The full conversion process: from submission to delivery, including statuses and processing time.
When you submit a PDF invoice or image to eConnect, it becomes a conversion task. The IDR (Intelligent Document Recogniser) converts the document into a validated e-invoice. This article explains how that process works from start to finish.
Every PDF or image you submit — by email, via a trusted sender, or via the API — automatically becomes a conversion task. The system determines the best conversion method and gets to work.
The system receives the document and classifies it via the Detect API. Is it an invoice, a delivery note, a reminder, or something else? Only documents recognised as invoices proceed to conversion. Other documents are automatically added as attachments to the invoice.
The IDR analyses the document using three technology layers:
The IDR recognises the key fields of the invoice: supplier, buyer, invoice number, date, amounts, VAT rate, and payment details.
After recognition, all fields are validated:
The IDR compares the recognised values with previously processed invoices from the same supplier. The more invoices processed from a supplier, the better the recognition becomes. The system learns continuously.
If the IDR is not sufficiently certain about the recognition, the conversion task is sent to eConnect's Quality Control team. They manually review uncertain cases, such as a difficult-to-read amount or a missing field.
Every correction made by the QC team is fed back as training data to the IDR. This way, an error that occurs once is prevented in the future.
After successful recognition and validation, the document is converted into a standardised e-invoice in UBL format. This e-invoice contains all the structured data your accounting software needs.
The processed invoice appears in your Inbox (for purchase invoices) or Outbox (for sales invoices). If you have set up a software integration, the invoice is automatically forwarded to your accounting package.
eConnect's SLA guarantee is that 99% of all documents are processed within 8 business hours.
You can track the progress of a conversion task in the platform. The standard retention period for conversion tasks is 4 months, after which they are automatically deleted.
Sometimes a document cannot be fully processed. This can happen because the file is unreadable, essential data is missing, or the invoice does not meet the required standard. In that case, the conversion task is rejected and you receive a notification with the reason.
IDR uses two key figures that are always presented together:
These two figures measure different things: 100% refers to the completeness of the channel, 98% to the correctness of the content. They always apply together.
The pure processing time for fully automatically processed documents averages 20 to 30 seconds. Including queue wait time, that is approximately 3.5 minutes. If manual review by the Quality Control team is required, it can take up to 24 hours on business days.
If there is insufficient certainty, the conversion task is sent to the Quality Control team for manual verification. Every correction is fed back as training data to the system, so similar errors are automatically prevented in the future. You can also report an error to support.
Yes, you can track the progress of every conversion task in the eConnect platform. For each document, you can see which phase the processing is in. The standard retention period for conversion tasks is 4 months, after which they are automatically deleted.
Do you have questions about a specific conversion task? Contact support.
View your conversion tasks