Working with reference positions

  • 05/11/2025
  • 3 minutes to read

By setting up payment reference rules, you can define how payment references are validated, matched, and processed within your system. These rules help automate reconciliation by identifying key elements in payment references, such as document numbers, amounts, or other identifiers.

As part of this setup, you can use Reference Positions to extract only a specific part of a payment reference for matching. This is useful when references include prefixes, suffixes, or other embedded information, and only a defined substring should be used for matching in Business Central.

Tip

Use Reference Positions when only a portion of the payment reference is relevant for matching. If the entire reference matches a field in your system, use Direct Match instead.

To configure reference positions:

  1. Open your payment reference rule, and on the Matching FastTab, ensure Direct Match is disabled.
  2. Specify the following:
    • Reference Start Position – the position in the payment reference where extraction begins (1-based).
    • Reference Length – the number of characters to extract.
  3. Both fields must contain values greater than 0.
  4. Optionally, define a validation pattern (regex) to ensure the extracted substring follows the expected format.
  5. Save the rule and test it with sample payment references.

When reference positions are configured, the system extracts a substring from the payment reference based on the defined start position and length. The extracted part is then used for matching against the selected table and field. If extraction fails—for example, if the position is outside the available character range—the reference is considered invalid. Validation patterns and check digit algorithms can still be applied to the extracted value.

Example: Extracting a reference number

If payment references follow a structure such as INV-2024-001/12345, and only 12345 should be used for matching:

  • Set Reference Start Position to 15.
  • Set Reference Length to 5.
  • Define Match to Table and Match to Field as required.
  • Optionally, apply a validation pattern to confirm that the extracted value meets your reference format.

When processed, the system extracts the substring 12345 starting at position 15 and uses it to perform the match in Business Central.

Setting up a payment reference rule
Default payment reference rules
Configuring check digit validation
Payment reference rule examples
Payment reference rules FAQ