5. Set up Order

There are just a few steps that your new client needs to take to get their live company up and running, and this article provides you with all of the information you need to support them throughout the setup process.

By the time you've led your client through all of the steps in this guide, they'll be ready to start placing orders and processing invoices in their live company.

1. Connect to a finance system.

The first step your client needs to take is to connect their live company to a finance system so that iCompleat can extract reference data such as supplier information, account codes, and tax codes, as well as post invoices to their finance system.

iCompleat automatically caches every 24 hours, meaning it will always be up to date with the latest data from their finance system.

iCompleat can connect to many of the most popular finance systems. Select a finance system from the list below to see the connection steps required.

Go to Which Sage connector should I use? if you need some help choosing a Sage connector for your client.

If your client doesn't want to connect to a finance system, they can connect to iCompleat's Universal Connector instead, which lets them manually upload all of their reference data codes, and then download invoices manually.

2. Add some users

Now your client's live company is connected to a finance system, it needs some users. Users can have different roles and permissions, depending on what they need to use iCompleat for, like approving and denying invoices, processing invoices and creating orders, or accessing company configuration settings.

The steps below show you how your client can add users.

Your client needs to add at least one user who has the Approver role. If they're going to use iCompleat Order, they'll also need to add at least one user who has the Can create orders permission.

On the homepage, select Configuration.
Select Manage users.
Select Add user.
Enter the user's First name and Last name.
Enter the user's Email address, and Role (job title).
(Optional) If this user will be an approver, you can select a Nominee for the user from the drop-down.
If your client hasn't created any other users yet, they can come back and add a nominee later.

A nominee can approve or deny transactions on the user's behalf when they're out of the office.
Ensure the user's default Language is correct, and select a different one from the drop-down if not.
(iCompleat Order only) Ensure the user's Preferred delivery site is correct, and select a different one from the drop-down if not.
The preferred delivery site will be used as the default delivery address if the user creates orders, but they can still select another address, or enter one manually, when they're creating an order if they like.
Select a company from the drop-down, and then switch the Has Access toggle on or off to control the user's access to each company.
As this is your client's first company, they'll only see that company in the drop-down.
Ensure the correct company is chosen in the Select company dropdown, then go to User Access, and switch on the toggles for the roles the user will have in the company.
Users can have one, multiple, or all roles assigned to them. Go to Customising users to learn what each role means.
Go to Global Permissions, and switch on the toggles for any extra permissions the user needs.
Some permissions are only available to users with certain roles. Go to Customising users to learn what each permission means.
Go to Reporting, and switch on the toggles for the reports you'd like to give the user access to.
Go to our Help Centre article on Reporting to learn what each report is for.
Select Add user.
The user will now receive an email asking them to create a password so they can log in and start using the system.
Repeat these steps to add more users.

3. Add workflows

Now that your client has some users up and running in their company, the next step is to create some workflows. Workflows are sequences of users that can approve or deny invoices and orders, and can be tailored to mirror the exact approval processes within a company.

When you create a workflow, you can choose whether the workflow can be used for all transaction types, orders only, or invoices and credit notes only. If your client plans on using Order in iCompleat to place orders with your suppliers, you should recommend that they set up workflows for orders that reflect the approval process in their company for orders.

Use the steps below to show your client how they can add workflows.

On the homepage, select Configuration.
Select Manage workflow.
Select Add new workflow.
Give the workflow a Workflow name and an Abbreviated name.
The Workflow name identifies the workflow on the Manage workflow page. The Abbreviated name is what AP operators and order creators users will see when selecting a workflow to submit transactions for approval.
In the Transaction type drop-down, select whether this workflow will be available for: All transaction types, Invoices/Credit notes only, or Orders only.
(Optional) The Active toggle is switched on by default. Switch it off if you don't want this workfow to be used yet.
Select the green box to add a new approval group.
Approval groups contain at least one user. You can add multiple users so that invoices or orders reach multiple approvers at the same time, and whoever approves the transaction first moves it to the next stage of the approval chain.
Select a user to add to the group from the drop-down.
(Optional) Select the plus (+) icon to add more user to the approval group. When there are multiple approvers in an approval group
(Optional) Select Configure criteria, and enter an approval threshold for the approval group.
(Optional) Under Configure critera, select Add to create a condition for using the workflow.
(Optional) Select Edit Name to give the approval group a name.
Select OK to add the aproval group.
Select the green box with the plus (+) icon beside your approval group to add another approval group to the same position in the workflow.
When there are multiple approval groups in the same position of a workflow, all of those approval groups need approve the transaction for it to move to the next position in the workflow.
(Optional) Select the green box under the arrow to one or more approval groupa at a later position in the workflow.
Approvers at this position will only see transactions to approve once they've been fully approved at Position 1.
When you're happy with the layout of your workflow, select Save.
Follow the same steps to add more workflows that mirror the various approval processing within your company. Then, AP operators and order creators can submit transactions to the right people for approval.

4. Customise layouts

Now it's time fo your client to customise their default layouts. Layouts determine what text fields and options are available when creating an order or processing an invoice, and whether those fields are at header or line level.

iCompleat comes with three default layouts: An invoice layout, an order layout, and a credit note layout. Your client should take a look at the default layouts and customise them to suit their company's needs.

Later, they can create new layouts for different scenarios, and set up rules so that those layouts come into effect only when they're needed. For instance, they might create a layout that comes into effect when they receive an invoice from their stationery supplier, and customise it to include the fields and values that apply to the way their company processes stationery invoices.

Use the steps below to show your client how to customise their default layouts.

On the homepage, select Configuration.
Select Manage layouts.
Select one of the default layouts from the list.
We're selecting the default invoices layout for this example, but we'll include steps for the order layout too.
(Invoice layout only) Switch the Post to Financials toggle on or off.
This determines whether invoices that use this layout can be posted to your connected finance system.
Select Save Layout.
Go to the Field Configuration tab, and choose which fields will appear on the invoice or order by switching the toggles on and off, and choosing options from the drop-downs.
The options you see will vary depending on any custom fields you've configured, as well as the type of layout you're creating.
(Invoice layout only) Go to the Variance tab, and switch the variance toggle on or off.
If you switch it on, use the arrows to adjust the price variance value you'd like to allow.

Switching this on will resolve slight price variances between an invoice and its matching order, allowing the invoice to continue to be automatically processed.
(Invoice layout only) Go to the Balance Lines tab, and switch the Balance Lines toggle on or off.
Switching this on will add balancing lines to an invoice to correct the sum of the lines if there's a slight discrepancy in tax between the lines and the overall invoice.
(Optional) For extra customisation, you can add a settings group to the layout.

This lets you configure the access that a certain group of users has to the fields on the layout.

i. Go to Settings Groups.

ii. Select New Settings Group.

iii. Enter a name for the settings group.

iv. Select a field to configure the settings group's access to it.

Some fields are mandatory and can't be configured for settings groups.

v. Select a Default value.

This decides which option is automatically selected for the field.

vi. Switch the Restrict values offered toggle on or off.

If you choose to switch it on, select the values you'd like to be offered for the field.

This means that a user will only be able to choose from those values when they're editing transactions that use this layout.

vii. Select Assign Users.

viii. To add a user to the settings group, select their name from the drop-down, then select the black cross (+) icon.

ix. When you've added all the relevant users to the settings group, select OK.

x. Select Save Settings Group.
To finish customising the layout, select Save Layout.

When your client is happy with their default layouts, they might want to create additional layouts. Go to Customising layouts for more detailed guidance on creating and editing layouts that you can share with your client.

5. Set up Order

Nearly there! If your client is planning on using iCompleat to place orders, submit them for approval, and benefit from automatic submission to suppliers and invoice matching, then there are just a few steps they need to take to finishing setting it up.

If they're not going to use iCompleat Order, they simply need to switch off invoice matching. Go to to continue their onboarding process.

If your client has completed the steps in this guide so fair, they should have already set up some order workflows and layouts, as well as given all the right users the permission to create orders, and set a preferred delivery site in their user profiles.

All that's left to do now is customise their purchase order template, and choose their preferred invoice matching criteria.

Use the steps below to show your new client how to finish setting up Order.

Choose matching criteria

On the homepage, select Configuration.
Select Company management.
Got to Matching.
From the drop-down, select the criteria you'd like iCompleat to look for when matching invoices to orders.
Switch on the Copy header details from order toggle if you'd like iCompleat to apply the header coding from orders to their matching invoices.
Switch on the Copy line details from order toggle if you'd like iCompleat to apply the line coding from orders to the lines on matching invoices.
If you choose to switch it on, you'll see an additional toggle. Switch that toggle on if you'd only like iCompleat to copy line details if the invoice has the same number of lines as its matching order.

Customise the purchase order template

iCompleat provides a default purchase order template. This determines the look and feel of the PDF generated and sent to suppliers with orders, as well as the fields that appear on it. Your client can easily customise the colour scheme, logo, numeric fields, and other information in keeping with their company's branding.

Use the steps below to show your new client how to customise their purchase order template.

On the homepage, select Configuration.
Select Company Management.
Go to Ordering.
Select Change.
A preview of your company’s current order template appears on the left of the screen.
Options to customise various default fields appear on the right.

Any changes you make will save automatically.
In the Lines drop-down, select the lines you want to add to the order template.
In the Total Summary drop-down, select the total summary lines you'd like to add to the order template.
Select Update to save your changes.
To change the accent colour on the order template, select Change.
The accent colour appears in the background of the Purchase Details Banner, and the order total box. It lets your client add their company's unique branding colours to orders.
Select the arrow next to your accent colour, and then select a shade from the colour palette.
Drag the colour slider to select a new colour. Or, enter the hex code of your brand colour to select it. For example: #808080.
Select Save.
To add your company's logo to the order template select Upload, then find the find on your computer.
This can be in .jpg or .png format, and must be no larger than 300 x 300px.
To add terms and conditions to the order template, select Upload, and then find your company's terms and conditions on your computer.
The terms and conditions should be in PDF format. This PDF will be sent to suppliers as an accompanying document with orders.
To add footer text , select Change.
Enter the footer text in the box, and select Save.
(Optional) Download a PDF sample of your order template by selecting Download PDF at the bottom of the editing panel.

Set a preferred delivery site

Your client can set a preferred delivery site for themselves and their users so that each time they create an order, the delivery site field is already coded. They can still select a different address when they're editing the order if they need to.

To set a preferred delivery site, your client simply needs to go to their your user menu in the top-right of their homepage, and select My Profile. They can set a preferred delivery site for other users when they're adding them, or by editing their user profile in Manage users.

All done! Your new client is ready to start using iCompleat to create orders, process invoices, and watch the automation happen.

Next: Setting up Integrated Online Buying for your client >>