Artificial intelligence (AI) is no longer a futuristic concept—it’s here, it’s practical, and it’s already transforming how businesses operate, but many AI tools are additional monthly costs. Acumatica has strategically integrated several powerful AI and machine learning features directly into their platform, and the best part – many of these capabilities are available at no additional cost to current users.
Let’s take a look at the AI features you can start using today to streamline operations, reduce manual work, and gain valuable insights into your business data.
Document Processing Automation
AP Document Recognition: From PDF to Bill in Minutes
Stop entering vendor invoices line by line. Acumatica’s AP Document Recognition feature uses machine learning to automatically convert PDF invoices into AP bills within your system.
How it works:
- Simply drag and drop a PDF invoice into the “Incoming Documents” screen, or set up an email address to automatically receive invoices
- The ML engine analyzes the document, recognizing vendor information, line items, amounts, and other critical data
- The system creates a complete AP bill, mapping the recognized fields to the appropriate data points in Acumatica
What’s included:
- 50 pages per month at no additional cost
- Self-improving accuracy as the system learns from your corrections
- Manual override capability when the system needs guidance
Real-world impact: Companies report saving hours of data entry time weekly, while reducing human errors that often occur during manual invoice processing. As you use the feature and make corrections, the system becomes increasingly accurate for your specific vendors and document formats.
Expense Document Recognition: Mobile Receipt Processing Made Simple
Employee expense reporting just got a major upgrade. With Expense Document Recognition, team members can simply snap a photo of a receipt with their mobile device, and Acumatica handles the rest.
The process:
- Employee takes a photo of a receipt using their mobile device
- The AI engine extracts key information: merchant name, date, amount, and expense category
- An expense receipt request is automatically created in the system
- The original receipt image is attached for audit purposes
Business benefits:
- Faster expense report submissions from employees
- Reduced errors from manual receipt transcription
- Improved compliance with expense policies
- Elimination of lost receipts and associated reimbursement delays
Intelligent Text Completion: A Built-In Writing Assistant
Repetitive text entry is one of those time-consuming tasks that adds little value but eats up productive hours. Acumatica’s Intelligent Text Completion feature addresses this by predicting and suggesting text as users type in large text fields.
Where It Works
- Stock item long descriptions (the formatted HTML areas, not basic description lines)
- Support case descriptions in the CRM module
- Any large text block field within the system
How It Learns and Improves
The system comes with a basic model out of the box, but the real power emerges over time:
- Automated Learning: A scheduled automation (defaulting to Saturday evenings) analyzes existing text entries
- Pattern Recognition: The system identifies common phrases, descriptions, and terminology used in your organization
- Personalized Suggestions: Text completion becomes increasingly relevant to your specific business context
User Control
Not everyone wants AI suggestions while typing. You can easily turn this feature on or off in your individual profile.
Anomaly Detection: Your AI-Powered Data Guardian
Perhaps the most sophisticated AI feature currently available in Acumatica is anomaly detection. This capability can identify unusual patterns in your data that might indicate errors, fraud, or opportunities for investigation.
Two Flavors of Anomaly Detection
- General Ledger Anomaly DetectionMonitors your GL for unusual transactions or patterns that deviate from historical norms.
- Generic Inquiry Anomaly DetectionCan be configured on any generic inquiry to detect numerical anomalies in your business data.
What’s Included?
- Configuration on up to 2 generic inquiries
- Processing of up to 25,000 records per day
- Three pre-built examples: AP document costs, purchase order costs, and sales order margin analysis
How Anomaly Detection Works
Smart Timeline Analysis: The system doesn’t just look at raw numbers—it considers trends over time. A purchase order that might seem expensive in February could be perfectly normal by June due to inflation or market changes. The AI accounts for these temporal factors when determining what constitutes an anomaly.
Grouping Intelligence: Rather than analyzing all inventory items together (which would make anomaly detection nearly impossible), the system groups similar items. For example, it compares the cost of “Widget A” from “Vendor X” against historical costs of the same widget from the same vendor.
Severity Classification: Detected anomalies are categorized as:
- Normal: Everything looks fine
- Medium: Worth reviewing but not necessarily concerning
- Significant: Requires immediate attention
Practical Example: Purchase Order Cost Analysis
Imagine your system detects that a recent purchase order for widgets shows a unit cost of $35, while historical data shows this item typically costs around $40 from the same vendor. The anomaly detection flags this as unusual—but in a good way. Investigation reveals the vendor offered a temporary discount, which you can note in the system to prevent future false alerts.
Review and Learning Process
When anomalies are detected, users can:
- Review and Accept: Mark the anomaly as reviewed if it’s explainable (like the discount example above)
- Add Comments: Document why the anomaly occurred for future reference
- System Learning: The AI incorporates your feedback to improve future detection accuracy
Implementation Requirements
Data History: Anomaly detection requires sufficient historical data to establish patterns. If you’re new to Acumatica, you’ll need to build up transaction history before the AI can effectively identify what’s “normal” for your business.
Feature Activation: These are currently considered experimental features and must be enabled in the system’s feature management area. Depending on your Acumatica edition and licensing, you may need assistance activating these capabilities.
Processing Schedule: While you can run anomaly detection on-demand for testing, real-world implementations typically schedule analysis daily, weekly, or monthly, with dashboard notifications alerting users to significant findings.
Getting Started with Acumatica ERP AI Features
The beauty of Acumatica’s AI implementation lies in its simplicity. These aren’t complex, code-heavy solutions that require months of implementation. Most features can be enabled and configured in minutes, following Acumatica’s “low-code, no-code” philosophy. If you have further questions or need assistance with any of your AI tools, contact our experts at Parallel Solutions and we can show you more.
Next Steps:
- Check Your Edition: Verify which AI features are available in your current Acumatica license
- Enable Experimental Features: Access the feature management area to activate anomaly detection and intelligent text completion
- Start Small: Begin with AP document recognition or expense processing to see immediate value
- Build History: If you’re interested in anomaly detection, ensure you have sufficient historical data
- Train Your Team: Brief users on the new capabilities and how to provide feedback for system improvement
The Competitive Advantage
What sets Acumatica apart in the AI space isn’t just the sophistication of these features—it’s the integrated approach. Rather than requiring expensive third-party AI solutions or complex custom development, these capabilities are built directly into the platform. They understand your data structure, work within your security framework, and improve based on your specific business patterns.
This integrated AI approach delivers immediate value while laying the groundwork for even more powerful capabilities coming in future releases. Your investment in learning and implementing these features today positions your organization to take full advantage of Acumatica’s expanding AI roadmap.
The future of ERP is intelligent, and with Acumatica, that future is available today. Learn more – watch Acumatica’s 9-minute video on their AI strategy.
