Validation rules ensure that the sender of a document provides information in all the fields required in order to process the invoice. LinkedIn requires some specific fields in your invoice in order to process them effectively.

Ultimately they are put in place to make sure that the invoice can be handled without any further contact, and that the supplier gets paid on time. Validation rules are a way of enforcing the business rules.

To ensure a quick and efficient handling of invoices and credit notes, LinkedIn has implemented a number of validation rules on the Tradeshift platform.

The validation rules implemented by LinkedIn are:

• Invoice/credit note issue date: Issue date should be no later than the current date.
• Invoice/credit note number: Numbers and upper case letters only, no leading zero, no special characters, and no more than 30 characters
• PO number: PO Invoices must have a PO number. The PO number can be provided once at the invoice header level. The PO number must be the same as what is provided on the PO issued by LinkedIn.
• PO line number: All invoices corresponding to purchase orders must contain a PO line reference number for each invoice line. This number represents the number of the line as presented on the LinkedIn purchase order.  The PO line number can only contain numbers. 
• PO Invoice line number: All credit notes must contain the PO invoice line reference number for each credit note line. This number represents the number of the PO line as presented on the original invoice.  All PO credit memos should reference the PO on the header line.
• Non PO invoices/credit notes: If you are submitting invoices or credit notes without a purchase order, you must provide the email address of the LinkedIn Requestor (person of reference)
• Delivery To / Ship To location: country, city, state, and zip are required. 
• Payment due date: Invoices will always be paid based on the previously agreed terms and conditions, as stipulated in your supplier agreement. Please ensure payment terms are noted on each invoice for support, especially in the case of non-PO invoices.
• Payment methods: Invoices will always be paid based on the payment details provided to LinkedIn during the on-boarding process.  If you need these changed, please contact LinkedIn directly at ts.support@linkedin.com.

On top of these validation rules, please note that if you plan to send invoices and credit notes automatically from your ERP system, there is a range of mandatory fields you would need to adhere to.

For mandatory fields, please go to http://integrate.tradeshift.com/ and download the specific zip file for the format you wish to use.