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Deep Dive: Validation Framework

Introduction​

Zudello's Validation Framework is a crucial component for ensuring data integrity, enforcing business rules, and maintaining compliance throughout the document lifecycle. It automatically checks documents against predefined rules and flags potential issues, guiding users towards accurate and complete data entry before documents proceed to approval or integration.

Understanding how validations are triggered, configured, and resolved is key to streamlining workflows and preventing errors downstream.

Validation Levels and Their Impact​

Zudello categorizes validation issues into three levels, each with a distinct impact on document processing:

  1. Error (Red Icon/Banner):
    • Meaning: A critical rule violation or missing mandatory data.
    • Impact: Blocks critical actions like Save and Submit or Approve. The issue must be resolved before the document can proceed.
    • Examples: Unbalanced totals (Validate purchase total), missing required notes (Validate document notes), failed ABN check (if configured to block), attempting to add a new supplier when disallowed (Validate no new Contact).
  2. Warning (Yellow/Orange Icon/Banner):
    • Meaning: Potential issue, deviation from policy, or data inconsistency that requires review but isn't critical enough to halt processing.
    • Impact: Does not block processing, but serves as a caution to the user.
    • Examples: Minor rounding difference in tax (Validate document tax with tolerance), bank details mismatch (Check Contact Bank Details), inactive ABN (Check Contact ABN), budget exceeded (if configured as warning).
  3. Info (Blue/Grey Icon/Banner or Text):
    • Meaning: Informational message confirming a check or providing context.
    • Impact: No impact on processing.
    • Examples: Successful ABN validation, confirmation of applied defaults.

See also: Understanding Validation Levels

How Validations are Triggered​

Validation rules are typically evaluated at specific points in the document lifecycle:

  1. On Save/Update: When a user manually saves or updates a document, the system re-evaluates relevant validation rules based on the current data.
  2. After Enrichment: Following the automatic Enrichment process (after extraction or "Apply Trained Rules"), validation rules are run to check the newly linked and calculated data.
  3. Before Submit/Approve: The system performs a final check for any Error level validations before allowing a user to submit or approve a document.

Sources and Configuration of Validation Rules​

Validation rules primarily originate from Document Type Extensions. These are configurable add-ons applied to specific document types (Forms) in Settings > Document Types.

Common Validation Extensions include:

  • Field-Based Validations:
    • Validate document notes: Ensures the notes field is not empty. (Configure)
    • Assignees add on: Ensures a minimum number of users are assigned. (Configure)
    • Validate no new line Items: Prevents adding lines not linked to existing Items. (Configure)
    • Validate no new Contact: Prevents processing if the Supplier/Customer isn't linked to an existing record. (Configure)
  • Calculation Validations:
    • Validate purchase total: Checks if header total matches extracted total (within tolerance).
    • Validate document tax: Checks if header tax matches extracted tax (within tolerance).
    • Validate sum by lines total: Checks if header total matches the sum of line total values.
  • External/Compliance Checks:
    • Check Contact ABN: Validates the linked Supplier's ABN against the ABR. (Configure)
    • Check Contact Bank Details: Compares bank details on the document with the linked Supplier's record. (Configure)
  • Business Rule Validations:
    • Block processing with Item price above blocking level: Prevents processing if an item's price exceeds a configured limit. (Configure)

Administrators enable and configure these extensions on the Extensions tab when editing a Document Type. Some extensions may have specific settings (e.g., minimum assignees, tolerance levels).

While Form Settings (like marking a field as "Required") also enforce data presence, the dedicated Validation Extensions often provide more complex logic and clearer user feedback through the Issues panel.

Sentences typically react to validation outcomes (e.g., Validation Level | Equals | ERROR) rather than defining the validation rules themselves.

Reviewing and Resolving Validation Issues​

Users interact with validation results through several UI elements:

  1. Banners: Prominent banners appear at the top for Errors and Warnings.
  2. Field Icons: Icons next to specific fields indicate issues related to that field (hover for details).
  3. Issues Column/Icon: In list/table views, an "Issues" column or icon summarizes the highest severity level (Error > Warning > Info). Clicking it opens the Issues pop-up.
  4. Issues Pop-up: Provides a detailed, categorized list of all active validation issues for the document.

Resolution Process:

  1. Identify the issue(s) using the indicators above, prioritizing Errors.
  2. Read the description to understand the cause.
  3. Locate the relevant field(s) or data point(s) on the document.
  4. Make the necessary corrections (e.g., fill missing fields, correct totals, link required records, add notes).
  5. Save the document to trigger re-validation.
  6. Verify the issue is resolved in the Issues pop-up.
  7. Retry the blocked action (Submit/Approve) if applicable.

See also:

Interaction with Enrichment and Automation​

Validation interacts closely with other core Zudello processes:

  • Enrichment: The Enrichment engine automatically links records (Suppliers, Items) and applies default coding. This process can trigger validation failures if, for example, a linked Supplier has an invalid ABN or default coding creates an invalid combination according to Data Dependencies. Conversely, successful enrichment might resolve a validation issue (e.g., linking a Supplier resolves a "Validate no new Contact" error).
  • Automation (Sentences): Sentences often use the outcome of validation as a condition.
    • A common pattern is to check Validation Level | Does not equal | ERROR before proceeding with an approval or integration step.
    • Sentences can also check for specific validation failures using Check Validation | Equals | [Validation Rule Name] to trigger specific workflows (e.g., route to compliance team if ABN validation fails).
    • The "Save & Refresh" Sentence action can be used to save automated changes (e.g., setting a default field) and then re-run validations to see if the change resolved an error before deciding the next step.

The Validation Framework acts as a critical gatekeeper, ensuring data quality and compliance before documents move through automated workflows or approvals, ultimately leading to more reliable data and streamlined processes.