Summary

The fiscal year the invoices in the batch are expensed and the payment date are both defined during the Settings step of the Invoices process (AP> Invoices> Settings).

The fiscal year determines:

• which fiscal year the invoices will be expensed
• which purchase orders can be attached to the invoices in the batch

The payment date can be used to select which invoice to include in a Computer Checks batch (AP> Computer Checks> Select Invoices> Date To and Date From field).

The fiscal period the invoices are expensed isn't defined until the GL Distribution step (AP> Invoices> GL Distribution).

Step by Step

1     Open or create a new invoices batch.

• Open the Invoices Batches window (AP> Invoices). The Batches window will display all the open Invoices batches.
• Select a batch and click DETAILS to open the selected batch.
• Select a batch and click the Delete button to delete the selected batch. All uncommitted invoices in the batch will be deleted.
• Click the Create New Batch button to create a new batch. This will open the Create Batch window.
  • If there are open batches in the Invoices process, you can create a new batch without affecting the open batches.
• The Batch Month and Batch Year fields default to the current date and are used for reference only and do not affect the transaction or journal entry date of the transactions in the batch. The fiscal period the transactions are posted to is determined by the journal entry date entered when creating the GL Distribution report.
  • The payment date of the billing is set up in the Generate step and the fiscal period the transactions are posted to is determined by the Journal Entry Date entered when creating the GL Distribution Report (AP> Invoices> GL Distribution).
• Click CREATE to create the new Invoices batch.

2     Open the Batch Overview page.

• The Batch Overview page provides a general overview of the selected batch.
• The left navigation menu displays all the steps in the Invoices process.
• In the main section you'll see information about batch steps that are currently processing, next available batch steps, and the last completed batch step.
  • Batch steps that are currently processing will display a blue indicator bar to alert you that the step has not yet completed.
  • Once the preceding batch step is complete, the next available batch steps will be enabled and you can select the next step you would like to run.
    • While some batch steps are optional, any batch step that includes the Required tag   must be completed before the batch is allowed to proceed through to the Commit step.
• The Batch Outputs section on the right will display any reports or exports that have already been generated in the Invoices process.

3     Set the fiscal year and payment date of the invoices that will be processed in the batch.

• Select Settings from the Invoices menu. This will open the Settings window.
• The Payment Date field is used to enter the default payment date of the invoices in the batch. When invoices are selected for payment in a Computer Checks batch (AP> Computer Checks> Select Invoices), you can select the invoices that will be paid in the batch by payment date. For example, if you set the payment date of a group of invoices to 11/30/24, you will know these invoices should be paid by 11/30/24. The Payment Date field will default to the current date when the Settings window is opened.
  • When invoices are created in the Invoices batch (AP> Invoices> Invoices), the value entered in this field will default as the payment date on each invoice. You will be able to modify the default payment date when you are creating the invoice if the default value does not apply to a specific invoice.
  • If there is a discount set up on a vendor record (AP> Maintenance> Vendor> General tab> Terms and Discount Percentage field), the discount will be applied if the terms value is less than the payment date minus the invoice date set up on each invoice line item.
• The Fiscal Year field is used to set the fiscal year of the invoices being generated in the Invoices batch. The selection in this field also determines which purchase orders can be invoiced in the batch. For example, if a purchase order is set up in fiscal year 2024, you can only invoice that purchase order in Invoices batches set to 2024. If you would like to invoice a purchase order set up in 2024 in fiscal year 2025, roll the purchase order into fiscal year 2025 using the Roll Over Purchase Orders process (PO> Roll Over POs).
  • The fiscal year of a purchase order is set up during the Setting step of the Purchase Orders process (PO> Purchase Orders> Settings> Fiscal Year field).
  • When you generate a journal entry of the invoices in the batch using the GL Distribution step (AP> Invoices> GL Distribution), the fiscal year of the journal entry must match the fiscal year selected in this field.
  • The fiscal period that the invoices in the batch will be expensed is determined by the journal entry date entered during the GL Distribution step (AP> Invoices> GL Distribution).
• Click the Submit button when complete to save the settings.

4     Upload invoices in the AI Document Readers step.

5     Import invoices. This is an optional step.

• The Import Invoices feature is used to import invoices into the AP module.
• Open the Import window (AP> Invoices> Import).
• Click the SELECT FILE button to browse to the import file or drag and drop the file into the area to the right of the button.
  • The import file format must match the File Type selected below.
• The File Type drop-down menu is used to select the type of file you are importing.
  • The File Type drop-down menu will display all the AP Invoices configurable import files created in the application. Custom import configuration files are created and maintained on the Import Configuration Maintenance window (SS> Maintenance> Import Configuration). 
  • Select Standard if you would like to import a Springbrook format file. The Springbrook format file contains all of the information associated with an invoice.
• Click VIEW LAYOUT/FORMAT to display the expected format of the imported file.
• Check the Override Invoice Date toggle to enable the Invoice Date field above so a new invoice date can be specified.
  • By default, the Invoice Date will be set to the current date.
• Click the Submit button to import the invoices file.
• New temporary and/or permanent vendors will be automatically created if the import file is set up to do so.
• If your organization uses Multi-Muni Relational Databases:
  • The system will validate that PM Task Codes and PM Type Codes on invoices being imported from the child database do in fact exist in the parent database.
  • Any Purchase Order information on the child database invoices will be removed when they are imported into the parent database.
• Imported invoice line items will be subject to invoice number validation based on the Validate Invoice Line Item has Invoice Number field on the Invoices tab of the AP Setup screen. User may be required to specify invoice numbers for line items on the Invoices step based on this setting.

6     View the invoices in the batch.

• The Invoice Selection window displays all of the invoices in the batch and is used to create invoices, create recurring invoices and delete or modify uncommitted invoices.
• Open the Invoice Selection window (AP> Invoices> Invoices).
• The Invoice Selection window will display all of the invoices that have been created in the batch.
• Select an invoice and click DELETE to delete the selected invoice. This will delete the invoice and remove it from the database; this will not void the invoice. If you would like to void a committed invoice, use the Void Invoices process (AP> Void Invoices).
• Click GENERATE RECURRING if you would like to generate invoices using recurring invoices.
  • Recurring invoices are created and maintained using the Recurring Invoices window (AP> Maintenance> Recurring Invoices).
• Select an invoice and click EDIT to open the selected invoice.
• Click ADD to create a new invoice. This will open the Edit Invoices window.

7     Create an invoice and add invoice line items.

8     Commit the Invoices batch.

• Once the invoices have been added to the batch, generate the reports and commit the batch so that the invoices can be paid using the Computer Checks process.