For the past few weeks, we have been busy restructuring large parts of our database so that in the future we could implement new functionality faster. This meant that we were not able to add new features during this time as we normally would have. However, there are still quite some relevant new process optimizations that we have added to make our users’ lives just that small bit easier.

Automatic invoice information detection (OCR)

One of the most often requested and now finally added features is automatic invoice scanning. When a PDF file is uploaded, we are able to scan quite some data points out of the file so that it could automatically be assigned to the correct project, subcontractor, or purchase order. The data fields that we are able to read out from the file are as follows:

  • Invoice number
  • Invoice date
  • Invoice due date
  • Subcontractor/supplier name (if the exact same company name exists in the contact database)
  • Purchase order number/name (if an open PO exists with the same number)
  • Project code (if the code of only one active project is matched from the file)

In the case of a match for a purchase order number or a match of a single project code, the file is automatically assigned to the correct project. When it is time to approve the cost, the matched form fields will be populated automatically so that you have less work to do.

Some of the fields that are detected by the Planyard OCR
Some of the fields that are detected by the Planyard OCR

If you are interested in testing this feature, please do reach out to us as we are only enabling it for our current customers who request it.

Manual invoice information preparation

Since we already built most of the logic to assign the project, invoice dates, and subcontractors, we also decided to allow a manual way to assign this info. This means that when you are assigning a file from the company files to a specific project, you are able to add all of the missing fields manually that might not have been detected by the OCR system. If you do not have OCR enabled, you can also just assign any file with additional information to the respective project.

This can make sense if your company workflow is set up so that your secretary or office manager distributes the invoices between projects. The project managers or quantity surveyors would have to do less data entry since the invoice came to them with all of the relevant information provided already.

Screenshot of an invoice file where all of the information was detected by the Planyard OCR system
Screenshot of an invoice file where all of the information was detected by the Planyard OCR system

Automatic Purchase Order numbering

It has already been quite some time since we released our purchase order management toolkit. We aren’t finished with adding features to automate the workflows there. Many of our customers who run a lot of purchase orders reached out to us and said that they need a way to generate unique purchase order numbers to make delivery tracking easier. This also ties into our OCR task very nicely since we are now reading out the PO numbers automatically from the invoices.

Automatic purchase order numbering
Automatic purchase order numbering

This means that every time you create a new purchase order, it will have a new ID assigned to it. This ensures that you can very easily send out POs with unique identifiers to make your life easier when you receive the bills. For the feature to work, you need to have a unique code assigned to the project (DEMO001 on the image above).

If you are interested in testing this feature, please do reach out to us as we are only enabling it for our current customers who request it.

Improved Change Order management

Many of our users found it annoying to have to go back to the budget view to be able to add new budget items for their change orders. This means that you have yet a few more clicks that you can avoid when you are approving progress reports from your subcontractors.

Add a line-item directly from the change order proposal in the progress report screen
Add a line-item directly from the change order proposal in the progress report screen

In addition to adding budget line-items from the change order screen, we have also added the possibility of adding subrows to change orders in progress reports. This will allow you to also keep track of change orders in a more granular way, just like you can with the contract lines that were in the contract from the beginning.

Both of these two features are available for all of our users as of now and do not need to be enabled from our side.

Improved Xero integration for invoices

Since we now read out the invoice information from the file both automatically and allow our users to manually input it, we also send it forward to our accounting integrations. One of them is Xero, where we now send the invoice date, the invoice due date, the invoice number, and also all of the details from the purchase order as a comment.

Additional data that gets sent to Xero together with a bill
Additional data that gets sent to Xero together with a bill

We will also very shortly be adding a way to configure tracking categories in Planyard and to automatically have them sent to Xero so that you do not have to manually change them for every invoice that is sent to Xero. We will be announcing this in the next coming weeks, so keep your eyes open for that!