This article explains how AP Automation counts scans towards your licence – what many customers call scan credits or invoice scanning usage. To reduce scan usage or investigate a higher than expected total, see 'How to reduce and investigate high scan usage in AP Automation'.

How AP Automation counts a scan

Accounts Payable (AP) Automation is the iplicit product that reads supplier documents emailed to it, using AI invoice processing. In iplicit, the accounts payable area is called the Purchase Ledger.

Your AP Automation licence includes a set number of scans. AP Automation counts one page as one scan, so a 10-page invoice uses 10 scans. A multi-page file is counted page by page, not as one document.

What counts towards your AP Automation scan licence

AP Automation counts every page of the following towards your licence:

  • Every document sent to the AP Automation inbox
  • Non-invoice documents, such as statements and remittances
  • Duplicate copies of the same invoice
  • Documents a user abandons after they become registered documents
  • Attachments sent again in a reply to a forwarded email chain.

A registered document is the draft record AP Automation creates from each attachment, ready for a user to review and convert. Abandoning a registered document does not return the scans it used.

What does not count towards your AP Automation scan licence

  • Signature images and logos in the email body
  • Selecting the 'Redo' button on a registered document
  • Documents that fail to process because of a service issue.

The 'Redo' button reapplies the AP Automation mappings to the existing registered document. It does not scan the pages again, so it uses no scans.

How AP Automation processes emails and why it affects your scan count

AP Automation follows three rules when an email arrives. Each rule explains why scan usage can be higher than the number of invoices received.

  • Everything is scanned – AP Automation attempts to scan every attached document, whether or not it is an invoice
  • Duplicate checks happen after scanning – if the same invoice arrives twice, AP Automation scans both copies and both count
  • Each email is treated as new – if someone replies to a forwarded email and copies in AP Automation, the attachments are scanned again.

The AP Automation inbox is the screen in iplicit that lists every email received by your AP Automation mailboxes. Because of these three rules, how documents reach the AP Automation inbox affects scan usage more than how AP Automation is set up.

The same AP Automation counting rules apply when you scan receipts for expenses in the iplicit mobile app. For questions about your scan usage, contact your Customer Success Manager.

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