Purchase Order Matching with the Business Central Payables Agent
The Payables Agent in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central has been quietly evolving — and version 27.3 brings a game-changing update. When the agent first launched in fall 2025 in North America, it handled basic service invoices with GL line mapping reasonably well. But for companies processing hundreds or thousands of purchase lines a month tied to physical goods, it fell short. That changes now.
In this video, Jason Chance, Senior Developer at LIDD Consultants, walks through the updated Payables Agent, focusing on the newly added three-way matching and PO matching capabilities that make it far more relevant for real-world manufacturing and distribution clients.
Key Takeaways
- Three-way matching is now supported: Version 27.3 of Business Central introduces PO matching and three-way matching to the Payables Agent, making it viable for clients who process large volumes of product-based purchase invoices.
- Setup is simple: The Payables Agent is configured via a gear icon and works by monitoring a dedicated mailbox, reading incoming emails and PDF attachments, and processing them for payables automatically.
- Email review control: Users can review incoming emails before the agent processes them, allowing teams to selectively stop certain emails from being handled by the agent while continuing to monitor the mailbox for new ones.
- Draft purchase documents as an interim step: When the agent processes an invoice, it creates a draft purchase document first, not a purchase invoice, allowing for review before finalizing.
- Historical data mapping has limitations: Additional field mapping (e.g., project numbers, job task numbers) using historical data was tested but did not produce reliable results, and is something to continue monitoring in future releases.
