Business Central Invoice Automation Checklist

You do not need to complete this checklist before requesting a demo. Bring the workflow question you want to solve; our team will work through the implementation details with you if there is a fit.

Shape the implementation around the result you need

Lift helps accounting firms and finance teams scope Business Central invoice automation before live supplier documents depend on it. This checklist matters because Business Central implementations vary by tenant, company, approval flow, extensions, VAT setup, custom fields, dimensions and attachment rules. Lift can transform and route prepared information to the required destination as part of that implementation.

The safest first phase is usually review-ready output in a sandbox or tightly scoped pilot. Treat direct submission as a separate control decision after the team has validated supplier matching, tax treatment, account and dimension suggestions, attachments and unclear-file handling.

Bring real examples to the checklist. A clean supplier invoice is useful, but the implementation questions usually appear in edge cases: unknown vendors, multiple VAT treatments, dimension-heavy costs, missing purchase references, long invoices, credit notes and documents that should be rejected rather than prepared. Those files show whether the route has enough accounting context before rollout.

The output of the checklist should be a narrow pilot brief: the intake source, Business Central company, review path, required fields, review rules and sample documents that everyone agrees will be used to judge the first phase.

Scope

Choose the company or client to test first
Confirm whether the workflow is for supplier invoices, receipts, credit notes, statements or a mix
Agree whether the first phase prepares drafts, structured output, or another review route
Define what success looks like before rollout

Document intake

Confirm the intake route: SharePoint, shared folder, email-to-folder process, or another agreed route
Decide whether to use a dedicated Lift intake area or an existing folder
Define processed, rejected and duplicate file handling
Confirm who can upload documents
Confirm who reviews files needing attention

Business Central environment

Confirm tenant, environment and company
Confirm whether sandbox testing is available
Identify required extensions or customisations that affect purchase documents
Confirm approval workflow requirements
Confirm attachment expectations

Vendor and account setup

Confirm vendor matching rules
Identify how new or unknown vendors should be handled
Export or expose the relevant chart of accounts
Confirm whether dimensions are required
Confirm default accounts or fallback handling

Custom fields, output format and delivery

List required standard and custom fields, including those introduced by extensions
Identify whether each value comes from the source document, business context or a configured rule
Map values to destination fields and dimensions, including required formats and allowed values
Choose the delivery route: API, structured import file or another integration
Include any downstream systems or workflows that should receive prepared information
Define what happens when a required value is missing or the destination rejects it

VAT and tax policy

List the VAT/tax codes used in the company
Confirm domestic, intra-EU and outside-EU treatment
Confirm reverse-charge handling
Confirm blocked or partially recoverable VAT policies
Confirm what should happen when the document and firm policy differ

Review and posting controls

Decide whether Lift should prepare review-ready output only
Confirm who approves the prepared data
Define whether any direct submission route is allowed
Confirm period-lock or closed-period behaviour if relevant
Confirm how rejected or unsupported documents should be reported

Pilot document set

Include simple supplier invoices
Include multi-page invoices
Include multi-currency invoices if relevant
Include credit notes if relevant
Include documents with multiple VAT rates
Include unclear or imperfect documents to test review handling

Go/no-go criteria

Prepared output is materially faster to review than manual entry
VAT treatment follows agreed policy
Account and dimension suggestions are acceptable
Unclear files are visible and manageable
The team understands the workflow
The process can be repeated for another company or client

Business Central invoice automation implementation checklist