How to prepare supplier invoices for Blocks Online as a file export

Blocks Online records supplier invoices against each block, and its own feature page says any invoice can be allocated to an expenditure category or any block schedule (checked 16 October 2026). To prepare supplier invoices as a file export, agree the file format with your Blocks Online setup first, then make sure every line carries the right property, schedule, heading, supplier, invoice number, invoice date, net and VAT, and that each invoice is checked and approved before it goes into the file.

This guide covers what Blocks Online documents publicly, how to settle the file format, and the checks that keep an export clean.

What does Blocks Online say about supplier invoices?

The Blocks Online block management feature page describes these supplier functions:

• Supplier invoices are tracked and recorded, supplier payment details can be recorded when invoices are loaded, and a copy of each invoice can be uploaded.

• Any invoice can be allocated to an expenditure category or any block schedule, and blocks can have a single payment schedule or several.

• A remittance advice can be generated for suppliers.

• Interfaces allow the routine uploading of leaseholder receipts and downloading of supplier payments.

An older Blocks Online guide to supplier setup (June 2018) says suppliers are set up first and then added to each block, with an account reference, and that a supplier with several accounts, such as separate electricity meters, gets an account for each. It also says the payment reference for utilities is usually the account reference, and for most other suppliers the invoice number. The software may have changed since that guide was written.

Is there a published import format for supplier invoices?

We found no public Blocks Online page that describes a file format for loading supplier invoices. The bulk import its site describes, in a 2018 post, takes a CSV file of receipts from your bank.

So the format for a supplier invoice file is agreed with your own Blocks Online setup. Ask whoever supports your system which file it accepts, which columns it expects and how it handles a line it can’t load. Write the answer down before anyone builds a file, and test it with a handful of invoices first.

What does each line need to get right?

Whatever the layout, these are the details that decide whether a line is right:

• Property: the block the cost belongs to, named as it is in your system. Invoices addressed to the agent or the RMC usually carry the site address or the block name somewhere on the page.

• Schedule: which service charge schedule pays, such as the block, the estate or the car park. A cost on the wrong schedule is paid by the wrong leaseholders.

• Heading: the expenditure category, such as cleaning, lift maintenance or communal electricity, matching the line items in that block’s budget.

• Supplier: the supplier as it is set up against that block, with the account reference where there is one.

• Invoice number: exactly as printed. It is the key for duplicate checks, and often the payment reference.

• Invoice date: the date on the invoice, and for utility bills the period the bill covers.

• Net and VAT: taken from the invoice, with net plus VAT equal to the total. Where the client can’t recover the VAT, it is part of the cost to leaseholders, so the VAT figure matters as much as the net.

Under gov.uk’s guidance on what an invoice must include, every invoice should carry a unique identification number, so the invoice number is the one field that should never be retyped or shortened. If one invoice is shared between two schedules or two blocks, give each part its own line and check the parts add up to the invoice. For more on VAT across the service charge, see VAT on service charges.

Which checks should run before the file is built?

1. Every invoice in the file has been approved under the client’s rules.

2. No invoice is already posted: check the supplier and invoice number across every block, since the same invoice can arrive for two.

3. The bank details on the invoice match the supplier record. A difference needs a call to the supplier on a number you already hold.

4. Net plus VAT equals the total on every line.

5. Nothing on hold or in query is in the file.

6. The number of invoices and the total value in the file match the approved batch.

7. A copy of each file is kept, with who produced it and when.

Two of these checks have their own guides: duplicate invoices across blocks and supplier bank detail changes.

What should you check after the file is loaded?

Compare what was loaded with the file: the count of invoices and the total value. Any line that did not load should be corrected at its source and exported again, so the file history and the ledger agree. A fix keyed only in the ledger leaves the two out of step.

Where Dataforge Invoices fits

Dataforge Invoices is AP software for UK block and estate managing agents. AI reads supplier invoices and utility bills, and it predicts the property, fund and heading from how your team has coded that supplier and property before. Duplicates, bank detail mismatches, new suppliers, purchase orders and posting limits are checked before anything is posted. Anything uncertain goes to one review queue, with the reason named, and stays out of the export until it is resolved.

Dataforge Invoices prepares a CSV or flat-file export for Blocks Online. We review the file format with you before confirming fit. Dataforge Invoices is built and supported by Stratas, and Blocks Online is a separate system with its own supplier. See invoice processing for Blocks Online.

These checks support your existing controls. They do not on their own prove that a supplier or an invoice is genuine.

Sources: Blocks Online, block management features; Blocks Online, supplier setup guide (2018); Blocks Online, bulk import (2018); GOV.UK, invoices: what they must include. Checked 16 October 2026.