Lightyear has a number of methods for extracting data from the documents your suppliers send you. This article runs through which extraction method is best for each scenario.
Review the supplier's document to identify the type of extraction you need
Line Items (Products) – Line level extraction that includes Product Code, Description, Quantity, Unit Price & Line Amount. Required extraction type for Inventory invoices is using feature in Lightyear)
Service (Lines) – Line level extraction that only includes Description & Line Amount. Best used when needing to code to multiple GL accounts or want the invoice description.
Service (Summary) – Document level extraction that combines all lines on an invoice into one or two lines depending on calculations. Best for coding the whole invoice to once account or when the line details are not needed
Check the Suggested Maps or Search for a map
Lightyear will automatically suggest a Map if the document type or layout matches one from our Map Library. When viewing maps, check it is the correct extraction type i.e. Lines or Summary and if the totals are displaying correctly.
Review the suggested Maps or use the Find Map button to search for additional Maps.
Please note that GL coding and Job coding are not shown in the processing tab for Maps.
If no Map is suggested
If Lightyear can’t find a suitable Map, it will automatically switch to Smart Extract or if there are maps that aren't suitable, you can manually switch over to Smart Extract. Smart Extract does not support bulk processing of invoices from the same supplier. Unlike Maps, changes cannot be applied to all documents simultaneously, requiring individual processing for each invoice.
🤓 Tip: It's best to disregard maps that aren't suitable first before switching over.
If Data isn’t captured correctly
Use Smart Extract – Edit Mode to resolve issues such as:
Due date not captured: Smart Extract may fail to extract the correct Bill Date, especially if the invoice layout lacks a clearly labelled "Invoice Date" field. Manually set dates in Edit Mode may not always persist correctly through preview/export. As a workaround, configure Smart Extract to recognise an alternative label (e.g., "Printed on") as the invoice date, or request a supplier-specific Map.
If the supplier profile is set to "Use Extracted Date" and the due date is absent from the document, no due date will appear. To fix this, navigate to the supplier profile settings, review the "Due Date Rule" configuration, and change it to a predefined rule (e.g., "30 days from invoice date") to ensure a due date is always applied. Alternatively, manually enter the due date when processing the invoice.
Product codes or descriptions appearing in the wrong columns
Any other incorrect field mappings using Labels, Words, or Tables.
Poor-quality scanned PDFs: If scanned PDFs are of poor quality, Lightyear may struggle to extract data accurately. Use Smart Extract to manually amend the extracted information as needed, and for future invoices, request computer-generated PDFs from your suppliers to improve extraction accuracy.
Misordered pages in multi-page invoices: Ensure that all pages are uploaded in the correct sequential order before extraction. Misordered pages can lead to incomplete or incorrect data extraction, particularly for information located on earlier pages.
If Smart Extract still doesn’t work
If there’s no suitable Map available and Smart Extract doesn’t resolve the issue, submit a request for a new Map to be created.
When adding notes to your Map request, be specific about what you need. For example:
"The invoice lacks an explicit 'Invoice Date' label, and Smart Extract is not identifying the correct date. Please map the 'Delivery Date' field as the Bill Date."
“Please map the Reference field on the invoice to the Purchase Order field.”