How does 3-way matching work?

3-way matching covers the link between supply order, delivery and invoicing.
The purpose of 3WM is to let you see per line on your supply order how much was ordered, delivered and invoiced.

3-way matching (3WM) in Robaws relates to 2 modules: supply orders and incoming invoices.

Navigate quickly to:

• columns on the supply order
• conditions for 3WM
• method 1 (simple)
• method 2 (comparing item lines)
• method 3 (creating the incoming invoice yourself)
• credit notes

Supply order: the preparation

When you create a supply order, you indicate per item in the 'Quantity' column how many units you want to order.
When you receive the goods, the delivered quantity can be entered in the 'Received' column in 2 ways:

• either via a stock change (if you use stock management)
• or via a manual change (if you do not use stock management)

Next to it there is a new 'Invoiced' column. This is the link with the incoming invoice: in this column you will see how many units have already been invoiced. You cannot complete this column manually; it is completed automatically on the basis of the incoming invoice.

Exception: do you want to change the 'Invoiced' column manually instead of via 3WM? Then you can tick settings > supply orders > settings > 'Allow manual modification of invoiced'.

Incoming invoice: conditions for a correct 3WM

When you receive the incoming invoice, you can complete a number of extra fields for each line (supply order, project, order, equipment, and so on). There are 4 criteria on the incoming invoice that are essential for 3WM to go ahead:

'Supply order' column

For 3-way matching it is essential that the 'Supply order' column is completed. If it is not completed, there is no link with the supply order and 3WM therefore does not work.

'Project' column

• If you entered a project number on the line of the supply order, the same project number must be on the line of the incoming invoice.
• If there is no project on the supply order, there must be no project on the incoming invoice either.
• If this does not match, 3WM will not work.

'Item' and 'Description' column

• If an item is filled in on the supply order, the same item must be filled in on the incoming invoice.
• If no item is filled in on the supply order, only a description, exactly the same description must be on the incoming invoice for 3WM to work.

Locking the incoming invoice

3-way matching only works if the incoming invoice is locked. You can unlock it to change something, but do not forget to lock it again afterwards.

Method 1: assigning invoice lines

To connect the quantities with each other in a simple way, you assign the invoice lines to a supply order.

• open the incoming invoice
• enter the number of the supply order on every item line
• lock the incoming invoice
• if you look at the supply order, you see that the quantity from the incoming invoice has been entered in the 'Invoiced' column.

Do you not see this appear? Then check whether all columns have been completed correctly and whether your invoice is locked.

Method 2: loading the supply order

If you wish, you can choose to load the lines of the supply order into the incoming invoice, in order to compare whether the supply order matches the incoming invoice. This is handy for small incoming invoices, to quickly compare whether the invoiced quantities match the ordered or delivered quantities.

• Click the + icon at the top of the incoming invoice.
• Search for the supply order (you only see the 'open' supply orders, so not the archived ones)
• Choose the import strategy: do you want to import the ordered quantities into the incoming invoice or the delivered quantities? Depending on your choice, the quantity from the 'Quantity' column or from the 'Delivered' column is loaded into the incoming invoice
• Do not delete the current invoice lines.
• The item lines from your chosen supply order now appear in the incoming invoice below the original invoice lines. The quantity that is shown depends on your choice (ordered quantity OR delivered quantity).
• You can now compare these lines with the original invoice lines and then delete them again.
• Lock the incoming invoice
• If you look at the supply order, you see that the quantity from the incoming invoice has been entered in the 'Invoiced' column.

Do you not see this appear? Then check whether all columns have been completed correctly and whether your invoice is locked.

Method 3: creating the incoming invoice

Some companies choose to create the incoming invoice themselves on the basis of their supply orders.
This is a deviating method that we explain below for the sake of completeness, but that we do not recommend, as there is a risk of a deviating incoming invoice.

• Open the incoming invoice
• Click the + icon at the top of the incoming invoice.
• Search for the supply order (you only see the 'open' supply orders, so not the archived ones)
• Choose the import strategy: do you want to import the ordered quantities into the incoming invoice or the delivered quantities? Depending on your choice, the quantity from the 'Quantity' column or from the 'Delivered' column is loaded into the incoming invoice
• Delete the current invoice lines
• Repeat this if you want to load several supply orders
• The supply order lines are added to the incoming invoice and the lines from the incoming invoice are deleted
• You can now compare these lines with the visible copy of the incoming invoice (the pdf) and adjust the lines where necessary, in order to rebuild the incoming invoice exactly.
• Lock the incoming invoice
• If you look at the supply order, you see that the quantity from the incoming invoice has been entered in the 'Invoiced' column.

Do you not see this appear? Then check whether all columns have been completed correctly and whether your invoice is locked.

Credit notes

The credited quantities also end up on the supply order via 3WM. The method is similar to the one for incoming invoices, only there is a different import strategy in method 2: you can choose between ordered quantity or invoiced quantity. If you choose invoiced quantity, the quantity from the 'Invoiced' column is loaded into the incoming invoice, and you can adjust it to the quantity to be credited if necessary.
As soon as you lock the credit note, the correct quantity is shown under Invoiced on the supply order (the invoiced quantity minus the credited quantity).

Updated on: 08/09/2026