The Invoice Management System (IMS) data feed is used for Statement Reconciliation, to provide invoice data pre-approval, before it has been entered into the ledger, enabling IMS transactions to be matched against supplier statements at an earlier stage than transaction data.
In this article:
IMS data overview
IMS data represents invoices that have been received by your organisation and are being processed in an Invoice Management System, but have not yet been entered in the ledger. This could include:
- Invoices awaiting approval or matching against a purchase order
- Invoices that have been rejected and will not proceed to the ledger
The purpose of providing IMS data is to give users of FISCAL visibility of invoices that are in-progress, so they do not need to consult separate systems when reviewing statement matches.
IMS data files and format requirements
Files
You will need to provide both a historical extract and a daily extract.
Historical Extract – a one-off upload containing all records that are currently open in your IMS (i.e. not yet entered in your finance system / ledger, and not rejected or removed).
Daily Extract – this should contain any new or updated IMS records since the previous extract was taken. Updates may include changes to invoice details or status. This extract should include open, rejected and removed records, but not anything that has been approved and entered in the finance system / ledger. Records that have not changed do not need to be re-sent.
Format
Extracts must be in one of the following formats: .csv, .tsv, .xlsx or .txt. For .txt files the values must be separated by commas. For .csv files, the file must be encoded as UTF-8.
Specific requirements for IMS data
- Only include header-level invoice records; do not include line items.
- The Supplier Ref in your IMS extract must match the Supplier Ref used in your ERP transaction data files.
- Do not use placeholders in any fields, such as ‘0’, ‘N/A’, ‘-’, etc. If data is not available, leave it blank.
- All text fields should be qualified with double quotes (e.g. "Test Supplier, Ltd"). Any double quotes occurring inside a text field must be escaped with another double quote (e.g. 50” Television becomes "50"" Television").
- All date fields must be in the same date format. FISCAL accepts many different formats for dates, including dd/mm/yyyy, mm/dd/yyyy, yyyy/mm/dd etc. Timestamps can also be included in the format hh:mm:ss.
- You may provide additional fields for data that is relevant to your organisation. These fields will be for display purposes only.
IMS data fields
The table below details all supported IMS data fields, their purpose, and whether they are mandatory, recommended, or optional. You can also provide additional fields of data as required.
| Field | Description | Purpose | Format |
|---|---|---|---|
| Unique ID |
A unique ID generated within your IMS that identifies a transaction. If no such ID exists (e.g. if document numbers are recycled), it is acceptable to derive one as long as it is unique to that transaction (e.g. a common approach is to concatenate document number and company code). Only the latest instance of a record should be included in the file – multiple instances of the same Unique ID will not be imported. |
Used to identify a record and update it in FISCAL when it is re-uploaded with changes. Mandatory |
Alphanumeric Character limit: 255 |
| Invoice Number | The invoice document reference from the supplier. |
Used for statement matching. Mandatory |
Alphanumeric Character limit: 255 |
| Invoice Amount | Total gross value of the invoice without the currency symbol. Invoices should be positive amounts; credits should be negative amounts or vice versa (negative sign to left of amount). |
Used for statement matching. Mandatory |
Numeric Character limit: 14 digits + 5 decimals |
| Base Amount |
Gross invoice value converted into local/base/reporting currency. Invoices should be positive amounts; credits should be negative amounts or vice versa (negative sign to left of amount). If you transact in a single currency, you do not need to include this field, but if you do then the Invoice and Base Amounts should match; if you transact in multiple currencies, the Base Amount should represent the invoice in your accounting system’s single base currency. |
Provides accurate reporting in a single currency where invoices are in multiple currency values. Mandatory if transact in multi-currency |
Numeric Character limit: 14 digits + 5 decimals |
| Invoice Date | Date when the invoice was raised by the supplier. |
Used for statement matching and reporting. Mandatory |
Date |
| Supplier Name | Supplier name from your IMS. |
Links the record to the Supplier. If not provided, the Supplier Ref will be used as the display name until the supplier record is available from your transaction data. Mandatory |
Alphanumeric Character limit: 255 |
| Supplier Ref |
A unique ID generated within your accounting system that identifies the supplier. This value must match the Supplier Ref used in your ERP transaction data files. |
Links the IMS record to the Supplier. Mandatory |
Alphanumeric Character limit: 255 |
| Invoice Amount Currency | The ISO 4217 code denoting the currency in which the invoice is issued. |
Currently for information only, but likely used in future enhancements. Recommended |
Alphanumeric Character limit: 3 |
| Base Amount Currency | The ISO 4217 code denoting the currency in which the invoice amount is reported. |
Currently for information only, but likely used in future enhancements. Recommended if transact in multi currency |
Alphanumeric Character limit: 3 |
| Due Date | Date the invoice is due for payment. |
Used for reporting and to help identify overdue or stalled IMS records during reconciliation. Recommended |
Date |
| Entered Date | Date the invoice was entered into your IMS. If this is not available, the upload date will be used as a fallback. |
Used for reporting. Recommended |
Date |
| Modified Date | Date the IMS record was last modified in any way (including a status change). May also be referred to as the Last Edit Date. |
Identifies the latest version of a record when updated versions are uploaded. Recommended |
Date |
| Extract Date | Date the file was created, or the date the record was extracted if uploading directly from your IMS. |
Identifies the latest version of a record when updated versions are uploaded. Recommended if Modified Date is not provided |
Date |
| IMS Status |
The current status of the record within your IMS, e.g. open, rejected, removed.
Include records with a rejected or removed status as well as open records in your daily extracts, so that FISCAL can reflect the latest state of each record. |
Helps users of FISCAL understand the current state of an IMS record when reviewing statement matches. Recommended |
Alphanumeric Character limit: 255 |
| IMS ID | An identifier for the specific system from which the record originates. |
Identifies which IMS system a record originates from. Recommended if more than 1 IMS is in use |
Alphanumeric Character limit: 255 |
| Transaction ERP ID |
The ERP ID of the transaction in FISCAL that this IMS record relates to. Use the same ERP ID as used in your transaction data files. |
Enables an exact match between an IMS record and the corresponding transaction in FISCAL. Recommended if provided in Transaction data |
Alphanumeric Character limit: Numeric: up to 32,767 Alphanumeric: up to 50 characters |
| Transaction Unique ID |
The Unique ID of the transaction in FISCAL that this IMS record relates to. Use the same Unique ID as used in your transaction data files. |
Enables an exact match between an IMS record and the corresponding transaction in FISCAL. Recommended |
Alphanumeric Character limit: 255 |
| PO Number |
Purchase Order number relating to the invoice. If you have multiple PO Numbers for one invoice, please populate this field with the first PO and include the others, concatenated into a single comma-separated list, in an additional field. |
Can improve statement matching accuracy as PO numbers are typically consistent between the IMS and ledger. Recommended |
Alphanumeric Character limit: 255 |
| Description | A summary of the goods or services that the invoice covers. |
Helpful for users of FISCAL reviewing statement matches. Recommended |
Alphanumeric Character limit: 2000 |
| Scanned Image | Hypertext link or directory path to a scanned image of the invoice, if stored within your IMS. |
Helpful to users of FISCAL reviewing statement matches, saving them from having to consult the IMS separately. Optional |
Hyperlink Character limit: 2000 |