Posting Documents
Posting is the final step in the purchase document flow. Once a document is approved (or if approvals are not required), it is posted as a Purchase Invoice or Purchase Credit Memo in Business Central. During posting, eMessaging also handles external attachment storage, reducing your database size by 50-80%.
Post a document
- Open the document in the Centara Document Inbox with status Approved (or Matched/New if approvals are not enabled).
- Select Post.
- Business Central creates the Purchase Invoice or Purchase Credit Memo and posts it to the general ledger.
- The document status in the inbox changes to Posted.
Auto-posting
eMessaging offers two auto-posting triggers:
Auto-post on approval
When Auto-Post on Approval is enabled in Approval Setup, documents are posted automatically as soon as the final approval is granted. No manual action is needed.
This is the recommended configuration for organizations that want a fully hands-off workflow from receipt to posting.
Auto-post per vendor
If you have configured Auto-Post on a specific Vendor Posting Setup entry, documents from that vendor are posted automatically after approval, regardless of the global auto-post setting. This allows you to auto-post invoices from trusted, high-volume vendors while maintaining manual posting for others.
The Process job queue handles auto-posting. Ensure it is running — see Automation.
What happens during posting
When a document is posted, eMessaging applies the following in order:
- Vendor Posting Setup — the smart routing engine applies G/L account, posting groups, dimensions, line splits, and description templates based on the Vendor + Item Sellers ID + Accounting Cost key. See Posting Setup.
- GL account mapping — if specific line mappings exist (legacy), they override defaults for those lines.
- Purchase order — if the document is matched to a PO, the PO’s lines, receipt information, and coding are used.
- Posting groups — VAT and general posting groups are validated against Business Central’s posting setup.
- Dimensions — default dimensions from the vendor card, Vendor Posting Setup, and G/L account are combined according to BC’s dimension priority rules.
- Line splitting — if percentage-based splits are configured, single lines are expanded into multiple purchase invoice lines.
- Document attachments — attachments are uploaded to external storage (see below).
External attachment storage
The Attachments module intercepts Business Central’s standard document attachment events during and after posting. When a document is posted:
- Any attachments on the purchase invoice (the original PDF, PEPPOL XML, supporting documents) are uploaded to the CentaraIQ external storage API.
- Each attachment is stored as a Base64-encoded file with a unique GUID reference.
- Business Central stores only the metadata (file name, GUID, timestamp) — not the file content.
- Users see and access attachments exactly as before — the external storage is fully transparent.
Database size impact
| Scenario | Without external storage | With external storage | Savings |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10,000 invoices/year, avg 200KB attachment | ~2 GB/year | ~50 MB/year (metadata only) | ~97% |
| 5,000 invoices/year with multi-page PDF scans (avg 1MB) | ~5 GB/year | ~25 MB/year | ~99% |
For a typical mid-size organization, this translates to a 50-80% reduction in overall database size, saving $5,000+ per year in Azure SQL hosting costs.
Attachment security
- Attachments are encrypted at rest (AES-256) and in transit (TLS 1.3)
- Access is controlled through the same BC permission model — users need the Centara Documents role
- Attachments stored externally — supports Azure Storage, Cloudflare R2, and S3-compatible providers. GDPR compliant
- Retention policies can be configured in CentaraIQ
Review posted documents
After posting, you can find the created documents in the usual Business Central pages:
- Posted Purchase Invoices — for posted invoices
- Posted Purchase Credit Memos — for posted credit memos
The posted document includes:
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Electronic Document Reference | Link back to the original electronic document in the Document Inbox |
| Original Document Format | Whether the source was PEPPOL, EDI, PDF, etc. |
| AI Extraction Confidence | For PDF/scan documents, the overall confidence score of the extraction |
| Attachment Storage | Indicates whether attachments are stored externally |
| Approval History | Full approval chain with timestamps, approvers, and comments |
Posting errors
If posting fails, the document stays in the inbox with status Error. Common causes:
| Error | Cause | Resolution |
|---|---|---|
| Missing G/L Account | No Vendor Posting Setup entry and no default G/L account | Set up a Vendor Posting Setup entry or GL mapping. See Posting Setup. |
| VAT Posting Setup missing | The combination of VAT business and product posting groups is not configured | Add the missing combination in VAT Posting Setup |
| Dimension error | A required dimension is missing or an invalid value is used | Check the dimension setup on the vendor card and Vendor Posting Setup entry |
| Posting date closed | The document date falls in a closed accounting period | Adjust the posting date or open the period |
| Duplicate document | An invoice with the same external document number already exists for this vendor | Check if this is a genuine duplicate or a resend |
| Line split error | Percentage-based line splits do not total 100% | Correct the split configuration in Vendor Posting Setup |
| Attachment upload failed | External storage upload failed (network, auth) | Retry posting; check CentaraIQ connectivity |
To retry after fixing the issue:
- Open the document in the inbox.
- Review and correct the error.
- Select Post again.
Related pages
- Posting Setup — configure Vendor Posting Setup and posting rules
- Approval Setup — auto-post on approval configuration
- Purchase Documents Overview — the full purchase document flow