Glossary
What is touchless invoice processing?
By Tim White · Last updated
Touchless invoice processing, also called straight-through processing, is when an invoice goes from arrival to recorded without a person touching it, because the system was confident enough at every step. It is what AP automation aims at, and it only works if the data can be trusted without checking it.
What touchless requires
For an invoice to clear untouched, the extraction has to be right, the totals have to reconcile, and it must not be a duplicate. Skip the trust part and touchless just means wrong, faster.
How InvoiceJet gets there
Two independent models must agree and the math must check out before a field is marked high confidence. When every field clears and no duplicate is flagged, the invoice auto-verifies with zero clicks. Anything short of that goes to a person with the evidence attached, which is the honest version of touchless.
What sends an invoice to the queue
A worked case makes it concrete. An invoice prints a total of 12,480 dollars, but its lines add to 12,840, a transposed figure. Rather than record the wrong number fast, InvoiceJet holds it and shows both numbers so a person picks the right one.
Other common holds: a scan where the two models read the total differently, or an invoice number that already matches one on file. None is a system fault. They are the moments a person should look, which is why a perfect touchless rate is the wrong target.
Common questions
What share of invoices go touchless?
It depends on how clean your invoices are, and we don't publish a rate. Clean, well-formed invoices auto-verify; messy or low-confidence ones are queued for review.
What stops an invoice from going touchless?
Any of three things: a field the system is not confident about, totals that do not reconcile, or a duplicate flag. When one trips, the invoice is routed to a person with the evidence attached.
Does touchless processing mean no oversight?
No. It means no manual touch on the invoices the system is confident about. Uncertain ones still queue for review, so people spend their attention only where it is needed.
Sources
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