How does Botkeeper categorize transactions?

The Botkeeper portal is a critical part of the transaction categorization workflow. The key components of the portal used for transaction categorization are as follows

The portal is a critical part of the transaction categorization workflow. The key components of the portal used for transaction categorization are as follows:

Transaction Manager: a module in the portal used to facilitate transaction categorization and streamline processes around general ledger exceptions that require partner or client input.

Smart Connect: a module in the portal that provides a secure method to grant read-only access to client bank and credit card transaction data and statements. Accounts that are eligible for Smart Connect should be connected via Smart Connect whenever possible to take full advantage of AutoPush.
Work: a module in the portal used to assign tasks to the Partner or Client. The Partner can reassign their tasks to the Client if they choose.
- A weekly task will be assigned to the client point of contact (identified in the Transaction Manager Configurations tab), requesting the user to:
  - Review and update any transactions requiring further assistance
  - Mark each transaction reviewed once it’s been reviewed and/or updated
- The task will automatically close once all transactions assigned to that user have been Marked Reviewed.

AutoPush: a proprietary technology that uses AI and machine learning to predict how bank transactions get categorized in real time with the use of a client’s historical and ongoing global data.
- To enable AutoPush, a bank account must be connected through Smart Connect. Accounts that are eligible for Smart Connect will initiate a connection request task in the portal during pre-deployment.
- If your transaction is categorized by our machine learning and results in a 98% or greater confidence rating, your transaction can automatically be posted to your client’s general ledger. This feature can be turned on via the Configuration settings within the Transaction Manager module. Note: by default, this feature is turned off to allow all transaction categorizations to be reviewed by a human regardless of the confidence rating achieved.

Transaction Manager Workflow for AutoPush-enabled accounts: Transactions in Transaction Manager that feed through AutoPush will be sourced from Smart Connect and thus, GL bank feeds are no longer required:

- Turn GL bank feeds [off] - preferred: Provides the highest level of assurance that duplicate transactions will not be posted.
- Keep GL bank feeds [on]: This option allows for transactions to be retrieved from the GL bank feed if the financial institution disconnects from Smart Connect. However, it carries the risk of duplicate transactions being created during the month if a partner or client posts transactions from the GL bank feed, after the same transaction has already been posted from AutoPush.
  - Turn Auto-Add for Bank Rules [off]: Avoid automatic duplicate entry of transactions posting to your client’s general ledger by turning auto-add [off].
- Partners and/or clients who previously used the GL bank feed to categorize and/or post transactions to the GL can gain access to the portal and use Transaction Manager instead.
Transactions will be downloaded daily from the financial institution and run through the machine learning models which then apply a categorization prediction to each transaction.
Transactions with a medium or low confidence rating will undergo human review and be posted to the general ledger, based on the client’s scoped bookkeeping cadence of weekly or daily.
- As an additional configuration option in Transaction Manager’s AutoPush settings, the partner may elect to have transactions with a medium to low confidence rating posted directly to the GL prior to human review. These transactions can either be posted to the ML model’s prediction, or a previously selected default account. Transactions will be reviewed, edited and escalated to the partner as needed based on the client’s scoped bookkeeping cadence of monthly/weekly/daily.
Remaining transactions where there is significant doubt on categorization and/or vendor after human review (including any manual checks with no backup available), will be assigned to the partner primary point of contact in Transaction Manager, based on the client’s scoped bookkeeping cadence of weekly/daily.
- Transactions requiring partner or client review will be coded to Uncategorized Income/Expenses, by default, or to an alternate specified account while they await categorization in Transaction Manager.
- For Xero clients:
  - Until the close due date, the uncategorized transactions will be unreconciled and editable in Transaction Manager. Partner should edit the category, payee, class, or split for each uncategorized transaction and mark the transaction as reviewed. This will mark the transaction as reconciled in Xero.
  - After the close due date, uncategorized transactions will be marked as reconciled in Xero, which will make them un-editable in Transaction Manager. You may comment on the transaction(s) in Transaction Manager requesting it/they be edited in Xero with the necessary updates to the transaction. The updated categorization will sync back to Transaction Manager thereafter. Alternatively, the partner may make any necessary changes directly in Xero for an immediate change.

Transaction Manager Workflow for AutoPush disabled accounts:

Transactions in Transaction Manager will be sourced from the GL bank feeds or provided bank .csv or statement.
Transactions will be coded, reviewed and posted to the GL, based on the client’s scoped bookkeeping cadence of weekly/daily.
Remaining transactions where there is significant doubt on categorization and/or vendor after human review (including any manual checks with no backup available), will be assigned to the partner primary point of contact in Transaction Manager based on the client’s scoped bookkeeping cadence of monthly/weekly/daily.
- Transactions requiring partner or client review will be coded to Uncategorized Income/Expenses, by default, or to an alternate specified account while they await categorization.
- For Xero clients:
  - Until the close due date, the uncategorized transactions will be unreconciled and editable in Transaction Manager. Partner should edit the category, payee, class, or split for each uncategorized transaction and mark the transaction as reviewed. This will mark the transaction as reconciled in Xero.
- After the close due date, uncategorized transactions will be marked as reconciled in Xero, which will make them un-editable in Transaction Manager. You may comment on the transaction(s) in Transaction Manager requesting it/they be edited in Xero with the necessary updates to the transaction. The updated categorization will sync back to Transaction Manager thereafter. Alternatively, the partner may make any necessary changes directly in Xero for an immediate change.