Your first week
Every clever thing Merchaint does reads a field. If the field does not exist yet — or exists but holds text where a number is expected — everything downstream quietly does nothing.
- A walkthrough video, then the eight steps in dependency order
- Why checking column types is the step people skip and regret
- What to do when a rule you built does nothing
- Why to do one document type first
01 · Video
Feature walkthrough
02 · Why
Why does the order matter?
Every clever thing Merchaint does reads a field. A comparison rule reads a total; a workflow reads a status; a sync reads a supplier. If the field does not exist yet — or exists but holds text where a number is expected — everything downstream quietly does nothing.
So the order below is not a suggestion. It is the dependency order.
03 · How
The eight steps
- Decide what you are processing and set up a schema for it in Schema Studio, so Merchaint knows which fields to read.
- Create the module the records will live in, and connect the schema so the columns get built.
- Check the column types. A total must be a number, a date must be a date. This is the step people skip and regret — see Columns and data types.
- Bring in your own lists — suppliers, cost centres, product codes — so documents can be matched to things you recognise.
- Set up matching, so invoices find their purchase orders.
- Set up statuses, so you can tell at a glance what is settled and what is not.
- Add workflows once the data is trustworthy — flags, approvals, notifications. See What workflows are.
- Connect your accounting system last, when what you would send is already correct. See What Integrations do.
04 · Expected result
By the end of a week a document should be able to arrive, be read, become a record, find its counterpart, and stop only if something genuinely disagrees.
05 · Troubleshooting
A rule I built does nothing
Almost always step 3. Check the field it reads exists and is the right type.
Matching finds nothing
Your own lists (step 4) are probably not in yet, so there is nothing to match against — see What Smart Recognition does.
I connected the accounting system first and it went badly
That is step 8 for a reason — what goes out is only as good as the mapping, and the mapping needs real columns to point at.
06 · Notes
Do one document type first
Get invoices working end to end before adding purchase orders. Everything you learn transfers, and the second one takes a fraction of the time.
Invite people when there is something to see
A colleague invited on day one lands in an empty workspace. See Invite your team.
07 · FAQ
Common questions
A single document type, with clean data, is a couple of days. The setting-up is quick; agreeing what "matched" means for your business is what takes the time.
Yes — this is what onboarding is for. The order above is the same one they follow.
You can change it. Expect to revisit the columns it built, which is why step 3 is worth doing properly the first time.