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Document Verification

Smart Approval includes a Verify Document feature that validates a document against its configured smart criteria before sending it for approval. This helps users catch issues early, before the approval workflow begins.

How Verification Works

When you click Verify Document on a supported document (e.g., a Purchase Order or Sales Invoice):

  1. The app retrieves all enabled criteria for that document type.
  2. Each criterion is evaluated against the document using AI analysis.
  3. The app sends the document data and the criteria definitions to Azure OpenAI, which determines which criteria apply.
  4. Results are stored in the Applied Smart Criteria table for the document.
  5. The app checks for any Error or Warning type criteria that matched.

Verification Outcomes

Criteria can produce different outcomes depending on their type:

Criteria Type Verification Behavior
Error Blocks processing. The user must resolve the issue before the document can proceed. A detailed error message is displayed with the criteria's response message.
Warning Notifies the user about a condition but does not block processing. The user can review the warning and decide whether to proceed.
Approval Identified for the approval workflow but does not block verification.
Notification Sends an alert but does not affect verification.

Using Verify Document

  1. Open a document (e.g., Purchase Order, Sales Invoice).
  2. In the actions bar, click Verify Document in the document's action menu.
  3. Review any errors or warnings that appear.
  4. Resolve errors before sending the document for approval.

Error Messages

When verification finds matching Error criteria, the app displays structured error messages that include:

  • Title — the criteria description
  • Detail — the response message configured on the criteria
  • Context — identifies the Smart Approval type

This uses Business Central's error collection framework, so multiple errors can be displayed together rather than stopping at the first one.

Viewing Applied Criteria

After verification (or after sending an approval request), you can view which criteria were applied to a document:

  1. On the document page, click Smart Approval Criteria in the actions bar.
  2. The Applied Smart Criteria page opens, showing all criteria that matched the document.
  3. This page is read-only — it serves as an audit trail of which rules were evaluated.

Applied Smart Criteria page showing matched criteria for a document

Verification vs. Approval

Verification and approval are separate steps:

  • Verify Document — a pre-check that evaluates criteria and reports errors/warnings. No approval entries are created.
  • Send Smart Approval Request — triggers the full workflow, which includes verification and then creates approval entries for matching Approval-type criteria.

You can run verification independently at any time to check a document without initiating the approval process.

Related information: