Uploading invoices
Choose Import subcontractor files and drop the month’s invoices in. You can add several at once, and for a month where every supplier already has a profile, dropping the whole folder in one go is the normal way to work.
Two kinds of file
The drop zone accepts two things, and it works out which one you’ve given it.
| What you have | What happens |
|---|---|
The subcontractor’s bill (.pdf, any layout) | WastePro reads it, works out which supplier sent it, and splits every collection into its charge lines. |
A WastePro Compatible Import (.xlsx / .csv) | The file is already in WastePro’s own format, so it imports without being read. |
The second route exists as a fall-back. When a supplier’s layout defeats the reader — or when someone has already done the mapping in a spreadsheet — you can hand WastePro a file where every line already carries the site, material stream, container and charge type, and it goes straight in.
Building one by hand? Download the template beside the drop zone gives you exactly the columns a Compatible Import needs, empty. Fill it in and upload it back.
A Compatible Import is refused outright if any line is unmapped — nothing at all is imported. That’s the trade for skipping the reader: it can only skip the mapping step if the mapping is already done. You get the offending sheet rows listed on screen, and a CSV of the lot to send back to whoever owns the spreadsheet.
WastePro works out what each file is
You generally don’t pick anything. For each file it identifies the supplier from the content and the billing period from the dates inside. Both can be overridden if it gets one wrong.
Detection reads what’s in the file, not what it’s called. Each recipe is tried, and the one whose lines add up against that invoice’s own stated total wins. If nothing matches, you’re asked to pick the subcontractor rather than the file failing silently.
The reconciliation check
Before a file is accepted, WastePro checks it two ways:
| Check | What it catches |
|---|---|
| Do the line totals add up to the invoice total? | A line the reader skipped entirely |
| Does quantity × unit price equal each line total? | The wrong column read as the unit price |
The second check exists because the first can’t see it — a file can total correctly while individual lines are built from the wrong numbers.
A file that fails is held back rather than imported, with the reason shown. That’s deliberate: importing it would record a cost that doesn’t match what you were actually charged. You can override with Import anyway, but do it as a conscious decision on that specific file, not a reflex.
An invoice WastePro may not have read in full can’t call itself ready. If a bill reports that only part of its lines could be read, treat that as a hard stop — a partially-read invoice becomes a partially-paid supplier and a partly-uninvoiced month.
What else gets flagged
- Possible duplicate — the file is byte-for-byte identical to one already imported. Only push past this if you’re certain it’s genuinely a second invoice.
- Supplier mismatch — the sites in this file historically belong to a different subcontractor. Almost always means it went in under the wrong profile. Delete the batch and re-upload it under the right one rather than correcting it line by line.
A supplier mismatch is worth stopping for. Committing an invoice under the wrong supplier attributes the work, the cost and the margin to the wrong company, and unpicking it afterwards is considerably more work than re-uploading now.
Bills that arrive unattributed
A bill WastePro has read but can’t attribute to a subcontractor lands in Unfiled. It has no supplier and no billing period yet, so it sits outside the date range and counts for nobody — which is exactly why the stage exists rather than the bill being quietly dropped.
Naming the subcontractor on one unfiled bill also files every other bill from that same subcontractor, so this is usually one decision rather than many.
New sites
A site appearing for the first time needs you once. It’s flagged as needing review, and the mapping you confirm is remembered — every later month recognises it automatically.
Next: Reviewing a batch — where you work through anything flagged before the invoice can be committed.