Fields and where values come from
Fields
Every workflow works with named pieces of information, its fields: the invoice number, the fleet number, the site, the total. Steps read fields and write fields; that is how one step passes information to the next. A workflow's steps can only use the fields listed on its Fields tab.
Fields are defined once, in your company's field library, and every workflow picks from it.
| A field has | Example |
|---|---|
| A label | Fleet number |
| A type | Text |
| A description, which the AI uses to find it | "The fleet or asset number of the machine, such as D-1042" |
| A question, used when asking the sender for it | "What is the fleet number of the machine?" |
| Roles, if it means something special | None. For "Total invoice value" it would be Total amount |
| Whether quoting it is a promise | No. For a price or a hire start date it would be yes |
| Whether it is personal data | No. For a contact's phone number it would be yes |
Field types
Text, Number, Money, Percentage, Date, Date and time, Duration, Phone, Email, Yes or no, One of a list, MCS record (a record found in MCS), Document, Group (several fields together, such as an address or bank details) and List of (such as invoice lines).
A site is not a record in MCS: it is the address on a quote, contract or job. So a site is an address group, not an MCS record.
Roles
Roles tell Rent Stream AI what a field means, so the same behaviour works for your own fields too.
| Role | Used for |
|---|---|
| Sender name, Sender tax number, Sender company number, Sender domain | Checking the sender against the documents |
| Document number, Document date | Splitting batches into separate documents |
| Total amount, Net amount, Tax amount, Line amount, Line tax | The amount shown in the inbox |
| Currency | Showing money correctly |
| Referenced documents | References to other paperwork |
| Bank account | Requires an "Unchanged since last seen" security check |
| Title | The work item's name in the inbox |
| Customer reference | Such as a purchase order number |
Where values come from
Every value on a work item remembers where it came from, and the work item shows it. When two steps set the same field, the more trustworthy source wins:
| Rank | Source | Example |
|---|---|---|
| 1 (strongest) | Person | A reviewer corrected the net amount |
| 2 | MCS | The purchase order found in MCS |
| 3 | Document | The invoice number read from the PDF |
| 4 | "The 3t dumper at Ashford" | |
| 5 | Call | Coming later |
| 6 | Custom step | Coming later |
| 7 (weakest) | Default | A fixed value set in the workflow |
This ranking is what keeps records safe. Values that pick an MCS record or a record to file against must come from MCS or a person, never from what the sender wrote.