Invoice Approval Training Materials

Introduction

Welcome to the Invoice Approval class. In this class, you will learn how to find, review, and approve invoices in Alma.  This class focuses on invoice auditing and approval. Please attend acquisitions classes for more detailed workflows for generating invoices.

• Prior to taking this class, we hope you were able to attend Intro to Alma and Search & Sets

• A few notes:

• • Alma went live on July 3rd and, as expected, we're learning new things about it as staff work with real data in the system. Everyone is continuing to learn Alma, and will have the support they need to do so.
  • We are training on the tool of Alma, and while there is usually more than one way to do anything in Alma, we will show you one verified or preferred way to do tasks. Once you've learned the best practice, we encourage staff to discuss local procedures and workflows in your units.
  • We also encourage everyone to come together in Learning Circles - either cross-functional within units or on the same functions across units - to discuss how the implementation is going and how the new features and workflows in Alma might change work at Harvard.
  • Please continue to use the LTS Alma Support form to ask questions and report issues with Alma data, workflows, or roles & permissions. Asking these questions, and working groups providing answers, is an important part of everyone learning more about Alma. You can find the link in the Notifications widget in Alma, along with the link to Alma documentation on the LTS wiki.
  • You have a 1-page handout that contains a link to the Alma sandbox, the wiki page for this class, and a few other useful links. (If there are other handouts, describe them.) The script and all materials for this class are available to review on the wiki, and will continue to be updated with any changes in procedures.

• Some quick logistics information: 

  • The nearest bathrooms & water supply are:
    • Lamont rooms: Restrooms are gendered by floor. Lamont 310 is on a men's room floor, Lamont B-30 is on a women's room floor.
    • 90 Mt Auburn: Two restrooms are on the opposite side of the building on the basement level, water is in the kitchenette and in a fountain by the restrooms
    • 625 Mass Ave: Restrooms are at the opposite end of the building on the 3rd floor, by the water fountain
  • Please ask questions when they come up; I will also pause between sections for questions and to make sure things are clear.

• Let's start by introducing ourselves. (Go around the room and ask everyone to share their name, library/unit, and how this class relates to their work.)

• Now, if you haven't already, please log in to Alma.

Alma Invoice Approval

General Background

In order to approve invoices in Alma you must have the “Invoice Manager” role authorized for a specific Technical Services Unit.  Invoice approval assignment is based on the owner of the Purchase Order (PO) and invoice. Each Technical Services Unit has a distinct set of budgets they are allowed to access based on the tub/org they service.

Invoices are approved on the "Waiting for approval" invoice page.  Each invoice has an action button (ellipses) that allows you to:

• Edit – make changes to and/or approve the invoice
• Assign To – send the invoice to the approval queue of a specific person
• Set back to Review – send the invoice back to the processor for correction 

Under the explanation point “!” you can also see any alerts that have been generated for the invoice.  Some examples are:

• Invoice contains vendor account which differs from one or more linked PO Lines
• Some Invoice Lines differ in price from their linked PO Line.
• Some Invoice lines are not linked to PO lines

Alerts should be reviewed for items that need to be corrected. If there are items to be corrected the invoice should be set back to review.  If the alerts do not need to be addressed, the invoices can be audited and approved.

The full invoice lifecycle is as follows:

1. Invoice Creation – status “In Review”
   1. Imported EDI
   2. Using a PO
   3. Manually created
   4. Submitted for approval but sent back to unit for correction.

     2.  Invoice processing – system checks to ensure all required data is present.  An alert will pop up if not all data has been entered.  Note that the “Reporting Code” does not generate an alert so it is important that this is manually checked before proceeding. - status “In Review”

     3.  Invoice approval – once the invoice is complete and the processor hits “save and continue” it moves into status “waiting for approval”.  The invoice is then reviewed and either sent back to the processor for corrections or approved.  If the invoice is approved it moves into the status “Ready to be Paid”

     4.  Payment - Invoices in the status ready to be paid are sent to Oracle AP nightly.  Once the invoice is sent it moves into payment status Paid and the invoice status is “Closed”

Once the invoice is sent to Oracle AP, the payment is made and all information related to the payment resides in Oracle.  You  must continue to use “AP Views” in Oracle to see payment information.

Searching for Invoices

There are many ways to find invoices in Alma.  We will review several today.  You should choose the method that most closely aligns with your audit and approval workflow.

In the first method, we will use the Acquisitions menu to find invoices waiting for approval.

1. Open the Acquisitions menu. Under Receiving and Invoicing, select Approve. This will show invoices at status “Waiting for Approval”. 

2. The results will open in the "Assigned to me" tab. These are invoices you have already viewed that are "Waiting for Approval".

3. To see all invoices waiting for approval that have not yet been assigned to you or previously viewed by you, click on the "Unassigned" tab.

4. To search for a particular Unassigned invoice to audit, enter the invoice number, vendor code, vendor name, or PO information by entering these values into the search box. You can further limit the search by selecting the specific field you would like to search.

5. I'm going to search for a particular unassigned invoice that I would like to audit by number.

6. Click on the invoice number to view the invoice details.
7. A second method for finding an invoice at "Waiting for Approval" status is to use the link in the tasks list from your home screen. From this screen, you can click on invoices assigned to you or invoices without assignement.

Let's practice finding a particular invoice in the Unassigned “Waiting for Approval” list.

Practice Time - Finding Invoices in the Waiting for Approval Tasklist.

A third method for quickly finding a specific invoice or all invoices for a vendor is to use the persistent search bar. Note, in this method, you will need to take an additional step to push the invoice to the task list for editing.

1. First, I will choose "Invoice" as the record type I would like to find.
2. I can then either type in the invoice number, vendor code, vendor name, or PO information. You can further limit the search by selecting the specific field you would like to search. I'm going to look for all YANKEE invoices.
3. I want to approve invoices, so I will use the In Approval facets to limit to that set. I can then select my invoice from the list, or add in the invoice number to refine the search further.
4. To move this to the task list for audit and approval, I need to click on the action button (ellipses) and choose "Go to task list"

Let's practice finding the same invoice from the first exercise using the persistent search bar and moving it to the task list.

Practice Time - Finding Invoices via the persistent search bar.

Auditing Invoice Data

 Now that I have found an invoice, I need to verify that the entered data matches the invoice data and that all data is complete with reporting code and appropriate allocated funds.

1. First, I will confirm that the vendor record associated with the invoice is correct. I will click on the Vendor Name for the invoice on the Waiting For Approval Screen to open the vendor record.
   1. "Name" on the summary tab should match the name on the vendor's invoice.
   2. "Payment Address" on the Contact Information tab should match the remit address on the vendor's invoice.
      
2. I will use the back arrow next to the Vendor Details screen to return to the "Waiting for Approvals" invoice list. If needed, I will click on "Assigned to Me" tab.
3. I will select Edit from the action button. This opens the invoice for review.
4. Then, I will review the summary screen. Note that the invoice is in Pending Status. I will confirm that the data on the summary tab matches the invoice, checking:
   1. "Total amount" matches "Total invoice lines amount"
   2. "Invoice number" matches invoice number on the vendor's invoice
   3. "Invoice date" matches invoice date on the vendor's invoice
   4. "Vendor account" selected is correct
   5. "Payment method" is correct.
      1. Invoices that will be sent to AP for payment should be marked "Accounting Department".
      2. Invoices that were pre-paid or paid outside of AP (deposit account, P-card, etc) should be marked "Adjustment".
      3. Invoices that require wire transfer should be marked "Wire Transfer". These are entered directly in HCOMM for payment.
5. Next, I will review the alerts tab (if the the blue dog ear display indicates alerts are present) to confirm if any of the alerts require action.
6. Then, I will review the invoice lines by clicking the Invoice Lines tab. The display includes the line #, type, price, total price, status of each line, purchase description, fund which lists the fund codes, and PO line #. These should match the vendor's invoice.
7. For each invoice line, I need to click on line number to confirm the reporting code is accurate. When this data is verified, I click on the back arrow next to Invoice Line Details to return to the Invoices Lines tab.
8. After all of the invoice lines are confirmed, click on the notes tab (if the the blue dog ear display indicates notes are present) to see if any additional action is needed.
9. The invoice is now verified and I can click Approve.
   1. Data for "Accounting Department" invoices will be sent to AP during the next export. At that time, they will be marked as closed.
   2. "Adjustment" and "Wire Transfer" invoices will immediately be marked as closed on approval.

Practice Time - Auditing and Approving Invoices

Invoices with Errors

Workflows for resolving keying errors will vary by unit.  Invoices can be sent back to units for errors resolution, or your local workflow may be to resolve issues directly and approve.  We are outlining common error conditions and possible resolution paths below. If I find incomplete or incorrect invoice information during the audit process that needs to be resolved by the department that created the invoice, I can send the invoice back to the submitter using the Need Additional Review button in the Edit Invoice Screen.

1. First, I will find an invoice, confirm the vendor information, and follow the process for audit from earlier.
2. In reviewing the invoice lines, I see that several of the invoice lines do not have a reporting code entered.
3. I will click on the "Need Additional Review" button at the top of the Invoice Details screen.
4. I will choose "Disapproval Reason" Fund Issue and enter a "Disapproval Note" of "All line items must have reporting code 1 entered".
5. I will hit confirm.
6. I now need to assign this to an operator to review. I search for this invoice in the invoice lines.
7. I select the Assign to Contact from the list of operators.
8. Then I will select send as e-mail.
9. Finally, I will click "Assign To".
10. The invoice will appear in the task list

Practice Time - Returning and Invoice for Review

Alternative Workflow

Units may prefer to audit invoice data from an analytics report, rather than online. If your unit would like to do this, please submit an Alma Support Ticket and LTS will created a canned report for your Technical Services Department.

Additional topics

Some other topics that are important with regard to Invoices are:

You can find documentation about these 2 areas on the wiki, here:

Closing

In the next day or two, you'll receive an email that includes an evaluation for this class. Please take a few moments to fill it out - your feedback will help us improve this class and will help me improve my training skills. 

If you have any questions, use the LTS Alma Support form in the Notifications wiki to submit them.

Is everyone signed up for the next class in their sequence, or would you like more information about that class?