Contents of the Invoice Approval Process Form

Use the fields and options on the form to enter an identification code and description for the invoice approval process and then enter related detail.

Header Information

Field Description
Search Click this option to open the Invoice Approval Process lookup and select an existing invoice approval process that you want to view or modify. If you have multiple companies, the list of invoice approval processes includes processes for all companies in your enterprise.
Code Enter an identification code for the invoice approval process that you are creating.
Description Enter a description for the invoice approval process. The description displays in the Approval Process field on the Summary pane in Hubs > Projects > Billing Terms, which is where you select an invoice approval process for a project.

Actions Grid Columns

Field Description
Action The Actions grid prefills with one row for each invoice approval action. You complete the remaining grid fields in the row.

The actions that prefill in the column are:

  • Submit: When you submit an invoice in Interactive Billing or Batch Billing, it becomes available for invoice approval (to approve or reject).
  • Approve: After an invoice is submitted, you can approve it in Interactive Billing, Invoice Approvals, or Interactive Approvals.
  • Reject: After an invoice is submitted, you can reject it (instead of approve it) in Invoice Approvals or Interactive Approvals.
  • Unsubmit: When you unsubmit an invoice in Interactive Billing, the transaction details are no longer associated with the submitted invoice, and the invoice status returns to New. An invoice must be submitted again to make it available to approve.
Employee to Approve/Reject For the Submit and Unsubmit action rows:

This field prefills with Interactive Billing, and you cannot change it. This indicates that invoices are submitted and unsubmitted in Interactive Billing or Batch Billing by anyone who has role security to access these menu items and record access to the specific project.

For the Approve and Reject action rows:

Enter the employees who can accept or reject an invoice for the project. From the drop-down list, you can select any employee field from the Projects hub, such as Project Manager, Principal, Supervisor, or Biller. This list also includes any user-defined employee field in the Projects hub.

If you select multiple employees to approve or reject, any of the selected employees will be able to perform the action.

Employee to Alert This field applies to all actions. Enter the employees who will be alerted when the action is performed. From the drop-down list, you can select any employee field from the Projects hub, such as Project Manager, Principal, Supervisor, or Biller. This list also includes any user-defined employee field in the Projects hub.

If you do not want a notification center alert sent for an action, leave this field blank. For example, you might not want an alert sent when an invoice is unsubmitted.

Alert Frequency Select the frequency at which you want alerts sent for an invoice approval action. Options are:
  • Alert per invoice: After you enter a comment for the invoice in Interactive Billing, Batch Billing, Interactive Approvals, or Invoice Approvals, alerts are sent to each employee who is specified to receive an alert. The alert contains one invoice.
  • Alert per session: Alerts are sent when you exit the billing or approval entry session. Alerts are sent to each employee who is specified to receive an alert. One or more alerts are sent. The alert is grouped by the invoice approval process for the invoices that are included in the session. The alerts contain multiple invoices.

    Example: An entry session for submitting invoices includes 15 total invoices (all to be approved by one person). Five of the invoices use invoice approval process "A" and 10 of the invoices use invoice approval process "B." Two alerts are sent to the approver-one alert includes the five invoices that use invoice approval process "A" and the other alert includes the 10 invoices that use invoice approval process "B."

Alert Type Click in this field and then click to open the Alert Type lookup and select how you want the notification center alert for the action to be delivered to employees.

Options are Email, Notification Center, and Notification Center and Email. Employees open the Notification Center by clicking on the DPS menu bar. The number on this button is dynamic and indicates how many active action items and notifications you have.

Notification Center Summary as Link This column is enabled only if you select Notification Center or Notification Center and Email in the Alert Type column.

Select this option if you want the Notification Center summary text to be a link to the Billing invoice.

  • For the submit action, the link to the invoice opens the Invoice Approvals form. You must select the specific invoice.
  • For the approve or reject actions, the link to the invoice automatically opens the specific invoice on the Interactive Billing form.

When this option is cleared and you click the Notification Center summary, it displays a dialog box that provides the content of the Notification Center alert.