What is Item Validation?

Item Validation is a feature that enhances invoice accuracy by comparing each line item to your uploaded item catalog. This system verifies details like item names, vendors, pack sizes, and (for Growth plans) costs, preventing discrepancies from impacting your accounting and inventory. Essentially, it's an automated quality control layer that saves time and minimizes errors.

Why is Item Validation Important?

Ottimate solves a key challenge for hospitality and retail businesses: validating supplier line item information against your own inventory records. While our AP automation boasts over 97% accuracy in capturing line items, predicting specific values like pack sizes on complex invoices can be difficult. Many inventory and business intelligence tools require exact matches, often leading to manual work. Our AI-powered Item Validation ingests your item catalog and accurately matches it to supplier invoices, validating details like Pack Size, SKU, Item Name, Unit of Measure (UoM), and Split Case. This automation significantly improves matching fidelity and export accuracy.

How Does It Work?

1. Catalog Upload: Export your purchased item list from your Inventory Management System (IMS), format it if needed, and upload it to Ottimate.

2. AI-Powered Matching: Our AI/ML auto-mapping tool predicts matches between invoice line items and your catalog.

3. Data Override: If a match is found, the catalog entry supersedes conflicting line item details (Item Name, SKU, Pack size, etc.).

4. Accurate Exports: Upon export, catalog entry fields are prioritized, ensuring a 1:1 match with your existing system entries.
   
   

Ottimate Plan Tiers and Features

We offer two plans with Item Validation:

Starter Plan: 

Ideal for hospitality and foodservice businesses focusing on item structure and consistency.

• Matches items by Name, Vendor, and SKU.

• Verifies pack sizes (split-case and case formats).

• Best for systems like Restaurant365 or Ctuit.

• Exposes line-level variances against “last purchase price”

Growth Plan: 

Designed for grocery and retail businesses requiring deeper cost control. Includes all Starter Plan features, plus:

• Compares catalog costs to invoice prices.

• Highlights price variances.

• Calculates "Sum of Variance" on invoices.

• Enables invoice routing based on thresholds.

• Designed for systems like NCR, LOCSMS.

Key Benefits

• Identify Unmatched Items: Detect unapproved items.

• Prevent Pack Size Errors: Ensure correct pack sizes.

• Control Pricing: Identify and address price discrepancies.

• Automate Data Entry: Auto-apply GL codes and categories.

• Enhance Cost Control: Streamline routing and escalation workflows.

Item Validation Process

1. Catalog Ingestion: Upload your cost file as your item reference.

2. Invoice Validation: Items are validated for Name/SKU, Vendor, Pack Size, and (Growth only) Cost.

3. Variance Flagging (Growth): Pricing differences are flagged and can be routed for approval.

4. Dimension Application: Matched items inherit GL codes, Categories, etc.

Plan Comparison

Getting Started:

To enable Item Validation, contact your Ottimate Customer Success Manager or submit a request to Support@Ottimate.com. We'll assist with catalog setup, validation mode selection, and plan activation. Ensure your cost file has accurate, up-to-date information for best results.

Ottimate’s Item Validation is a powerful feature that ensures the accuracy of your invoices. It works by meticulously checking each line item against your trusted cost file or item catalog. This process verifies critical details such as item name, vendor, pack size, and—for Growth plans—cost, helping you catch discrepancies before they impact your accounting or inventory systems.