Uploading your products to Lightyear lets you automate line item coding, build a product catalogue for purchase orders (POs), and check supplier pricing with Price Checker. Follow these steps to get started.
If you don't need Price Checker, skip the About Price Checker section and the steps to turn it on. You can then upload your products without pricing to automate your coding.
About Price Checker
Price Checker tells you when a supplier's bill shows a price that is higher or lower than the agreed product price, so you can spot variances before you approve a bill.
What is Price Checker?
Price Checker compares the Landed Unit Cost (LUC) extracted from each bill against your pre-loaded price list. As a bill arrives in your Approvals tray, Lightyear recognises the product code, price checks each item, and flags any variance from the agreed price.
⚠️Important: Price Checker only works on bills with lines containing product codes that Lightyear extracts using a Line Item Map. The product code must match exactly every time so the bill can be compared with your price list. If your products are mapped with a service map, Price Checker will not work.
If you use purchase orders, uploading your products also lets you create a Product Catalogue. Items then pre-populate as you create POs, so you don't need to look up items or cross-reference product codes and pricing.
What is a catalogue?
A supplier catalogue is the list of products and agreed prices for one supplier. Price Checker uses this list to compare each supplier's bill against the prices you have agreed with that supplier. Create a catalogue for each supplier you want to price check.
What will I see once Price Checker is set up?
When a price list is set up for a supplier and a bill arrives in your Approvals tray, Lightyear price checks the product codes on that bill. It shades the Unit Price cells to show the result:
Red: the product has been overcharged compared with the supplier's price list.
Green: the product has been charged at or below the expected price, within any tolerance you have set.
No colour: the product has no entry in the supplier's price list.
Hover over a coloured cell to see the agreed price.
This is a step-by-step guide to uploading Products in Lightyear. There's a multitude of benefits in doing so. You can use this as part of the initial supplier set up to automate line item coding, create your Product Catalogue in PO's so items can prefill as you type out your order, and the Price Checking feature. If you don't need Price Checker, skip ahead to the section 2:
Here's one we prepared earlier: Download a template
The Price Checker notifies you when a supplier's on-invoice price differs from the loaded agreed price.
Set up Price Checker
To use Price Checker, switch it on in your company settings, then add your products and agreed prices for each supplier.
Click Settings, then click Company Settings.
Switch Price Checking to the Yes position.
Create your supplier catalogue
Add the products and agreed prices for each supplier to that supplier's catalogue. Price Checker then uses these prices when it checks that supplier's bills.
Click Suppliers, then select the supplier, then click the green pencil icon.
You'll see the Product list screen. You have two options to update the Unit Price:
Add products one at a time:
Click the green +Product button to add the details.
If you already have product line items, click the green pencil icon to add the Unit Price.
Upload several products at once: Use the steps in the Upload a CSV file section below.
You'll be asked for the following information:
Product Code: The code that identifies the product on your bill.
Product Description: A description of the product on your bill.
Default GL code: The GL code that populates automatically when this product appears on a bill.
Default Tracking Category: The tracking category that populates automatically when this product appears on a bill. This option appears only if you have activated tracking categories in your accounting software.
Effective From and Effective To: The dates the product price takes effect. If a bill date falls on or after the effective date, Lightyear price checks the product. Once the To date has passed, Price Checker stops checking the product.
Unit Price: The agreed price per unit between you and your supplier.
Tolerance % (+/-): A percentage tolerance for each product price. If the unit price on the bill falls within this tolerance of the uploaded price, Lightyear will not flag it as an overcharge. Enter numeric values only. For example, to set a tolerance of 1%, enter 1.
⚠️ Important: Lightyear does not offer a setting to change or round decimal places for unit prices or amounts. Enter unit prices exactly as they should appear in your CSV file, because adjustments can't be made after the upload.
🤓 Tip: Setting a tolerance of 1 or 2% stops Lightyear from flagging variances caused by decimal rounding, such as $10.01 and $10.02.
Delete a Catalogue
Follow these steps to delete an existing catalogue in Lightyear:
Go to Suppliers tab > Select a supplier > Click on the green pencil icon.
Allow the current catalogue list to fully load.
Click on the Delete All button next to the Upload button to remove the existing catalogue.
📌Note: Deleting a catalogue does not affect your in-progress orders or already processed invoices.
Catalogues are primarily used for:
Price comparisons
Preloading product codes
Assisting with auto-coding documents
Removing or replacing a catalogue has minimal impact on your existing or processed bills, ensuring that your workflow remains uninterrupted.
Upload a CSV file
Use a CSV (comma separated values) file to bulk upload longer lists of products and prices. Create your file with the following columns:
Product Code.
Product Description.
Account: Lightyear looks for the code first. If you don't have a code, enter the description.
Never Populate Account: Enter Y for Yes or N for No.
Category 1 and Category 2: Lightyear looks for the code first. If you don't have a code, enter the description.
Unit Price: Enter the price without currency symbols.
Effective From: Use dd/mm/yyyy format, for example 14/02/2025.
Effective To: Use dd/mm/yyyy format.
Tolerance: Enter digits only. Enter 1 instead of 0.01 for a tolerance of 1%.
Case Quantity: Enter a numeric value only.
POS Code.
Product Unit Type: Enter Cases or Units.
Once your CSV file is ready, follow these steps to import it:
Open the Product List section of Lightyear.
Select the relevant supplier from the drop-down list.
Click Upload CSV File.
Locate the CSV file on your device, then select it.
Click each drop-down and map it to the corresponding column in your CSV file.
When you're happy with the mapping, click Confirm to start the import.
Save a template
When you complete a CSV upload, you can save a template that remembers which fields match which columns. The next time you bulk upload or update your product list, select the template so the information auto-populates in the correct fields.
To create a template:
Follow the steps in the Upload a CSV file section to import your CSV file.
Fill out the relevant fields.
Go back to the top of the modal, then enter a Template Name.
Click Create Template at the bottom of the modal.
When you next import a CSV file, select your template from the Choose Template field at the top of the modal.
To change a template:
Select the template from the Choose Template field.
Make the necessary changes to the fields.
Click Overwrite Template at the bottom of the modal.
Your changes are saved and available for your next CSV import.
To delete a template:
Select the template from the Choose Template drop-down.
Click the red X beside the template name.
Download a copy of the Template File
Use the Product List to Supplier upload template below, which has the required columns already filled in.