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Which fields does the IDR recognise on a PDF invoice?

Which fields the IDR recognises on a PDF invoice: standard, Professional and configurable references.

The IDR (Intelligent Document Recogniser) automatically recognises the most important data on a PDF invoice and converts it into structured fields in the e-invoice. Which fields are recognised depends on your subscription and configuration.

Standard recognised fields

With every PDF conversion, the following fields are automatically recognised:

FieldDescriptionSupplierName, address, company registration number, VAT number. The supplier is identified via the eConnect party database (Purple Pages), not based on what is on the PDF.BuyerName and address as stated on the invoice. Included in an XML extension, not as primary identification.Invoice numberUnique number of the invoiceInvoice dateDate of the invoiceDue datePayment term (if stated)AmountsSubtotal, VAT amount and total amountVAT ratePercentage and category (standard, reverse charge, exempt)IBANBank account of the supplierPayment referenceStructured communication (if present)CurrencyThe currency of the invoice
Professional fields

With the Professional subscription, additional fields are recognised:

FieldDescriptionPurchase order numberThe most commonly used reference. The IDR recognises this field automatically.Contract numberReference number of the underlying contractProject numberReference number of the projectBuyer referenceReference field of the recipient, configurable per company registration number, OIN or VAT numberG-account IBANRecognition of G-account bank numbersStructured payment referencesBelgian OGM, Norwegian KID number, Swiss QR codeVAT bases (reverse charge invoices)Recognises the original VAT rate for reverse charge and assigns the correct VAT code (AE, K or G). Relevant for construction and housing corporations.
Date recognition per country

The IDR recognises dates on PDF invoices and converts them to the standard UBL date format (YYYY-MM-DD). Because date formats differ per country, the IDR determines, based on the supplier's country, how ambiguous dates are interpreted:

  • United States: MDY (month-day-year). The date 03/11 is interpreted as 11 March.
  • All other countries: DMY (day-month-year). The date 03/11 is interpreted as 3 November.

If automatic country detection is not sufficient, a specific hint for the date format can be added per supplier.

Tip: incorrectly interpreted dates (for example 03/11 as 11 March instead of 3 November) are almost always a recognition issue, not a platform problem. The platform always displays the date as it appears in the UBL.

IBAN validation

With the Professional subscription, the recognised IBAN is compared against the verification store: a database of previously manually validated IBAN numbers per supplier. If the IBAN on the invoice differs from what was previously verified, this is flagged. This helps detect phantom invoices or changed bank details.

Note: the IBAN on an invoice serves primarily as supplier identification under European standard EN16931, not as a payment instruction. A changed IBAN must always first be validated in the master data of your financial system before payment is made.

Configurable references (custom)

In addition to standard references (order number, contract number, project number), other references can be specifically configured per supplier. Think of budget codes, budget holder codes or internal references. This is custom work set up on a token basis.

The recognition of configurable references uses a three-layer mechanism:

  1. Regex: format validation to ensure the extracted reference exactly meets the expected format
  2. Outlier detection: statistical deviation detection that intercepts improbable values
  3. Hints: automatically generated training data based on corrections by the QC team

Tip: the purchase order number is the most commonly used reference and is stated by most suppliers on the invoice. If a supplier cannot fill in a particular reference field in their software, there is little point in asking for it.

Invoice lines (line recognition)

With line recognition, individual invoice lines are also recognised: description, unit price, quantity, line amount and reference fields per line.

Frequently asked questions
Which fields are only recognised with the Professional subscription?

With the Professional subscription, the purchase order number, contract number, project number, buyer reference, G-account IBAN and structured payment references (such as the Belgian OGM) are additionally recognised. These fields are not automatically extracted from the PDF with the standard subscription.

What if a field is not correctly recognised on my invoice?

Report the error to support so that the eConnect team can improve recognition for this supplier. Every correction is fed back to the IDR as training data, so that similar errors are automatically prevented in the future. The system continuously learns.

Can I have additional reference fields recognised that are not standard supported?

Yes, in addition to standard references, other references can be configured per supplier on a custom basis, such as budget codes or internal references. This is set up on a token basis by the eConnect team and uses format validation, statistical deviation detection and automatic training data.

Curious how recognition works technically? Read How does Scan & Recognise (IDR/OCR) work?.

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Related

How does Scan & Recognise (IDR/OCR) work?
Line recognition: automatically recognising invoice lines
Supplier identification via Purple Pages
Dummy values in the e-invoice
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