Document Search

Overview

Document search in VillaTax is a retrieval capability built on top of the structured document and fiscal workflows already present in the dashboard. Once document volume grows (multiple properties, several years of records, dozens of uploads per period) the operational challenge shifts from upload to retrieval. Finding the right document at the moment it is needed is what determines whether a filing, compliance review, or accountant handoff goes smoothly.

Document search addresses that problem by making documents easier to find through structured filtering, type-based organization, and the metadata connections VillaTax already maintains.

The base document workflow is at Documents module.

Why Retrieval Matters More Than Upload

Uploading a document creates a record. Retrieving that record when needed is what makes it useful. For tax and compliance work, this distinction matters practically:

• An expense invoice uploaded six months ago needs to be findable when that expense is reviewed during year-end
• A property acquisition deed needs to be retrievable when a capital structure question comes up
• A PBB receipt or utility payment record needs to be locatable before a property-related review
• A BPJS receipt needs to be surfaced quickly when a declaration period is being cross-checked

Without structured retrieval, uploaded documents become an archive that people avoid querying because they cannot be confident they will find what they are looking for. That removes the practical value of having uploaded them in the first place.

How Document Retrieval Works in VillaTax

Rather than a separate full-text search console, document retrieval in VillaTax is shaped by the structured metadata applied at upload and maintained through the document workflow:

• Document type: each document is assigned a type (PBB receipt, OTA invoice, expense invoice, acquisition deed, PLN bill, BPJS receipt, and others). Filtering by type is the fastest way to narrow a large document set.
• Organization scope: documents are linked to the organization they belong to. The organization switcher scopes retrieval to the relevant entity.
• Property linkage: where a document is associated with a specific property, that linkage narrows retrieval further to property-specific records.
• Expiry and alert status: documents with tracked expiry dates (like KITAS, NIB, or permits) can be surfaced by proximity to expiry, making it easy to see which records need renewal attention.
• Extraction workflow linkage: for supported document types (PBB receipt, OTA invoice, expense invoice, acquisition deed, PLN bill, BPJS receipt), the OCR pipeline extracts key values and associates them with the document record. Those extracted values become part of the retrievable context.

Supported OCR Pipeline Documents

Six document types go through the extraction pipeline in VillaTax. For these document types, the retrieval experience is richer because key values are extracted and indexed, not just the filename:

Document Type	Extracted Context
PBB receipt	Property tax payment amount, year
OTA invoice	Platform, commission amount, booking reference
Expense invoice	Vendor, amount, NPWP context
Acquisition deed	Property identity, acquisition value, date
PLN bill	Meter reading, amount, period
BPJS receipt	Contribution period, employee and employer amounts

For these types, document retrieval can be tied directly to the underlying fiscal or operational workflow rather than requiring manual cross-reference.

Making Retrieval Work Well

Document retrieval quality depends on how documents are maintained at upload time. The more completely a document is typed, linked, and contextualized when it is uploaded, the easier it is to find later. Uploading a document as "other" with no property link and no date information creates a record that is technically in the system but practically unfindable at scale.

Best practice for document retrieval:

• Always select the correct document type at upload
• Link the document to the correct organization and property where applicable
• Set expiry dates for documents with a known validity period
• Use the description field to add any context that the type and property alone do not capture

Getting Started

Use the documents area at Documents module and related fiscal workflows to keep file types, property links, and metadata clean from the moment of upload. Applying that structure consistently means that when a document needs to be found under time pressure (a filing deadline, an accountant request, a compliance review) the relevant record is retrievable in seconds rather than minutes. The better the organizational structure at upload, the faster and more reliable document retrieval becomes over time.