# Document Classification Taxonomy Worksheet > Source: https://netray.co/tools/document-classification-taxonomy-worksheet > Publisher: Netray (netray.co), AI and integration engineering for ERP and manufacturing systems. > Section: Free Tools ## Short answer Define the document types your inbox and scanners receive, how each is classified and extracted, and how many review hours each type will create. ## Category ai-automation ## Audience - Document control - Quality manager - AP manager ## Tool **Kind:** worksheet **Mode:** editable **Columns:** #### Document type **Key:** doc_type **Type:** text #### Category **Key:** category **Type:** select **Options:** - Finance - Procurement - Quality - Logistics - Engineering - HR and legal #### Arrives via **Key:** channel **Type:** select **Options:** - Email - Scanner - EDI - Portal - Mobile photo #### Extraction method **Key:** method **Type:** select **Options:** - Template - Layout model - LLM extraction - Manual - Not extracted #### Key fields **Key:** key_fields **Type:** text #### Lands in **Key:** erp_obj **Type:** text #### Retention **Key:** retention **Type:** text #### Documents per month **Key:** volume **Type:** number #### Share needing review **Key:** review_pct **Type:** number **Unit:** % #### Minutes per review **Key:** review_min **Type:** number **Unit:** min #### Review hours per month **Key:** review_hours **Type:** number **Expr:** volume * review_pct / 100 * review_min / 60 **Format:** hours **Rows:** **Doc type:** Supplier invoice **Category:** Finance **Channel:** Email **Method:** Layout model **Key fields:** Invoice no, date, PO, lines, tax, total **Erp obj:** Vendor invoice **Retention:** Per tax law **Volume:** 3000 **Review pct:** 35 **Review min:** 3 **Doc type:** Packing slip **Category:** Logistics **Channel:** Scanner **Method:** Layout model **Key fields:** PO, part, qty, delivery note no **Erp obj:** Goods receipt **Retention:** Per policy **Volume:** 1200 **Review pct:** 25 **Review min:** 2 **Doc type:** Certificate of conformance **Category:** Quality **Channel:** Email **Method:** LLM extraction **Key fields:** Lot, PO, part, spec, signature **Erp obj:** Lot record attachment **Retention:** Per contract **Volume:** 600 **Review pct:** 60 **Review min:** 4 **Doc type:** Purchase order acknowledgment **Category:** Procurement **Channel:** Email **Method:** LLM extraction **Key fields:** PO, promised date, price **Erp obj:** PO line update **Retention:** Per policy **Volume:** 900 **Review pct:** 30 **Review min:** 2 **Doc type:** Drawing or revision notice **Category:** Engineering **Channel:** Portal **Method:** Not extracted **Key fields:** Drawing no, revision **Erp obj:** Item revision **Retention:** Life of product **Volume:** 80 **Review pct:** 100 **Review min:** 5 **Totals:** #### Total documents per month **Key:** volume **Agg:** sum **Format:** integer #### Total review hours per month **Key:** review_hours **Agg:** sum **Format:** hours **Summary:** #### Review minutes per document, all types **Key:** hrs_per_doc **Expr:** sum_review_hours * 60 / max(sum_volume, 1) **Format:** decimal **Primary:** true **Notes:** Retention periods are legal and contractual questions, so confirm them with your records policy and customers rather than relying on defaults. Start with the five or six document types that make up most of your volume. ## Content **Intro:** Before a document AI tool can route a PDF anywhere, someone has to define the list of document types and what happens to each. This worksheet is that catalog: one row per type, with the channel it arrives by, how it will be classified and extracted, where it lands in the ERP and what review effort it will create. **Sections:** #### How to use the worksheet **Body:** Pull a week of documents from your shared inbox, scanner folder and portals, and group them by type. Add a row for each, noting the channel, the key fields you need, and the ERP object that should receive the data. Choose an extraction method per type, then estimate the share that will need review and the minutes per review. The computed review hours show where the human workload will sit, so you can decide which types to automate first and which to leave manual. **Bullets:** - Automate by volume and rule clarity, not by document importance - Keep a catch-all type for unknown documents so nothing disappears - Version the list as you add types #### Designing the taxonomy **Body:** Keep it flat and operational. A taxonomy of two levels, category and type, is easier to maintain than a deep tree. Name types by what the business does with them, such as supplier invoice or goods receipt support, not by file format. Each type needs one owner, one destination and a defined fallback when classification is uncertain. Overlapping types such as invoice and credit note should be separate because the posting logic differs, even if the layouts look alike. #### Sequencing the rollout **Body:** Start with high-volume, structured types where errors are cheap to fix. Add certificates and quality records afterward, with higher review rates and stricter confidence bars. Leave rare, complex documents manual until you have the volume to justify tuning. After go live, track classification accuracy separately from extraction accuracy, since a misclassified document fails before any field is read. **Bullets:** - Measure misrouted documents per week - Review the unknown bucket monthly for new types - Retire types that no longer arrive **Cta:** If you want an inbox classifier that routes each document type to the right ERP workflow on your own servers, we can design the taxonomy with you and run it privately, with a person confirming anything uncertain. **Faq:** #### How many document types should I start with? **Answer:** Five to ten, covering most of your volume. A long tail of rare types adds tuning effort for little saving. Add types when the unknown bucket shows enough volume to pay for them. #### What is the difference between classification and extraction? **Answer:** Classification decides what kind of document it is and where it goes. Extraction reads the fields from it. Both can fail separately, so measure them separately and route low-confidence results to review. #### Do I need retention periods in the taxonomy? **Answer:** It is useful, because the document type usually determines how long you must keep the record. Confirm the periods with your records policy, tax rules and customer contracts, since they differ by country and industry. #### Can an LLM replace a taxonomy? **Answer:** An LLM can classify and extract flexibly, but you still need the taxonomy to define the destinations, owners and rules. The model reads the document; the taxonomy tells the business what to do with it. ## Search terms document classification taxonomy, document types list for manufacturing, intelligent document processing taxonomy, document classification template excel, document control classification scheme, idp document type catalog, inbound document classification, document retention schedule worksheet --- Talk to an engineer: https://netray.co/contact?intent=erp_ai | Machine catalog: https://netray.co/agent/catalog.json