360 - cleaning, 6410 - rent and 6810- office supplies.

Aim: We want the rows with all the necessary information posted on them, and the correct amounts to be created automatically every time this invoice comes.

Result: Either you select the template yourself or it is activated automatically when the supplier is added. Rows are created automatically for each account and the amounts are divided up by the correct percentage. Your template can include other information such as VAT codes, Project, Cost Centres and also the approvers if they  are the same each time.

Good to know: If the invoice occasionally includes an extra post, you can add a new line manually for that and it will not affect your standard template.

Example 2

Context: Your company receives different types of invoices based on services/ goods from the same Supplier X. These are posted to different accounts and have different approvers.

Aim: You want each type of invoice from supplier X to be posted and distributed with the right information and approvers without having to do the work manually each time.

Result: By creating two  manual templates for that supplier, you can choose the correct template yourself for each invoice from Supplier X so that the correctly posted and distributed lines are imported. 

How to create a new Template that triggers Manually?

Below you will see a detailed instruction that consists of 4 Parts:

Part 1:

Steps:

1. Open the Bookkeeper module.
2. On the left Sidebar Menu menu click .
3. Check the client and click the Templates tab.
4. Enter a name for your template. 

Part 2:

Creating and filling in information for new posting lines

1. Create the new rows you want in your template by clicking the “+” sign.
2. Select and add the fields/tables you want to include  from the list of Available columns on the left - for example Account, Vat code, Cost Centre.
3. Enter the correct values for each column - e.g which Account, which Tax Code etc.
4. Decide how to distribute the amount between the rows:
   1. By amount: the fixed amount from the invoice will be divided  between the accounts and approvers.
   2. By percentage: a fixed percentage from the invoice will be divided between the accounts and approvers.

Part 3:

Add approvers to the Rule

1. Select the line in the template that you want to distribute.
2. Add the approver(s) you want for each line from the Approver(s) list below.
3. 3. Decide if the Approvers are to be set in Order.
   If In order is checked the approvers will receive the invoice lines in the order you see here.
4. 4. Decide whether to use Last approver hold.
   This is relevant only where the approvers are NOT set to receive in order and there are three or more of them. If this choice is activated - the first approvers will get the invoice at the same time, but the last one on the list will not see the invoice until the others have approved it.

Part 4:

1. If you want a Document Status to be set with the template, choose it here.
2. If you have rules based on any of the information in your template and you do NOT want those rules to be activated, put a tick in the No rules box.
3. If you want the lines in your template to be approved automatically by you, add a tick to Approve automatically.
4. Click Save.

How to create a new Template that is triggered Automatically

Below you will see a detailed instruction that consists of 4 Parts.

Part 1:

Steps:

1. Open the Bookkeeper Module.
2. On the left-hand Sidebar Menu menu click .
3. Click the Templates tab.
4. Choose a Client from the list.
5. Click to create a new Template.
6. Enter a name for your template.
7. Choose the user for this template only if you want use of the template to be restricted to that user only.
8. If you want the template to be activated on invoices with a particular Document status choose that status.
9. If you want the template to be activated only for a certain Document Type, choose that here.

Part 2:

This is where you decide what will trigger use of the template:

IF:

1. Choose the field or table from Available columns on the left. This will often be the Credit field and click it over to the IF area.
2. Choose a value for that field - e.g. a Supplier name.

CONTENT NEW POSTING LINES:

3. Create the new rows you want in your template by clicking the “+” sign.
4. Select and add the fields/tables you want to include available Value from the list of Available columns on the left - for example Account, Vat code, Cost Centre.
5. Enter the correct values for each column - e.g which account, Tax Codes etc.
6. Decide how to distribute the amount between the rows:
   3. By amount: the fixed amount from the invoice will be divided between the accounts and/ approvers.
   4. By Percentage: a fixed percentage from the invoice will be divided between the accounts and/ approvers.

Part 3:

Add approvers to the template

1. Select the line you want to choose an approver for.
2. Choose and add the approver(s) you want from the list.
3. Decide if the Approvers are to be set in Order.
   1. If In order is checked the approvers will receive the invoice lines in the order you see here.
4. Decide whether to use Last approver hold.
   This is relevant only where the approvers are NOT set to receive in order and there are three or more of them. If this choice is activated - the first approvers will get the invoice at the same time, but the last one on the list will not see the invoice until the others have approved it.

Part 4:

1. If you want your template to set the invoice to a particular Document status, choose that.
2. If you have rules based on any of the information in your template and you do NOT want those rules to be activated, put a tick in the No rules box
3. If you want the lines in your template to be approved automatically by you, add a tick to Approve automatically.
4. Click Save.

Distribution Rule

You can add additional approvers based on who the previous approvers are and also based on the amount or Cost Centres. This means that if certain invoices are sent to Martin (for example) you can have them automatically sent on to Anne if the amount goes over a boundary that you define. 

Good to know: for the distribution rules to work, the distribution to previous users  has to be in order.

Need an example?

Here is an example of a distribution rule:

Example

Case: Your Company has three departments: Sales, Marketing and Development. Each department has its Leaders & Managers, who are also under the CEO management of the Company.

Context: Marketing Department:

Aim: When your Company receives invoices to the Mar- keting Department that are under 1000 USD, the Team Leader, Kate Clarkson will approve them alone. BUT when the amount goes over 1 000 USD then you want to add another approver after Kate, Team Manager John Carter. In addition, invoices to Marketing that are for more than 5 000 USD have to be approved by the CEO of the company as well as Kate and John. You want to create rules to make sure this happens automatically and consistently. 

• > 1 000 USD, then Kate Clarkson
• <1 000 and > 5 000 USD then Kate Clarkson and John Carter
• < 5.000 USD, then Kate Clarkson, John Carter and the CEO.

Result: Invoices to Marketing are sent to one, two or three specific approvers depending on the amount.

How to create a new Distribution rule in Compello?

Below you will see a detailed instruction that consists of 2 Parts.

Part 1:

Steps:

1. Open the Bookkeeper Module.
2. On the left-hand Sidebar Menu menu click  .
3. Click Distribution Rules.
4. Choose the correct Client from the list.
5. Click to create a new Distribution Rule.
6. Enter a name for your rule.
7. If you need to (you usually will not) choose a user to activate the rule.
8. If you want to activate the rule only when the invoice has a certain document status, choose that here.
9. If you want to activate the rule for invoices of a certain document type, choose that here.

Part 2:

This is where you set the criteria for the rule to be activated: IF:

1. Choose Amount from the left-hand Available columns list and click it over to the IF area. In most cases this will be the only IF criteria you need, although you could add others such as Currency type, Supplier or Project.
2. Select the operator for the amount (e.g =>) and the amount boundary, e.g 1 000
3. Select if this criteria is to be found in the supplier line, the other lines or all lines.
4. Choose Kate (your standard first approver)  from the list of Approvers.
5. State whether Kate will be the first approver of the invoice line or not.
6. Select which line Kate has to be in for the rule to work.

THEN:

7. Choose the new additional approver (i.e. John).
8. elect the lines to which John will be applied (on the whole, follow suggestions here).
9. Click Save.