Approve an Invoice

When Invoice Approvals are configured for use on a project, all of the project's invoices must be approved before they are changed to finalized. The biller submits all invoices from within Vision; however, you can use Navigator or Vision to approve (or reject) the invoice.

When you approve an invoice, you can also enter comments related to the approval that can be shared easily with others. These comments are simultaneously updated in both Navigator and Vision to ensure that all information related to the invoice is accessible in one location. This also applies to situations where invoices are incorrect and are rejected -- you can enter comments that will facilitate the appropriate changes so the invoice can be approved.

Note: If configured in Vision, after you approve an invoice an electronic notification alert can be sent automatically to the appropriate employees to notify them that the next action in the approval process is ready for them to complete.

To approve an invoice on the Invoice Approvals form, complete the following steps:

1. In Navigator, click and select Project Management.
2. Click the Invoice Pending Approval alert button and select the name of the project that contains the invoice that you want to view. The project opens on the Invoices tab, the Draft Invoice Pending Approval toolbar displays, and a list of invoices displays in the grid.
3. Select Approve this Invoice on the Draft Invoice Pending Approval toolbar. Navigator confirms that the invoice's status is Submitted and opens the Billing Comments dialog box.
   • If there was already an In Process billing comment, the status in the Action column is changed to Approved and any associated comments display.
   • If there was not an In Process billing comment, a new comment row with a status of Approved in the Action column is added to the grid.
4. You can enter additional comments or update existing comments about the invoice's approval. Select the Approved comment row on the Billing Comments grid and enter the comments in the Comment Entry field.
5. Click Approve to approve the invoice for billing.

   When you approve the invoice, Navigator updates the invoice status to Approved and, if configured, sends an alert to the person responsible for the next step in the process so they can initiate the final billing process for the approved invoice.