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Vendor mapping

In short​

Vendor Mapping links a merchant name - identified by SmartExtract on a receipt - to a vendor card in Business Central. Once a merchant is mapped, expense spend with that merchant is attributed to the vendor, even though the cost came in through an employee expense claim rather than a purchase invoice.

Why it matters​

Expenses incurred through employee claims are normally invisible in vendor statistics - the spend sits on G/L accounts, not against any vendor. Mapping merchants to vendors closes that gap and gives finance a complete picture of spend per vendor: purchase invoices and employee-expensed purchases in one place. That visibility supports supplier negotiation, spend analysis, and consolidated supplier management.

How it works​

You confirm or set the mapping on the expense record during review before posting. When the mapped expense is posted, the amount is reflected on the vendor as a purchase, so vendor statistics and reporting include expense-based spend.

Vendor spend

Mapping does not create an open payable on the vendor. When a mapped expense is posted, TEM first creates a vendor entry of type Purchase, balanced against a temporary interim account specified in TEM setup. It then posts a second vendor entry with the opposite sign that applies to - and so settles - the first entry, returning the amount to the interim account. The net effect: the amount appears as a purchase in the vendor's statistics, but the two entries are fully applied, so the vendor carries no outstanding balance from the expense.

Viewing and removing mappings​

A merchant only needs mapping once; the link is reused for future expenses from the same merchant. Search Business Central for Merchants to open the Merchants (TEM) list - every merchant SmartExtract has identified, with the Vendor it is mapped to. From here you can review a merchant's mapping, point it at a different vendor, or delete the merchant to remove the mapping.

A merchant only needs mapping once bordered