Categorization Rules

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Open Categorization Rules

1. In the deck, open Settings.
2. Under System, choose Categorization Rules.

The breadcrumb reads Settings > System > Categorization Rules. You can also search for Categorization Rules in the command palette. You need the settings.view permission to open the page and accounting.view to see rules, suggestions, MCC defaults, vendor suggestions and the audit trail, and to test a rule. Creating, reordering, editing, enabling, disabling and deleting a rule, accepting a suggestion, bulk applying, changing an MCC default, and creating or dismissing a vendor suggestion need accounting.post. The buttons show for every role that can open the page, but the server refuses these actions without accounting.post.

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Read The KPI Cards

The cards at the top give accounting a quick health check.

• Active Rules: rules currently eligible to categorize transactions.
• Suggestions: rule ideas Arcus detected from recent manual overrides.
• Vendor Signals: merchants that look like repeat vendors and may need vendor accounts.
• Match confidence, last 100: the average confidence of the last 100 categorization decisions, shown as a percentage. It turns green at 85 percent and above and amber from 60 percent.

Low confidence does not mean the system is broken. It means accounting should review recent categorization decisions and tune the rule set.

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Rules Tab

Rules are priority-based. Each rule has a Priority number, and a lower number runs first. Arcus checks rules in that order and stops at the first match. A rule usually includes:

• Name and description.
• One or more conditions, such as merchant, text, amount range, MCC, or resource type.
• One or more GL actions.
• Active or disabled state.
• System flag when the rule is protected.

The table columns are Priority, Name, Conditions, Actions, Status, and the row actions. The conditions and actions are written out as plain sentences. When there are no rules the tab reads “No rules yet.” and “Click New Rule to create one, or accept a suggestion from the Suggested Rules tab.” Row actions:

• Move up and Move down change the rule’s priority. Arcus confirms with “Reordered”.
• Edit rule opens Edit Categorization Rule, or Edit System Rule for a protected rule. A system rule can be edited or deactivated but never deleted.
• Test opens Test Rule Against History.
• Bulk apply opens Bulk Apply Rule.
• Disable or Enable turns the rule off or on. A disabled rule is kept but never used.
• Delete asks you to confirm. It is unavailable for a system rule, and its tooltip says “System rules cannot be deleted”.

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Create A Rule

1. Click New Rule. The Create Categorization Rule dialog opens.
2. Enter a name that explains the accounting purpose, and an optional Description.
3. Set the Priority. Lower runs first.
4. Add conditions that are specific enough to avoid accidental matches. Each condition has a Field, a Match type, and a Value. Choose Add condition for another, or Remove condition to drop one.
5. Choose the GL account action. To divide a transaction across accounts, choose Add split and give each account a percentage. The splits must add up to 100, and the dialog shows a running total (“Total” with the sum, then OK, or “must equal 100”).
6. Set Starting confidence. It ranks the rule’s suggestions for review. Leave Stop on match (first-match wins) on unless a later rule should also be allowed to apply.
7. Choose Create Rule. Arcus confirms with “Rule created”.
8. Test the rule against history.
9. Change the rule’s priority if it should run before or after another rule. Arcus confirms a new order with “Reordered”.

To change a rule, choose Edit rule, change the same fields, and choose Save Changes. Arcus confirms with “Rule updated”.

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Condition Fields And Match Types

The fields a condition can read are Merchant Name, Raw Description, Amount, MCC Code, Currency, Source, Plaid Category (primary), Plaid Category (detailed), and Day of Week. Arcus refuses a rule that names a field it cannot read. Text fields offer is exactly, contains, starts with, ends with, matches the pattern, and is any of. Number fields offer is, is not, is more than, is at least, is less than, is at most, and is between.

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Test A Rule

Use Test against history on the rule’s row before applying a rule broadly. The Test Rule Against History dialog shows how the rule behaves against past activity without changing those records.

1. Set Lookback (days), from 1 to 365.
2. Choose Run Preview.
3. Read the result line, for example “6 transactions matched”, with the total amount of the matches. Under it, Arcus says how many transactions it searched over how many days, and how many of the rows shown would change GL account.
4. Review each row: Description, Amount, Current GL, and Would become.

A rule can match rows that already sit on the right account; those rows would not change. When nothing matches, the dialog reads “No transaction in that window matched this rule.” On a very large history Arcus may not reach every transaction in one request. The dialog then says how many it checked and tells you to shorten the lookback to check a smaller window in full. Matches shown come only from the part that was checked. If the test catches too much, tighten the condition before enabling or bulk applying the rule.

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Bulk Apply

Bulk apply updates historical eligible records that match the rule. Use it only after the rule has been reviewed. Choose Bulk apply on the rule’s row to open the Bulk Apply Rule dialog. Nothing changes until you confirm.

1. Choose Run Preview. Arcus counts the historical transactions the rule would re-categorize, for example “12 transactions would be re-categorized”, and lists them with their Description, the account they sit on now (From), the account they would move to (To), and the Confidence. When there are more than the list shows, a note says “Showing the first” some “of” the total, and that committing applies the rule to all of them.
2. Choose Commit to that many transactions to apply the rule. Arcus reports how many it changed, for example “Applied to 12 transactions”.
3. If the rule matches nothing, the dialog says “Nothing to apply”.

On a long history the preview and the commit each work through one batch. When Arcus stopped before reaching the older transactions, the dialog says how many it checked and how many it did not. Commit the batch you reviewed, then choose Continue to check the older ones. When a batch has nothing to commit but older transactions remain, the button reads Check older transactions. When every transaction has been checked, the dialog says “Checked all” with the count. Before bulk apply:

1. Test the rule.
2. Review the sample matches.
3. Confirm the accounting period policy allows the change.
4. Confirm the GL account is correct.
5. Run the bulk apply only for the intended scope.
6. Review the audit trail afterward.

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Suggested Rules

Suggested Rules appear when Arcus sees repeated manual overrides for the same merchant or pattern. Accepting a suggestion creates an active rule. Use suggestions as a starting point, not an automatic approval. Review the merchant name, suggested GL account, override count, first seen date, and last seen date before accepting. Choose Accept & Activate to create the rule. Arcus confirms with “Rule created for” and the merchant name. With nothing to review, the tab reads “No suggestions yet. As you override GL accounts on bank transactions, the engine will learn and suggest rules here.”

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MCC Defaults

MCC Defaults map merchant category codes to default GL accounts. They are useful when a bank transaction has a clear MCC but no specific vendor rule yet. The tab lists each MCC, its Description and its Default GL Account. Search by code, description or account to narrow the list. Pick an account in a row to change its default; unmapped codes show “(Unmapped)”. Arcus confirms with “MCC” and the code followed by “updated”. A long list shows only the first codes, with a note and a Show all button, and Show first to go back. When the search finds nothing, the tab says “No matches.” Use MCC defaults for broad category handling. Use explicit rules for merchants that need their own accounting treatment.

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Vendor Suggestions

Vendor Suggestions identify recurring merchants that may deserve vendor accounts. From this tab, accounting can choose Create Vendor or dismiss the suggestion. Arcus confirms with a message naming the new vendor, or with “Dismissed”. With nothing to review, the tab reads “No vendor suggestions yet. Recurring merchants will appear here once the engine detects a pattern.” Create a vendor when the merchant should appear in AP, vendor reporting, or future bill and payment workflows. Dismiss a suggestion when the merchant should stay as bank activity only.

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Audit Trail

The Audit Trail shows how recent resources were categorized. The columns are When, Resource, Source, Rule, Applied GL, Confidence and Reasoning. Use the filters for Resource type (All resources, Bank transactions, AP bill lines or Expense report lines), Source, Start date and End date. With no matches the tab reads “No audit rows for the selected filters.” Sources are:

• Rules engine.
• MCC default.
• User override.
• LLM suggestion, a categorization suggested by the language model.

Audit rows help answer why a transaction landed on a GL account and whether the team should adjust a rule.

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Messages You May See

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What Happens When You Save

• Accounting: creating, editing or reordering a rule changes how future bank transactions are categorized. Nothing already posted moves. A bulk apply changes the GL account of the transactions it commits.
• Vendors: creating a vendor from a suggestion adds a vendor you can use in AP.
• Audit: every create, edit, reorder, delete, bulk apply, accepted suggestion, MCC change and vendor suggestion decision is written to the audit log.
• Other screens: a change appears for other signed-in people without a reload.

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Common Blocks

• Rule did not match: check rule priority, active state, condition values, and whether another rule matched first.
• Rule matched too much: add more specific conditions or lower the priority.
• Bulk apply is risky: test against history and review period controls before applying.
• Suggestion looks wrong: dismiss it or create a narrower rule manually.
• MCC default is too broad: use an explicit merchant rule instead.
• Vendor suggestion should not become AP vendor: dismiss the signal and leave it as bank activity.

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