Purpose
The Payables Agent turns pay application and invoice packages into draft Payables for you to review. Instead of splitting PDFs, navigating to the right Project and Commitment, keying in line items, and checking the math yourself, you upload a package (or email it to the Project Inbox) and the agent does that work. It splits the package into its individual documents, extracts the data, routes each document to the correct Commitment, assigns budget codes, matches lien waivers to their Payables, and verifies that the line items add up to the invoice total.
Your role shifts from entering data to reviewing the agent's work: you confirm anything the agent flags, resolve anomalies, and approve the drafts.
Key Features
Batch upload and automatic inbox processing: Upload one or more PDF documents at once from the Portfolio level or the Project level. Documents emailed to a Project's Inbox are processed automatically on arrival, with no action required.
Splitting and classification: The agent breaks multi-document PDF packages into their individual documents and classifies each one (for example, pay application, conditional lien waiver, trade partner invoice, or compliance document). Single-document uploads are classified without splitting.
Extraction: For each pay application or invoice, the agent extracts the vendor, invoice number, invoice date, stated total amount, and every line item with its description, cost code (where present), and amount.
Routing: The agent matches each document to the correct Commitment. It uses signals in the document such as job number, project name, address, and vendor name cross-referenced against active Commitments.
Budget code assignment: The agent maps each line item to a Project Budget line item or Commitment Schedule of Values line item using cost codes, descriptions, and historical assignment patterns from prior Payables on the same Project. Line items it cannot match are surfaced for you to assign rather than dropped.
Lien waiver requirement fulfillment: The agent matches each conditional lien waiver to its Payable by vendor and amount, attaches it to the Payable, and marks the requirement fulfilled. The lien waiver amount must match the Payable amount exactly; otherwise the requirement stays unfulfilled and is flagged.
Reconciliation: The agent checks that line items sum exactly to the stated invoice total. If they don't, it retries with alternative extraction or line item splits before assigning a reconciliation status.
Anomaly detection: The agent flags retainage discrepancies, previous billing mismatches, missing requirements, requirement amount mismatches, and probable duplicates before you approve.
Review queue with bulk approval: Every draft appears in a review queue beside its source document. You can accept, edit, or reject each draft in one action.
Target Users
Users who create, review, and approve Payables in Construction Financials — typically owner-side accounting and project finance teams who receive pay application and invoice packages from general contractors, subcontractors, and vendors each billing cycle. The agent is most valuable for teams handling bundled packages (for example, a GC pay application with trade partner pay applications and lien waivers) or high Payable volume across multiple Projects.
How It Works
Step 1: Submit documents
Submit documents in either of these ways:
Upload: Go to Payables > Drafts and click Upload files. You can upload a batch of one or more PDFs; upload packages as they arrive — there is no need to split them first.
Email: Send the package to the Project's Inbox email address. The agent begins processing automatically on receipt.
Each uploaded or emailed file appears in the Draft payables list with its Status, File Name, Source, and Uploaded date.
Step 2: The agent processes the package
The agent runs six phases in sequence:
Phase | What the agent does |
|---|---|
1. Splitting and Classification | Breaks each file into its individual documents and classifies each by type (pay application, conditional lien waiver, trade partner invoice, compliance document). Single-document files skip splitting. |
2. Extraction | Extracts vendor, invoice number, invoice date, stated total amount, and all line items with descriptions, cost codes (where present), and amounts. |
3. Routing | Matches each document to the correct Project and Commitment using job number, project name, address, and vendor name. |
4. Budget Code Assignment | Maps each line item to a Project Budget line item or Commitment Schedule of Values line item using cost codes, descriptions, and historical assignments on the Project. |
5. Payable Requirement Fulfillment | Matches each conditional lien waiver to its Payable by vendor and amount, attaches it to the Packet, and marks the requirement fulfilled. |
6. Reconciliation | Confirms line items sum exactly to the stated total; retries alternative extraction or line splits before marking a draft Unreconciled. |
While a file is processing, it shows a Processing status and a progress view (for example, Checking file, Identifying documents, Extracting data).
If no matching Commitment exists for a committed cost, the agent creates an Expense and maps line items directly to Project Budget line items. Documents identified as uncommitted costs are handled the same way.
Step 3: Review each draft side by side
When processing finishes, the file's status changes to Needs Review. Click Review to open the draft. The source document stays visible on the right while you review the extracted data on the left.
For a pay application, the draft shows:
Header fields: Vendor, Commitment, Application Number, Billing Period
Schedule of Values columns: SOV Line, This Period, Stored Materials, Cumulative Retainage
For an invoice created as an Expense, the draft shows:
Header fields: Vendor, Add to Draw, Invoice Number, Invoice Date
Line item columns: Budget Code, Budget Remaining, Description, Amount
Step 4: Resolve flags
Before approving, review anything the agent has flagged.
Low-confidence matches. Budget code assignments and lien waiver matches with low confidence are visually distinguished and must be confirmed before approval.
Unmatched line items. Line items that couldn't be matched to a Budget or Schedule of Values line are surfaced for manual assignment, along with the amount not yet billed.
Reconciliation status. Each draft carries one of three statuses:
Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
Reconciled | The line items sum exactly to the stated invoice total. |
Unreconciled | A discrepancy of any size remains after the agent's resolution attempts. You must correct it before the draft can be approved. |
Partial Extraction | One or more line items couldn't be extracted with enough confidence. Enter those line items manually. |
Anomalies. The agent flags these conditions in the review queue:
Anomaly | Flagged when |
|---|---|
Retainage discrepancy | Calculated retainage does not match stated retainage. |
Previous billing mismatch | The vendor's stated previous billing does not match Built's records. |
Missing requirement | An outstanding lien waiver requirement has no matching document in the batch. |
Requirement amount mismatch | The lien waiver amount does not match the corresponding pay application amount. |
Probable duplicate | A Payable with the same vendor, invoice number, and amount may already exist. |
Step 5: Approve
Accept, edit, or reject each draft individually, or bulk-approve all Reconciled, high-confidence drafts in a single action. Nothing is committed to the Project until you approve it.
Note:
In this release, the agent fulfills lien waiver requirements only. Other Payable requirement types still need to be fulfilled manually.
Example
An owner's accounting lead receives a single 28-page PDF from their GC, emailed to the Project Inbox. It contains the GC's pay application and lien waiver plus three subcontractor pay applications and their lien waivers. The agent splits the PDF into its documents, routes the GC pay application to the Prime Contract and each subcontractor pay application to its nested Trade Partner Commitment, extracts and codes every line item, attaches each lien waiver, and confirms all four Payables reconcile. The accounting lead is notified that four drafts are ready, confirms the one low-confidence budget code the agent flagged, spot-checks a few lines against the source document, and approves all four.
Benefits
Upload packages as they arrive — no manual PDF splitting or navigating to the right Project and Commitment first.
Line items, budget codes, and lien waiver attachments are prepared for you instead of hand-keyed.
Every draft is checked so line items sum exactly to the invoice total before you see it.
Retainage, previous billing, missing lien waivers, amount mismatches, and likely duplicates are flagged before approval.
Budget code assignments improve using the Project's prior Payable history.
Review happens beside the source document, so you can verify values without switching screens.
Processing time no longer grows one document at a time — review and approve a whole batch together.
Best Practices
Upload or email the full package exactly as you received it. The agent is built to split bundled documents, and keeping lien waivers in the same batch as their pay applications lets them be matched.
Start your review with flagged items — low-confidence matches, unmatched line items, Unreconciled and Partial Extraction drafts, and anomalies.
Spot-check a few high-confidence line items against the source document before bulk approving.
Resolve Unreconciled drafts before approval; they can't be approved until the discrepancy is corrected.
In this release, the agent fulfills lien waiver requirements only. Other Payable requirement types still need to be fulfilled manually.
Policies are optional. Start with the defaults, then add policies for checks your team already performs manually.
FAQ
Do I need to split a bundled package before uploading it?
No. The agent splits multi-document PDFs into their individual documents and classifies each one. Upload or email the package exactly as you received it.
What happens if there is no matching Commitment?
If no matching Commitment exists for a committed cost, the agent creates an Expense and maps the line items directly to Project Budget line items. Documents identified as uncommitted costs are handled the same way.
Why was my lien waiver requirement not marked fulfilled?
The lien waiver amount must match the Payable amount exactly. If the amounts differ, the requirement stays unfulfilled and is flagged for you to resolve.
What is the difference between Unreconciled and Partial Extraction?
Unreconciled means the extracted line items don't sum to the stated invoice total and a discrepancy remains after the agent's resolution attempts. Partial Extraction means one or more line items couldn't be extracted with enough confidence and need to be entered manually.
Does the agent create Payables without my approval?
No. The agent creates drafts only. Nothing is committed to the Project until you approve it.
Do I have to configure policies before using the agent?
No. Policies are optional — the agent uses sensible defaults if none are configured. You can add policies later for checks your team already performs manually.