AP and Quality Email Inbox Automation Checklist

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11 critical items still open - these are the highest-risk gaps.

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Intake and mailbox design

Dedicated mailbox per process (invoices, order acknowledgments, certificates), not one catch-allCRITICALSuppliers told the correct address and asked to send one document per PDF where possibleAllowed file types defined (PDF, TIFF, JPG) and others rejected with a replyAttachment size limit set and communicatedInline images and signature logos filtered so they are not processed as documentsBody-only emails with no attachment handled by a defined ruleOriginal email and attachment stored unchanged for auditCRITICAL

Classification and extraction

Document type list agreed and owned (see taxonomy worksheet)CRITICALUnknown-document bucket defined with a named reviewerMulti-document PDFs split into separate documents before extractionDuplicate detection on vendor, invoice number and amountCRITICALConfidence thresholds set per field class and reviewed with real samplesStatements, reminders and remittance advices recognised and kept out of the invoice flowCredit notes distinguished from invoicesMulti-language and multi-currency documents tested

Security and compliance

Mailbox access limited to named roles, with multi-factor authenticationCRITICALAttachments scanned for malware before processingCRITICALSender checks in place for bank detail changes and payment instructionsCRITICALProcessing runs in an approved environment; sensitive documents do not leave your network if policy forbids itCRITICALRetention and deletion rules applied to the mailbox and archiveAccess to extracted data follows ERP rolesExport-controlled or customer-restricted documents identified and handled separately

Exceptions and ERP handoff

Every failed document produces a visible exception, never a silent dropCRITICALReview queue with owner, aging and escalation rulesVendor not found and PO not found cases have defined handlingWrites to the ERP are validated and require approval where the value is materialCRITICALCorrections made by reviewers are fed back to improve extractionReply templates ready for rejected or incomplete supplier submissions

Monitoring and ownership

Daily reconciliation: emails received equals documents processed plus exceptionsCRITICALTouchless rate, review volume and error rate reported weeklyFallback manual procedure documented for outagesNamed business owner and technical ownerChange log for rules, templates and models

Aim to complete every critical item before go live. Unchecked critical items are the usual cause of lost documents, duplicate payments and security incidents.

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How to use the checklist

Work through the groups with AP, purchasing or quality, and IT in the same room. Tick items that are true today, and turn every unchecked critical item into an action with an owner and date. Use it before a pilot to scope the work, and again before go live as a readiness gate. Print it or export it to PDF to attach to your project record.

Run it separately for each inbox, since risks differ
Include IT security from the start, not at go live
Re-run it after any major change in rules or models

Why the critical items matter

Keeping the original email and attachment gives you an audit trail and a way to reprocess when a model improves. Duplicate detection prevents paying the same invoice twice when a supplier resends. Sender checks on bank detail changes protect against payment fraud, which commonly arrives by email. Reconciling received against processed each day is the control that proves nothing was dropped. None of these depend on how good your extraction is, which is why they come first.

Where teams go wrong

The most common failure is treating the inbox as a pure OCR problem. Teams skip the unknown bucket, so anything unrecognised disappears. They forget statements and remittances, which then enter the invoice flow. They write to the ERP without validation. Another trap is relying on a cloud tool for documents that policy says must stay on site. Settle these early, and the extraction work becomes the easy part.

No exception queue means silent failure
Unvalidated ERP writes spread errors quickly
Unclear data residency blocks go live late in the project

Frequently Asked Questions

Should automation read the shared mailbox directly?

Usually it reads through a service account with only the permissions it needs, ideally via a supported API or a forwarding rule into a processing mailbox. Avoid using a personal account, and log all access for audit.

How do I stop duplicate invoices being paid?

Check vendor, invoice number and amount against existing records at capture, and keep your ERP's own duplicate invoice check enabled. Treat near matches, such as a changed date or trailing character, as exceptions for review.

What about bank detail changes sent by email?

Never apply them from an email alone. Verify through a known contact by a separate channel, and keep vendor master changes under their own approval workflow, separate from invoice processing.

Is an LLM safe to read supplier emails?

Emails can contain instructions aimed at the model, so keep the model's role to extraction and classification, give it no authority to act, and validate its output with rules and human approval before any ERP write.

If you want an inbox pipeline that runs on your own infrastructure, keeps originals, and sends every uncertain document to a person before anything writes to your ERP, we can scope it with you.

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