Product updates in version 23.0 – major release

In this new version of the Bankfeed app, we are introducing an improved and streamlined recognition process and are adding a new advanced recognition engine.

Here is an overview of the changes that were made:

• Recognition is now processed in the Journal lines, not Statement lines, as before
• The Journal FactBox is enriched with recognition data
• The user can choose from two recognition results
• The user can refresh the recognition process directly in the Journal
• Recognition results improve every time recognition is run

Recognition is processed in the Journal Lines

In the previous Bankfeed versions, the summarized flow of the Bankfeed recognition process was as follows:

In this Bankfeed release, the flow of the Bankfeed recognition process changed to:

From now on, the recognition is run in the Journal when the lines are created. A new column, Recognition Progress (Bankfeed), informs you about the recognition status of each line. Once the recognition process is complete, the Journal line information is updated.

Typically, Bankfeed recognition is completed within a few seconds. However, the Advanced Recognition Engine may take longer, so the final results might not be immediately visible when the lines are created in the Journal. To update the Recognition Progress status for these lines, click F5 or refresh the page.

Enriching the Journal FactBox with recognition data

The Journal now features a new FactBox called “Recognition Results (Bankfeed)”. It provides Bankfeed users with information about the recognition results. The content in this FactBox is dynamic and shifts from one line to another. The information found there is as follows:

• Recognition Results display what was identified by both the Bankfeed recognizer and the new Advanced Recognition Engine. The Account type, Account No. and Name describes the result. If the recognition is successful, there may be one or two results; if it is unsuccessful, there may be none.

Here is an example of a successful recognition with two results:

Here is an example of a partly successful recognition with one result:

Here is an example of an unsuccessful recognition with no results:

• Recognition type. The Journal lines in the previous Bankfeed version had a column “Account Recognition type”. Now the information from that column is moved to the FactBox “Recognition Results (Bankfeed)”. For the recognitions made by the Bankfeed recognizer you will see the results with usual recognition types (Text-to-Account mapping, Customer by Recognized Document, etc.). For the recognitions made by the Advanced Recognition Engine the recognition type will not be specified (Source -Not specified).

Moreover, you can click on the recognition type text line, and the associated information will open:

• Recognition Score. Next to the recognition type, you will see a confidence score. The highest value is 1.0, indicating a high confidence level in the result. If the score is close to 1.0, it is recommended to trust the result. A confidence score of 0.5 indicates that the transaction was recognized, but the result is not recommended; in this case, you should verify the result.

• Recognized Documents. In the previous Bankfeed versions, the recognized documents were displayed in the “Recognized Documents (Bankfeed)” FactBox. This additional FactBox has been removed, and now the document numbers can be found in a single FactBox called “Recognition Results (Bankfeed)“. The Bankfeed recognizer and the Advanced Recognition Engine may identify different document numbers – they will be shown in the FactBox below the information provided by each recognizer.

Option to select from the Recognition Results

When two different recognition results exist for the same transaction line, the user can choose between them. By default, Bankfeed assigns the result with the higher recognition score, which will be displayed first.

Choosing another recognition result will also update the information in the line (Account Type, Account No, Application).

Refreshing the recognition in the Journal Lines

In the previous Bankfeed versions, the Statement lines had a function “Refresh Recognition (Bankfeed),” which repeated the recognition. However, this function is no longer valid when the recognition process has changed and is now processed in the Journal.

If you want to repeat the recognition in the Journal lines, use the new function “Refresh Recognition (Bankfeed).” Only the selected and not “Manually Changed” lines will be updated.

We are introducing a new setup table for recognition type management to enhance Bankfeed recognition’s flexibility and accommodate our customers’ diverse needs.

On this setup page, you can:

• Disable any of the recognition types
• Change the order in which the recognition is processed
• Adjust the confidence scores for different recognition results
• Disable the document application
• Enable the option to skip posting the recognized results

IMPORTANT. We strongly do not recommend changing this setup without consulting the Bankfeed specialists at support@bankfeed.com.

Due to the changes in the Bankfeed processes, the old function “Process Statement batches (Bankfeed)” has been changed to “Process Accounts (Bankfeed).”

In the new function request page, only two options are left:

• Get Bank Transactions – enables getting new transactions and parsing
• Create Journal Lines – enables parsing and filling Journal lines

Also, filters for Bank Account No. or Provider can be used.

Furthermore, the function manages tests for connected Accounts and Connections, as well as refreshes them.

The functionality for automatic posting has been removed, and a new function with enhanced capabilities has been created.

If you want to automatically post Journals with Bankfeed, you can achieve this with the new function “Post Journal Batches (Bankfeed).”  This function can be scheduled on Job queue entries and can post predefined Journal batches.

When setting up the automatic posting, you can filter the Journal batches you want to post automatically (WARNING: if no filter is applied, all Journal batches will be posted).

Also, select whether you want to post Only Recognized (Journal lines that are partially or fully recognized) and/or Only Fully Applied (Journal lines that are fully recognized and applied) lines.

In the previous versions of the Bankfeed app, the Statement lines had a “Skip Posting” feature. This feature allowed users to move unposted Statement lines to the Posted Statement lines without actually posting them. However, we found that this function was not always user-friendly since customers often encountered repeated transactions, and doing it manually is not a good option as it can be time-consuming.

In this release, we have introduced a setup that allows users to define which repeated transactions should be automatically transferred to the Posted Statement lines, without requiring extra manual steps. Additionally, the lines marked as “Skip Posting” can now be viewed in the Journal or automatically transferred to the Posted Statement lines.

This updated functionality consists of two parts: a setup that designates which lines should be marked as “Skip Posting,” and a setup that specifies what actions should be taken with those marked lines afterward.

A setup defining Journal lines as “Skip Posting”

Two new setups enable skipping transactions:

• Suppose you want to skip transactions consistently recognized by one of the Account Recognition Types. In that case, you can use the new setup called “Recognition Config,” which can be found on the “Integration Setup (Bankfeed)” page.

On this page, you can choose Account Recognition Types and select “Skip Posting,” choosing what must be skipped: Customer, Vendor, Both, or Customer recognitions.

One of the examples using this setup could be that the user wants to skip all vendor payments. Select all Account Recognition Types that can recognize Vendors and mark them “Skip Posting”-> “Vendor.”

• On the other hand, if you want to skip transactions containing repeated texts, use “Text-to-Account Mapping (Bankfeed)”.
  First, open “Integration Setup (Bankfeed)” – > “Recognition Config”. In the “Text to Account Mapping” line, column “Skip Posting” select “Custom”.

Then open the “Text-to-Account Mapping (Bankfeed)” page, enter the Mapping Text, and check the column “Skip Posting”.

One example of using this setup is when we want to skip transactions with certain words. For example, “Salary” payments should always be skipped, as we do not want anybody to see them.

A setup for the processing of “Skip posting” lines

In the first part of the setup, Journal lines were marked as “Skip Posting.” In this next stage, we will decide how to process these lines.

There are two options for handling Journal lines marked as “Skip Posting”:

• They can be automatically transferred to the Posted Statement Lines.

This is enabled in the “Integration setup (Bankfeed)” by selecting “Auto Move Skipped To Posted”.

When this setup is on, in the Journal, you will not see the lines with “Skipped Posting,” as they will be transferred automatically.

• They can be displayed in the Journal and then moved to the Posted Statement Lines using a function.
  All Journal lines, which are marked as “Skipped Posting” can be moved to Posted Statement lines by using a function “Move Skipped Lines (Bankfeed)”.

Running the function will move all Journal lines with “Skipped Posting” to “Posted Statement lines (Bankfeed)”.

As we expanded our partnership with various Payment Service Providers (later Providers), we updated the Assisted Setup for connecting bank accounts to ensure a consistent experience across all providers and banks. The new Assisted Setup is now called “Get Started with Bankfeed,” and it can be easily found in the Setup List and Search.

First, we removed the option to “Skip Vendor Payments” from the Integration Setup, as this setup is no longer valid.

Going further to the Connection part, connecting to the bank starts with choosing the bank you want to connect with from the Bank Institution List.

Change the Country/Region Code if needed, select “Get Transactions” (do not select “Initiate Single Payments” and “Initiate Bulk payments” as they are still in progress), and enter the Bank name in the “Name filter” field. You will have the option to choose from the Providers who support this bank.

Choosing the provider (Default or Plaid) will lead to different authentication for the provider’s account processes. Default is mostly used for the EU and UK banks, and Plaid is used for US and CA banks.

Connecting to the Default provider for the first time

When connecting to the Default provider for the first time, you will need to create your signing-in account and your organization. Later, when you have done this, you will skip all these steps automatically and go directly to the connection to the bank process.

For creating your signing-in account, select “Do you have an account?” -> “No (I want to register a new account).

*If you already have an account but haven’t connected to it in this BC environment, choose one of these: “Yes (I will provide the login credentials)” or “Yes (I will provide the API key”) and provide the following information. 

Create an Account by providing your “E-Mail” and “Password.” Also, enter “First Name” and “Last Name” and proceed to the next step.

In this step, create an “Organization” by pressing “Click here to create a new organization…”.

Provide company information (by default, it’s filled out from the Company information) page.

Click Next.

Click Next and go through the connection to the bank process as usual.

At the end of the Assisted Setup, link Connected Bank accounts to Business Central Bank Account cards.

Connecting bank accounts via the Plaid provider

The Plaid provider is mainly used to connect US and CA banks. This provider does not require users to create an account, so the connection to the bank will be the same each time.

So, if on the first page of the Assisted Setup, we have chosen the bank which Plaid provides, the connection process will be as follows:

Select the “Environment”, “Country Code” and “Start Date” from which the bank transactions should be uploaded.

Click on “PLAID Link account”.

Select your bank from the list:

Go through the authentication process in the bank, and when it’s finished, click Next.

Link the Connected Bank Accounts to Business Central Bank Account cards.

To meet the needs of our US customers, we added the ability to assign multiple connected bank accounts to a single Business Central Bank Account card.

Connected Bank Accounts with different currency codes cannot be linked to the same Business Central Bank Account card. Additionally, we do not recommend linking multiple accounts if Bankfeed transactions already exist for them.

In this Bankfeed version, all connected bank accounts are shown on the Accounts (Bankfeed) page, which can be opened by clicking Connected Bank Accounts on the main role center page or in the Setup List.

This “Accounts (Bankfeed)” page has been updated with new functions and columns.

Functions:

• Connect Accounts – quick access to the Assisted Setup for account connection
• Refresh Accounts – use this function to check the “Connection status” and refresh the account balance. It will run the function “Process Accounts”
• Reconnect Account – use this function if your bank connection has expired and you want to reconnect the account. It will fill in the selections you made by previously connecting the bank account
• Disconnect Account – use it to disconnect the bank account

New columns in Accounts (Bankfeed):

• Connection Status – shows the status of the connected bank account. It can be Connected, Offline (disconnected, broken, or an error), or Disconnected (only the ones which the user disconnects). This status is updated with the function “Refresh Accounts” or while running “Process Accounts (Bankfeed)”
• Last Update Date-Time – the last time the connected bank account was updated and refreshed
• Creation Date-Time – indicates when the account was connected
• Expiration Date-Time – shows the expiration date of the connected bank account. Not all providers have this information

We updated the Setup List for clearer understanding. The Setup List is also accessible through Search.

If you use the standard Business Central Customer/Vendor application method, “Apply to Oldest,” this new setup will ignore the bank feed recognitions and skip applications to identified documents to maintain the standard application method.

Bankfeed users sometimes need to check the primary transaction information, and for this, they open Statement Lines (Bankfeed). To streamline this process, we have introduced a shortcut that allows users to easily access Statement Lines related to the Journal Line. This enhancement not only simplifies access to the essential information but also improves the layout, making it easier to find what you need.

As requested by customers, this Bankfeed version allows you to see Bankfeed activities in the main role center for the Accountant profile as well as for other profiles.

By default, it is added to these profiles:

• Accountant
• Accounts Receivable Administrator
• Business Manager
• Business Manager Evaluation

It may be included in these profiles by using personalization:

• Sales and Relationship Manager
• Sales Order Processor
• Team member

Users who do not have permission to the Bankfeed app will not be able to see items related to Bankfeed (Data cues, Action cues, Navigation bar, Navigation menu) in their Business Central user interface.

In Search, they won’t be able to find related items by entering “Bankfeed”, except “Get Started with Bankfeed”.