How to Use Control of Duplicates in ZoneCapture

Enable control of duplicates in ZoneCapture to catch potential duplicate vendor bills and credits before you process them. Learn how to interpret the alerts and troubleshoot the most common issues.

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Introduction

The control of duplicates feature helps you identify potential duplicates at an early stage. ZoneCapture applies the logic at the level of Incoming Transactions to be processed, so you receive a notification about potential duplicates directly in the overview of Incoming Transactions, before you process a particular transaction.

Enabling the feature

You can enable or disable control of duplicates to match your preference. Navigate to the record that matches your setup:

• If you use setup per subsidiary, navigate to Setup > ZoneCapture Setup > ZoneCapture Subsidiary Setup.
• If you do not use setup per subsidiary, navigate to Setup > ZoneCapture Setup > ZoneCapture Main Configuration.

1. Select the ENABLE CONTROL OF DUPLICATES checkbox to turn the feature on. Clear the checkbox to turn it off.
2. Select the BLOCK ON DUPLICATE checkbox if you want a detected duplicate to block the transaction from processing until you resolve it.

By default, control of duplicates raises a warning only (see Duplicate types) and does not prevent processing.

Criteria for duplicates

ZoneCapture compares four fields when it checks for a potential duplicate:

• Transaction Type (Bill vs. Credit)
• Subsidiary
• Vendor
• Document Number (the native tranid field, or a custom field if configured; see Customizing the document number field)

Important: ZoneCapture considers two Incoming Transaction records potential duplicates only if all four values match exactly. If any value differs, including a leading zero, an extra space, or different capitalization in the document number, ZoneCapture treats the records as unique and raises no alert.

Duplicate types

ZoneCapture highlights two types of potential duplicates:

• Duplicated Incoming: ZoneCapture marks an Incoming Transaction record as Duplicated Incoming if at least one other active, not-yet-processed Incoming Transaction record has the same document type (Bill or Credit), subsidiary, vendor, and document number. When all of these values match, the System Alert column shows the Duplicated Incoming chip.
• Duplicated Transaction: ZoneCapture marks an Incoming Transaction record as Duplicated Transaction if at least one existing vendor bill or credit has the same document type (Bill or Credit), subsidiary, vendor, and document number. When all of these values match, the System Alert column shows the Duplicated Transaction chip. In this case, control of duplicates analyzes all existing vendor bills, whether you created them in ZoneCapture or with the native NetSuite solution, and regardless of their source (OCR, manual entry, or CSV import).

If ZoneCapture finds a potential duplicate against both existing vendor bills and not-yet-processed transactions, the System Alert column shows both chips at the same time.

Verifying duplicates

Use the System Alert column in the enhanced UI to verify potential duplicates.

• Click the Duplicated Incoming chip in the System Alert column to display a list of potential duplicates.
• Click the Duplicated Transaction chip in the System Alert column to display a list of potential duplicates.

Customizing the document number field

Control of duplicates compares the captured document number against the document number on existing vendor bills. By default, the logic uses the field ID tranid, the native NetSuite field for storing the document number.

If you store document numbers in a different (custom) field, customize the comparison:

1. Navigate to ZoneCapture Subsidiary Setup (if you use setup per subsidiary) or ZoneCapture Main Configuration.
2. Locate the CUSTOM TRANSACTION FIELD ID FOR CONTROL OF DUPLICATES parameter.
3. Enter your custom field ID in the parameter.

• If the parameter is empty, the logic uses tranid by default. Leave the parameter empty in this case.
• If the parameter contains a custom field ID, the logic uses that field for duplicate detection instead.

Troubleshooting and FAQ

Why is a genuine duplicate not flagged?

If the system does not identify a genuine duplicate, check the following:

• Script execution and timing. A scheduled Map/Reduce script, ZC MR Detect System Alerts, refreshes duplicate detection. If you just uploaded a document, the alert may not appear until the next scheduled run of this script.
• Alert unset by another script. On some versions (for example, v2.19.3), other scripts, such as FF SC MR Update Purchase Order Status, can incorrectly unset a duplicate alert shortly after ZoneCapture sets it. If the System Notes on the record show a script setting the alert (Set) and then unsetting it (Unset), contact support and reference the record's System Notes.
• Field mismatch. The comparison requires an exact match on the document number. Even a small difference, such as a leading zero or an extra space, causes ZoneCapture to treat the two records as unique.
• Scope of detection. Check whether the duplicate exists in a different subsidiary. If your configuration is subsidiary-specific, a duplicate in Subsidiary A does not raise a warning for an Incoming Transaction in Subsidiary B.

Handling false positives

If the system flags a transaction as a duplicate but it is not one, review the following:

• Check the custom field override. If the system appears to compare the wrong field, verify the CUSTOM TRANSACTION FIELD ID FOR CONTROL OF DUPLICATES setting described in Customizing the document number field. The setting may point to a field that does not reliably distinguish documents.
• Remember that the chips are warnings, not hard blocks. The Duplicated Incoming and Duplicated Transaction chips flag a potential issue for review. Unless you enable BLOCK ON DUPLICATE in the configuration, the chips do not prevent processing. After you verify that the document number is unique for that business case, proceed with processing the transaction.
• Re-run detection after a correction. If an alert persists after you delete or correct the original duplicate record, manually trigger the ZC MR Detect System Alerts script to refresh the alert status.