Approving Contract Invoices

  • 08/09/2022
  • 6 minutes to read

With the Purchase Contracts module, you can have any contract invoice (that is, any purchase invoice that's linked to a purchase contract) approved automatically when the invoice is registered. You can even set up a variance amount or percentage for each contract line, so that invoices whose amounts relate to the contract amounts within the specified variance are automatically approved upon registration.

For the sake of simplicity, this article will use invoices as an illustrative basis, as this is by far the most common scenario. However, the functionality works just as well with contract credit memos.

Note

If you want to set up a variance amount or percentage, line recognition must be enabled in the relevant template. Without line recognition enabled, the feature will only work when the invoice and contract line amounts match exactly.

To enable automatic approval of contract invoices

The process of enabling automatic approval of contract invoices is twofold, as you must enable it on both the Purchase Contract page and the Template Card page. Boths steps are described below:

Purchase Contract setup

To enable automatic approval on the Purchase Contract page, follow these steps:

  1. Choose the Search icon, enter Purchase Contracts, and then choose the related link to open the Purchase Contracts page.

  2. In the list of contracts, in the No. column, select the number of the contract whose related invoices you want to be approved automatically. This will open the Purchase Contract page.

  3. Optional: On the General FastTab, select the Price Type field, and then select Variable Amount. This will enable you to add variances in steps 5-6 below.

  4. In the Auto Approve Within Variance field, select Yes.

  5. Optional: If you want to set up a variance percentage for a line, go to the Lines FastTab, select the relevant line, and then enter the percentage under Max. Allowed Line Variance %. Repeat this step for any additional lines you want to set up a variance for.

  6. Optional: If you want to set up a variance amount for a line, select the relevant line on the Lines FastTab, and then enter the amount under Max. Allowed Line Variance. Repeat this step for any additional lines you want to set up a variance for.

    Note

    The Max. Allowed Line Variance field may have to be added first in order to be visible. To do this, personalize the page as follows: Select the Settings icon > Personalize > + Field to open the Add Field to Page pane, select the Lines section, and then drag the Max. Allowed Line Variance field from the pane to the table in the selected section. Select Done to close the Personalizing banner.

Template Card setup

To ensure that registered contract invoices are actually sent for approval automatically, you must configure the second step of the registration process on the Template Card page. To do this, follow these steps:

  1. Choose the Search icon, enter Document Categories, and then choose the related link.

  2. Select the PURCHASE code to open the document journal.

  3. In the list of documents, select the invoice whose template you want to edit.

  4. In the action bar, select Template > Template Card to open the Template Card page.

  5. On the Purchase Documents FastTab, under Registration, select the Invoice Reg. Step 2 field, and then select Submit for Approval.

    Note

    By following the instructions above, you’re only enabling automatic approval for the template that’s assigned to the selected invoice. If you instead enable it for the master template, all newly created templates will automatically have it enabled too. To learn more, see Working with Templates.

To approve contract invoices

Once you've completed both parts of the setup process as described above, you can have any contract invoice automatically approved simply by registering it:

  1. Choose the Search icon, enter Document Categories, and then choose the related link.
  2. Select the PURCHASE code to open the document journal.
  3. In the list of documents, select the invoice that you want to register.
  4. In the action bar, select Process > Register.

This will both register and automatically approve the invoice, and the Purchase Invoice page will open. On the General FastTab, the Approval Comments field will display the text The invoice was automatically approved.

See also

Creating Purchase Contracts
Purchase Contract Reviews
Creating Contract Invoices
Viewing the Purchase Contract Archive