Here at My Digital, we are always looking at new and exciting opportunities to make running payroll quick, easy and more efficient. Utilising modern technology and getting ahead in the world of software is what sets us apart from our competitors.
As such, we have kickstarted the process of integrating Artificial Intelligence (AI) into our software so that importing timesheets and raising invoices couldn't be easier. We are using Googles AI; Gemini which we believe to the best for reading and processing data.
To use this AI function within My Digital, head to:
Payroll - Payroll Preparation - Timesheet upload.
On this screen, will see a purple 'Upload using AI' button in the top right corner. This is where the process will differ slightly compared to the normal excel document upload.
Once you click this AI button, another screen will open up allowing you to upload new file types of jpg, png, jpeg, pdf, xlsx, xls, csv.
After you have either 'drag and dropped', or uploaded a file, it will appear in the box on the right. You can upload a maximum of 5 files, up to 2MB each in size.
You can also view 'Recent uploads' by clicking the blue button in the right.
Once you have uploaded all your files, please hit 'upload' in the bottom right
Note: depending on the number and complexity of the file(s), this can take a few minutes. The screen will display the My Digital logo whilst the upload is in progress so please be patient.
Once the file(s) have been read and interpreted, the system will refresh and display the data as below:
Once the data has been extracted, you will see two totals in the top left of the screen.
Grid Total = a system generate total by calculating the Units x Rate
Extracted Total = pulled from the upload file to easily identify that the extracted data matches the invoice value
If the AI cannot extract a particular column, it will display an N/A
If the total values don't match, or there are columns displaying N/A, you can quickly view the uploaded file by hovering over the PDF icon on the left, and clicking the 'eye' icon for you to quickly identify the correct data from the PDF, to then amend the relevant boxes in the grid:
Another important thing to note is that some documents have data encrypted in the background that we cannot see, and this can cause confusion with the AI when attempting to read the data. If the two totals don't match, or you can see multiple lines displaying N/A, you can hit the 'Retry upload as an Image' button in the bottom right of the screen. This will convert the file into an image which will effectively remove any encrypted data to allow the AI to read the document as you and I see it.
Before progressing, you can still make any amendments to the name, w/e date, description units, rates if required. You can also remove line items by using the red bin icon and add line items by selecting the green 'Add Item' as well as download the extracted data in excel form if you wish.
You can do bulk updates by selecting the tick box next to Name to highlight all lines on the grid, or by selecting multiple individual lines. Once you select at least one line, the option to do a 'Bulk Edit' or 'Bulk Delete' will appear.
If you wish to do a bulk update, another box will appear giving you 5 options to update (you can update one or all of the options provided).
*If you wish to do a bulk update to all lines, you will need make sure you increase the 'items per page' otherwise it will only highlight the section you see on screen
*If you upload a document and it does not read the file correct, please click the 'AI failed to read this file correctly' as this will provide feedback to our Product team so we can continue to work on making this feature the best it can be.
Once happy, please select 'Save and Continue' in the bottom right.
This is when you rejoin the normal 'Timesheet upload' workflow where you will need to select a 'Default Weekending', 'Invoice Date' and agency.
Note: even though the AI feature does not use 'timesheet definitions', you will need to make sure the agency you wish to raise the invoice for, is linked to a definition. This definition must also be set to 'Full' for the 'Select Name Type' and have the 'Sheet Start Row' set to 1. All other mandatory fields are not relevant for the AI so can be set to whatever you wish.
Once you have selected these options, the upload will drop into the 'Timesheet History' as per the normal upload workflow and you can continue with the mapping process and generating the invoice by selecting 'Step 2' in the status box.
You will notice a little purple 'AI' icon in the 'File Name' column so you can identify which uploads were done through the AI function or not.
Note: The AI function is unable to determine the frequency of line items and therefore you will need to check the the correct hours/ days/ units/ expenses have been created correctly upon entering Step 2 of the invoice creation. You can bulk amend frequency when in the 'matched' tab of the upload.