FAQ & Common Errors
General
Q: Does eMessaging work with Business Central on-premises? A: No. eMessaging is designed for Business Central Online (SaaS) only, version 27.x or later. It is installed from AppSource and runs entirely in the cloud, leveraging Microsoft’s E-Document Framework.
Q: Do I need to install anything on my local machine? A: No. eMessaging is a server-side extension. There is nothing to install locally. Users interact with it through the standard Business Central web client or mobile app.
Q: Can I use eMessaging in a sandbox environment? A: Yes. During setup, select Sandbox as the environment type. You can test sending and receiving without affecting production data. The sandbox connects to a separate CentaraIQ test environment.
Q: How do I update eMessaging? A: Updates are delivered through AppSource. Business Central applies extension updates automatically during the regular update cycle. You can also manually check for updates in Extension Management. Updates do not require reconfiguration — your settings, Vendor Posting Setup entries, and approval configurations are preserved.
Q: What is CentaraIQ? A: CentaraIQ is Centara’s document exchange platform. It operates the PEPPOL Access Point and SMP, handles document routing and delivery, provides external attachment storage, and exposes the API that eMessaging communicates with. Centara owns and operates CentaraIQ, so there is no third-party access point dependency.
Q: How do I register on the PEPPOL network? A: When you set up eMessaging and complete the setup wizard, Centara registers your company on the PEPPOL network through the CentaraIQ SMP. Your VAT number becomes your PEPPOL participant identifier. Registration is handled by Centara as part of the onboarding process — you do not need to register separately.
AI extraction
Q: How accurate is the AI extraction for PDF invoices? A: The multi-engine AI pipeline (Mistral OCR, Claude Opus 4.6, Mistral Medium, Azure Document Intelligence) delivers high accuracy across a wide range of invoice formats and languages. Structured, well-formatted invoices typically achieve 95%+ accuracy on header fields and 90%+ on line items. Non-standard layouts, handwritten content, or poor scan quality may result in lower confidence — these documents are flagged for manual review.
Q: Can I train the AI on our specific invoice formats? A: The AI engines are pre-trained on a broad corpus of invoice formats. For frequently received non-standard formats, you can configure Vendor Posting Setup rules that supplement the AI extraction with predetermined mappings. Contact Centara support for custom model training options.
Q: What happens when the AI is not confident about an extraction? A: Documents with low confidence scores are assigned to Review status instead of being auto-processed. You can view the AI extraction details, see confidence scores per field, compare against the original document, and manually correct any errors before processing.
External attachment storage
Q: Where are my document attachments stored? A: When the Attachments module is active, document attachments are uploaded to Centara’s CentaraIQ external storage (AES-256 encrypted, GDPR compliant — supports Azure Storage, Cloudflare R2, and other S3-compatible storage). Business Central stores only metadata (file name, GUID reference). Users access attachments exactly as before — the external storage is fully transparent.
Q: How much database space does external storage save? A: Organizations typically see a 50-80% reduction in database size, translating to $5,000+ per year in Azure SQL cost savings for mid-size deployments. The savings depend on your invoice volume and average attachment size.
Q: Can I access attachments if the CentaraIQ service is temporarily unavailable? A: Attachment metadata is always available in Business Central. If the CentaraIQ API is temporarily unreachable, attachment downloads may fail until connectivity is restored. Transient outages are rare (99.9% SLA) and typically resolved within minutes.
Line-level approvals
Q: What is line-level approval? A: Line-level approval routes each line on an incoming invoice to a different approver based on the line’s G/L account, dimension, or cost centre coding. For example, a single invoice covering marketing, IT, and facilities expenses is automatically split across the three department heads for independent approval. This avoids the bottleneck of routing the entire invoice to one person. See Approval Setup.
Q: What happens if one approver approves their lines but another rejects theirs? A: If any line is rejected, the entire document is returned for correction (since a partial invoice cannot be posted). The rejection reason and comment indicate which lines had issues, allowing the AP clerk to correct and resubmit.
Q: Can I use line-level approval and header-level approval together? A: Yes. You can configure some documents to use line-level approval (based on routing rules) and others to use header-level approval. The routing rules determine which mode applies to each document.
E-commerce integration
Q: Which e-commerce platforms does eMessaging support? A: eMessaging currently supports Shopify and WooCommerce through API integration with CentaraIQ. Orders are imported automatically at configurable intervals and created as Sales Orders in Business Central.
Q: Can e-commerce orders be auto-processed without manual review? A: Yes. If your item mapping (cross-references, SKUs) is complete and the customer mapping is configured, e-commerce orders can be auto-processed into Sales Orders without manual intervention. Orders that cannot be fully mapped are flagged for review.
Receiving
Q: I ran Receive Documents but nothing appeared. A: Check that your certificate is valid, your account is active, and the Receive job queue is not in error. Also verify that your supplier has actually sent the document to your registered PEPPOL endpoint. Use the Test Connection action in Centara Setup to verify connectivity.
Q: A document arrived but has status Error. A: Open the document to see the error details. Common causes include invalid XML structure, missing required fields, or an unrecognized format. Contact your supplier if the document format is incorrect.
Q: Can I receive documents from suppliers not on PEPPOL? A: Yes. eMessaging receives documents via EDI (EDIFACT, X12, BASDA), XML/JSON API, PDF/email, and scanned paper — not just PEPPOL. For suppliers using other networks, configure the appropriate channel in CentaraIQ. For suppliers who can only send PDF invoices, use the email-to-inbox or portal upload feature with AI extraction.
Q: How does eMessaging identify which vendor an incoming invoice belongs to? A: eMessaging looks up the sender’s VAT number on your vendor cards. If a match is found, the vendor is assigned automatically. If no match is found and Create Vendor if Missing is enabled, a new vendor card is created. Otherwise, the document goes to Review for manual vendor assignment.
Sending
Q: My document shows status Failed after sending. A: Check the error message on the posted document. Common causes include an invalid or unregistered recipient VAT number, an expired certificate, or a network timeout. Fix the issue and resend from the posted document. See Preview & Resend.
Q: Can I send documents in formats other than PEPPOL BIS 3.0? A: eMessaging supports multiple formats including EDIFACT and legacy BII. Set the desired format in the Document Sending Profile. However, PEPPOL BIS 3.0 is recommended as the primary standard and is the default for all new configurations.
Q: How do I know if my customer received the document? A: A status of Sent means the document was successfully delivered to the recipient’s PEPPOL Access Point, confirmed by a delivery receipt (MDN). This confirms delivery to the Access Point but does not guarantee the recipient has processed it on their end. Some Access Points support an Acknowledged status that confirms the recipient’s system has processed the document.
Q: Can I send purchase orders electronically? A: Yes. eMessaging sends Purchase Orders automatically when they are released (if Auto-Send PO on Release is enabled). The PO is delivered as PEPPOL BIS 3.0 to your supplier’s Access Point.
Approvals
Q: I cannot approve a document I processed. Why? A: If the four-eyes principle is enabled, the person who processed a document cannot approve it. This is by design — another approver must handle it.
Q: A document is stuck in Pending Approval but the approver is on vacation. A: If the approver has a substitute configured in Approval Users, the request should automatically route to the substitute. If no substitute is set, the Approval Administrator can manually reassign the approval.
Q: Can I approve documents from my phone? A: Yes. You can approve documents from the Business Central mobile app (iOS, Android), the BC web client on a mobile browser, or via email approval links (if configured). The mobile experience shows the same document details, line items, and comments as the desktop client.
Job queues
Q: My job queue is in Error status. A: Open the job queue entry and check the Job Queue Log Entries for the error details. Common issues include certificate expiration, network connectivity, or permission errors. Fix the issue and set the status back to Ready.
Q: How often should job queues run? A: For most organizations, every 15 minutes is sufficient. High-volume environments may benefit from 5-minute intervals. See Automation for recommendations. Event-triggered actions (auto-send on post) provide immediate processing regardless of job queue intervals.
Q: The job queue stopped running after a Business Central update. A: Business Central updates can occasionally reset job queue entries. Check Job Queue Entries and verify that all Centara entries have status Ready. Re-enable any that were disabled.
Error reference
| Error code / message | Cause | Resolution |
|---|---|---|
| Certificate expired | Your mTLS certificate has expired | Upload a new certificate in General Setup |
| Recipient not found on PEPPOL | The customer’s VAT number is not registered on the PEPPOL network | Verify the VAT number and confirm the customer is a PEPPOL participant |
| Invalid XML structure | The incoming document has invalid XML | Contact the supplier to resend a corrected document |
| Missing mandatory field | A required field is missing from the document | Check which field is missing in the error details; contact the supplier |
| Duplicate document number | An invoice with the same external document number exists for this vendor | Verify whether this is a genuine duplicate or a resend |
| VAT Posting Setup missing | The VAT business/product group combination is not configured | Add the missing combination in VAT Posting Setup |
| Posting date in closed period | The document date falls in a closed accounting period | Adjust the posting date or reopen the period |
| Connection timeout | The CentaraIQ API did not respond in time | Retry; if persistent, check your network or contact Centara support |
| Permission denied | The user running the job queue lacks required permissions | Assign the Centara Documents role to the job queue user |
| AI extraction failed | The AI pipeline could not extract data from the PDF | Check the PDF quality; try uploading a higher-resolution scan |
| Attachment upload failed | External storage upload to CentaraIQ failed | Check connectivity; retry posting |
| Vendor Posting Setup not found | No Vendor Posting Setup entry exists for this vendor/item/cost combination | Create a Vendor Posting Setup entry. See Posting Setup. |
| Line split percentages invalid | Line split percentages do not total 100% | Correct the split configuration in Vendor Posting Setup |
| Recipient Access Point rejected | The recipient’s Access Point refused the document | Contact the recipient to verify their PEPPOL configuration |