FINANCE API IMPLEMENTATION GUIDE
A read-only ERP bill preflight API for NetSuite and QuickBooks workflows
How to validate proposed bill mappings and approval context before a separate connector writes to an ERP.
Put the control before the connector
Once an automation creates a bill, remediation becomes an accounting event. Call the preflight after extraction and validation but before the NetSuite or QuickBooks action. Supply the proposed mapping and approval evidence; let the control service return CLEAR, REVIEW_REQUIRED, or BLOCKED.
Evaluate customer-supplied context
A preflight service does not need ERP credentials to identify obvious routing risks. It can evaluate the normalized invoice, vendor reference, source record ID, existing bill reference, department or account mapping, currency support, and customer-approved status.
- Missing vendor mapping.
- Unsupported currency.
- Existing supplied bill reference.
- Missing customer approval.
- Incomplete source-record linkage.
Do not turn preflight into shadow authorization
The control service should never claim that a vendor or account exists in the ERP unless the caller supplied verified context. CLEAR means the provided evidence passed the published rules. The downstream connector still authenticates to the ERP and applies the customer's permissions, approvals, and posting policy.
Preserve the decision with the write audit
Pass the preflight result ID, decision, and relevant evidence into the downstream workflow log. If the connector writes a bill, record the ERP response beside—not inside—the immutable control result. This makes later review possible without giving AP Control write access.
REPRESENTATIVE CONTRACT
Read-only ERP bill preflight
The values below are synthetic. Use a tenant-scoped key stored as a secret, and evaluate the documented status, decision, evidence, and next action before continuing a workflow.
POST /v1/erp-bill-preflights
Authorization: Bearer apc_...
Content-Type: application/json
{
"erp": "NETSUITE",
"invoice": {
"vendor_name": "Acme",
"invoice_number": "INV-100",
"currency": "USD",
"total": "125.00"
},
"vendor_reference": "vendor-42",
"source_record_id": "intake-100"
}{
"product": "ERP Bill Preflight",
"status": "COMPLETED",
"decision": "CLEAR",
"exceptions": [],
"evidence": {
"erp": "NETSUITE",
"vendor_reference": "vendor-42"
},
"next_action": "Continue only through the authorized ERP workflow."
}IMPLEMENTATION CHECKLIST
Ship the control with its safety boundary intact.
- Run extraction and validation first.
- Supply the proposed ERP mapping explicitly.
- Block known existing bill references.
- Require customer approval evidence.
- Keep ERP credentials out of the control service.
- Record the preflight result beside the connector write audit.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Questions workflow builders ask
Does the preflight connect to NetSuite or QuickBooks?
No. It evaluates customer-supplied mapping and approval context and never receives ERP credentials.
Can a CLEAR response create the bill automatically?
Only the customer's separately authorized connector can create a bill, subject to its own permissions and approval policy.
Why include an existing bill reference?
A supplied existing reference is deterministic evidence that the proposed create path should stop before a second record is written.