Continia Document Capture: Automate Your Accounts Payable in Business Central

If your AP team is still manually keying invoices into Business Central, matching them against purchase orders by hand, and chasing colleagues for approvals over email, you already know how fragile and time-consuming that process is. A single mistyped digit can cascade into payment errors, duplicate invoices, or compliance headaches. And the bigger your business grows, the worse it gets.

Continia Document Capture is one of the most mature and widely adopted accounts payable automation solutions built natively for Dynamics 365 Business Central. It is not an external bolt-on or a generic AP tool adapted for ERP — it lives inside Business Central, works with your existing data, and respects your existing workflows. That matters more than most people realize.

What Document Capture Actually Does

At its core, Document Capture takes incoming invoices — whether PDF, XML, or electronic documents — and uses intelligent OCR (optical character recognition) powered by AI to read them, extract the data, and place it into the correct fields in Business Central. No manual data entry. No re-keying. No copying numbers off a PDF into a journal line.

But it goes well beyond simple data extraction. Here is what the platform covers end to end:

Intelligent Data Capture

Document Capture's OCR engine recognizes vendor details, invoice numbers, line items, amounts, tax information, and more. It learns from your corrections over time, getting more accurate with each document processed. The result is a dramatic reduction in manual entry — and the errors that come with it.

Automatic Three-Way Matching

One of the most powerful features is automatic order matching. Document Capture compares incoming invoices against your purchase orders and posted receipts in Business Central, performing three-way matching automatically. If the invoice falls within the variance you allow, it can be approved without any human intervention. That is a huge time saver for teams processing high volumes of purchase invoices.

Approval Workflows

Chasing down colleagues for invoice approvals is one of those invisible productivity killers in AP. Document Capture includes a full approval workflow engine — you define the rules, and the system routes documents to the right people automatically. Approvers can review and approve from anywhere, including on mobile. No more bottlenecks waiting for someone to get back to their desk.

Purchase Contract Management

This is a feature that often gets overlooked but delivers real value. Document Capture lets you manage purchase contracts directly within Business Central, ensuring that you are only invoiced for what you actually purchased. It gives you a clear overview of all your recurring contracts, helps flag discrepancies, and prevents you from paying for unused subscriptions or services.

Secure Document Archive

Every document processed through Document Capture is securely stored, indexed, and preserved — maintaining the integrity of your original files while keeping you compliant. You can track each document's full journey from receipt to final bookkeeping entry, and pull up any historical document in seconds. No more filing cabinets, no more digging through shared drives.

E-Invoicing and Peppol Compliance

For organizations operating in Europe or working with international partners, Document Capture integrates with the Continia Delivery Network and the Peppol eDelivery Network. This means you can receive electronic invoices and credit memos directly into Business Central in full compliance with European and local e-invoicing laws. As e-invoicing mandates continue to expand globally, having this capability built in is increasingly important.

The Numbers Speak for Themselves

Organizations using Document Capture consistently report compelling results:

• 80% faster invoice processing
• Two-thirds reduction in costs associated with manual AP tasks
• 10+ hours saved per week for AP teams
• ROI from day one — the efficiency gains are immediate

These are not theoretical projections. They come from real customers who moved from manual, paper-based processes to automated workflows inside Business Central.

Why It Matters That It Is Built for Business Central

There are plenty of generic AP automation tools on the market. What sets Continia Document Capture apart is that it was built specifically for the Microsoft Dynamics ecosystem. It installs as an extension in Business Central, uses your existing chart of accounts, vendor records, purchase orders, and dimension structures, and integrates natively with Business Central's posting routines and approval systems.

That means:

• No middleware to maintain — data flows directly within Business Central
• No separate login or portal — your AP team works in the environment they already know
• No data synchronization issues — everything lives in one system
• Full audit trail — every action is tracked within Business Central's standard logging

For Business Central customers, this tight integration eliminates an entire category of integration headaches and makes the solution dramatically easier to implement, maintain, and support.

What Tiers Are Available?

Document Capture is offered in a modular structure so you can start with what you need and expand over time:

• Essential — Handles purchase invoices and credit memos as PDF or XML files using intelligent OCR, includes fraud checking, batch processing, the Continia Delivery Network for e-documents, a full document archive, and GDPR compliance features.
• Order Matching — Adds automatic matching of purchase invoices against existing orders, posted receipts, return orders, and posted return shipments.
• Document Approval — Adds a full end-to-end approval workflow with routing rules, delegation, and mobile approval capabilities.
• Purchase Contracts — Adds contract overview and management for recurring vendor agreements.
• Advanced Capture — Adds enhanced AI-powered capture and processing for more complex document scenarios.

This modular approach means you are not paying for features you do not need yet, but you have a clear upgrade path as your AP processes mature.

Is It Right for Your Organization?

If any of these sound familiar, Document Capture is worth a serious look:

• Your AP team spends hours each week on manual data entry
• Invoice approvals regularly stall because the right person is unavailable
• You have had duplicate payments or incorrect postings due to manual errors
• Auditors have flagged gaps in your document retention or approval trails
• You are preparing for e-invoicing mandates in your market
• You want to scale your AP operations without adding headcount

Getting Started

Continia offers a free trial of Document Capture, so you can evaluate the solution in your own Business Central environment before committing. As an EFOQUS service, we can help you assess whether Document Capture is the right fit, plan the implementation, configure it to match your specific AP workflows, and train your team to get the most out of it from day one.

Accounts payable does not have to be a bottleneck. With the right automation in place, it becomes one of the most efficient and well-controlled processes in your organization. That is exactly what Continia Document Capture delivers — and it does it without ever leaving Business Central.