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Automated Processing with Smart Processing

Status: 03.09.2025 • Reading time: ~7 minutes

With the Automatic Processing feature, Smart Processing elevates your document processes in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central to a new level. All steps – from classification to archiving – can be fully automated in the background.

Prerequisites

Before you activate automation, ensure that:

  • The basic configuration of Smart Processing is complete.
  • Your workflows are correctly defined and tested.
  • The integration with Document Central is active if automatic archiving is to take place.

Note

A complete setup of services, workflows, and integrations is required for automation to function smoothly.

Activate Automatic Processing

  1. Open the Inbound List.
  2. Select the action Activate Automatic Processing.
  3. All incoming documents will be automatically moved to the queue.

Monitoring in the Role Center

In the Document Inbound Administrator role center, four Smart Processing tiles are available to display the current status:

Tile Meaning
Queued Documents waiting in the queue for processing.
Processing Documents currently being processed automatically.
Success Documents that have been successfully processed and possibly archived.
Error Documents for which automatic processing has been aborted.

Note

In the Admin Center of Document Inbound, you can find the Inbound Entries tab under Documents in the Processing Queue. There, you can view the current status of the documents, open the documents, and trace the complete logging of the processing steps.

Job Queue for Automation

Automation is controlled by a Job Queue that is automatically set up during installation:

  • Name: Document Inbound - Process Document Bot
  • Task: Processes the documents in the queue in the background.
  • Intervals: Can be flexibly adjusted to your needs.

Best Practice

Choose intervals that match your document volume. Shorter intervals ensure quick response times, while longer intervals relieve system resources.

Flow of the Automated Process

The automated flow corresponds to the manual workflow – just without user intervention:

Step Description
Classification The document is automatically analyzed and assigned to a suitable classification.
Capture Relevant data is automatically extracted from the document.
Draft Creation A draft of the document is created in the background and filled with the recognized data.
Validation Checking the data for completeness and correctness; critical remarks are identified.
Completion The document is marked as processed and – if configured – automatically archived.

Error Handling

If a document cannot be processed automatically:

  • The process is aborted.
  • The document receives the status Error.

  • In the log, you will find detailed error indications, such as:

  • Missing mandatory fields

  • Unrecognized document layouts
  • Validation conflicts

Note

Documents in the Error status must be manually checked and corrected before they can be processed again.

Tracking and Control

All automated steps are logged.

  • Under Success, you can see all successfully processed documents.
  • Under Error, you will find faulty documents along with notes for reprocessing.

Benefits of Automation

  • Time savings: Reduction of manual work steps
  • Reliability: Standardized, repeatable processes
  • Transparency: Complete logs for tracking and audits
  • Flexibility: Customizable intervals and workflows