Once a rule has picked up a payment, the match strategy tells it how to find the invoices that payment is for. You choose it under Match to → Match strategy in the rule builder.
Which strategy should I use?
Think about how this customer usually pays, and pick the first answer that fits:
How does the customer pay? | Use |
They put the invoice number (or PO number) in the payment reference. | Exact reference |
They try to quote the invoice number, but often get it slightly wrong. | Fuzzy reference |
They pay one invoice at a time, in full, but without a reference. | Customer + amount |
They pay several invoices in one payment. | Multi-invoice bundle |
They take a credit note off an invoice and pay the rest. | Invoice / credit note pair |
They pay several invoices at once and deduct credit notes. | Multi-invoice + credit note bundle |
They send round amounts on account, and you've agreed to clear their oldest debt first. | Oldest first |
As above, but you want to clear their biggest invoices first. | Largest first |
If you're not sure, start with Exact reference. It's the most reliable strategy, and most customers quote invoice numbers at least some of the time.
How each strategy works
Strategy | What it does | Example |
Exact reference | Finds the invoice whose number appears in the payment reference or description. It ignores spaces, dots, slashes and dashes, and also recognises the invoice's PO number. | Reference INV100124 finds invoice INV-100124. |
Fuzzy reference | Finds the invoice the customer meant, even with typos, a missing prefix or only part of the number. | Reference 1OO124 (letter O instead of zero) finds INV-100124. |
Customer + amount | Finds the customer's open invoice for exactly the amount paid. | A £1,250.00 payment finds their one open £1,250.00 invoice. |
Multi-invoice bundle | Finds a group of the customer's invoices that add up to the payment. | A £900 payment finds invoices of £400, £300 and £200. |
Invoice / credit note pair | Finds one invoice and one credit note that together equal the payment. | A £400 payment finds a £500 invoice and a £100 credit note. |
Multi-invoice + credit note bundle | Finds a mix of invoices and credit notes that add up to the payment. | A £650 payment finds invoices of £400 and £300 and a £50 credit note. |
Oldest first | Pays off the customer's oldest open invoice first, then the next oldest, until the money runs out. The last invoice may be paid in part. | A £1,000 payment clears a £600 invoice from March and pays £400 towards one from April. |
Largest first | The same, starting with the biggest open invoice. | A £1,000 payment pays £1,000 towards their largest open invoice. |
Any customer, or specific customers?
Under Match against, you choose whose invoices the rule can use:
Any customer (automatic): Kolleno works out who paid. It does this from bank details it has seen on payments you've matched before, or from a payer name that matches exactly one of your customers.
Specific customers: the rule only uses invoices from the customers you pick. Click Search customers to add them.
Which should I choose?
With Exact reference or Fuzzy reference, Any customer works well, because the invoice number tells Kolleno who paid.
With every other strategy, choose Specific customers. These strategies need to know whose invoices to look at. If Kolleno can't recognise the payer, a rule set to Any customer won't find anything.
Also choose Specific customers if several customers use similar invoice numbers, or if a parent company pays on behalf of its subsidiaries.
When Kolleno asks you to check
Some results are never posted automatically, even with Auto-apply on, because there's a real chance of picking the wrong invoice. Kolleno suggests them to you instead when:
Fuzzy reference found the invoice by similarity only, not from a number the customer clearly quoted;
a bundle or pair strategy found two different sets of invoices that both add up to the payment;
the invoices it found belong to more than one customer.
You'll find these suggestions at the top of Match → Suggested match. See What happens when a rule matches.
Good to know
A rule only uses invoices that are open in NetSuite, in the same currency as the payment, and dated on or before the payment date.
If the bank account is linked to a NetSuite subsidiary, the rule only uses invoices from that subsidiary.
Bundle and pair strategies look at the customer's largest open invoices and credit notes first. If a payment covers lots of small invoices, you may need to match it by hand. See Troubleshooting: why didn't my rule match?.