Electronic Invoicing Accounting User s Guide Version 5.X

Transcription

1 Electronic Invoicing Accounting User s Guide Version 5.X December 2017

2 Copyright Information While EleVia Software has attempted to make the information in this document accurate and complete, some typographical or technical errors may exist. EleVia Software is not responsible for any kind of loss resulting from the use of this publication. This page shows the original publication date. The information contained in this publication is subject to change without notice. Any improvements or changes to the product will be documented in subsequent updates. This publication contains proprietary information which is protected by copyright. All rights are reserved. No part of this document may be electronically reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, or translated into another language, without the prior written consent of EleVia Software. This edition published December 2017 Copyright Unpublished-rights reserved under the copyright laws of the United States. Unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this program or any portion thereof could result in severe civil or criminal penalties. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. 1

3 Contents Overview... 3 Using Electronic Invoicing... 4 Application Layout... 4 Header Bar... 4 Project Main Grid... 7 Sub Project Grid... 8 PDF Tool Bar... 8 PDF Panel... 8 Terminology... 9 Project Set Up Creating Invoice Drafts and Unbilled Detail Reports Invoice Review Process Final Invoice Process % Complete Window PDF Toolbar Add Doc Feature Upload / View / Edit Documents Column Filter Capability History Grid View Options Input Column Options Final Packaging Existing Content Template Content Create Final Package in EI Troubleshooting Invoices not saving to EI Folder Initial s are not being sent

4 Overview EleVia Software s Electronic Invoicing (EI) allows for managing, tracking, reviewing and approving invoices in a single, streamlined, paperless process. Designed for AEC and professional service firms that use Deltek Vision, Electronic Invoicing streamlines and automates the traditionally complex invoice approval process. Use this intuitive software to control everything within one application that shortens the review cycle, tracks progress, and increases cash flow. Save time. Electronic Invoicing automates several steps in the process. It notifies reviewers when invoices are ready for review and informs the Accounting department when invoices are approved for processing. You can eliminate time spent combing records to locate a specific document, exchanging marked-up hard copies or waiting for overnight packages to arrive. Data can flow into Vision directly from EI. With EI, project managers spend less time on invoices and more time with clients. Go paperless. Review and approve invoices without exchanging a single piece of paper, fax or . As soon as invoices are generated in Vision, they are available in EI. Users can markup PDFs and offer comments or approval from any location with Internet access, via company VPN or Citrix. There is no need to distribute, retrieve or store paper copies. Regain control. Electronic Invoicing creates a consolidated overview of every invoice routed for review and approval. This makes it easy to see, at a glance, how many invoices are outstanding, which reviewers have responded with comments and which reviewers still need to provide feedback. EI also retains comments and messages, details frequently lost once the project is billed. The user-friendly Electronic Invoicing interface is integrated directly into Vision. Accounting teams can easily prepare invoices for review, grouping them to match the way the firm does business. When users log in, they see a complete list of the invoices they need to review. Without leaving the application, reviewers can markup invoices, add clarifying comments (e.g. don t bill this month, bill time but not expenses, or write off 20 hours ), insert values EI can write data into Vision, and send messages to the Accounting department. The software features automatic tracking and an audit trail for every invoice 3

5 Using Electronic Invoicing Application Layout Header Bar Grid menu will display a dropdown with the following options: o Print o Export to Excel o Clear Grid Filters Will clear any filters set on the main grid columns. o o o o o o *Enable Grouping This function will allow the user to group a particular column for quick summary view. Paired with Enable Summaries for the sum type to display. Enable Fixed Headers Freeze columns on the left *Enable Summaries- This option will allow the user to choose a function for a particular column (e.g. Total, Average, Count, etc.) Align Columns This option will align WBS2 /3 columns with the main grid. Maximize at Launch When checking this option, the user will make the EI window maximize on subsequent launches rid State Save selected grid options for future EI sessions or clear existing saved grid options *Additional information will follow in this document Invoice Group menu, available for Accounting users only. In the above image, Amy is the selected Invoice Group. It dictates what projects are loaded into the main project grid. By default, all non- dormant regular projects in that Invoice Group load into the grid. However, this project selection can be overridden via EI Configuration. Projects are assigned to an Invoice Group in the Project Info Center. Two options are available to control the bill through date for updating the information displayed in the main and sub grid, the Column Period or Column thru Date. This should be set by accounting each bill cycle. 4

6 Transactions EleVia Transactions is an additional sub-module. Not all installations will have this option. For additional information, refer to the EleVia Transactions User Guide. Messages The Messages window pop up feature allows users to view and add messages. As the user changes projects in the grid, the Messages window tracks the selected project. The user can copy and paste the contents of the message window. This feature may be enabled for all users or Accounting only. % Complete - A pop up grid feature for projects billed other than T&M. The user will enter the amount to bill in this grid, as opposed to opening the project s Billing Terms. This grid can be set to a single project view, or all projects. More information concerning the % Complete grid appears later in this document. 5

7 Reset Visible - This feature is used to change the Invoice Stage of multiple invoices at one time. The most common use is to set multiple projects to the Review stage at the beginning of the billing cycle. As mentioned above, by using the filter option, the user can identity what projects to reset. EX: users can filter for a specific Reviewer, then use the reset visible for those projects only. Utilities - A dropdown menu with options including to refresh the grid and refresh stages, Based on user roles and permissions, not all users will see all options. 6

8 Project Main Grid The project grid has 6 standard columns in all installations: o Project Number o Project Name o Stage Flow o Invoice Stage o History Icon o Add Docs Columns to the right of the standard columns are User Defined Columns (UDCs). These columns are unique per firm. User defined columns can show many types of data. One type will require SQL knowledge to create. Others are based on custom EI Fields within the Project Info Center, additional modules (e.g. CCG s Accounts Receivable Management and Collections) or add on features with EI. Companies can restrict access by type of user (accounting versus nonaccounting). They can also limit UDC s to only the project level or make them available to all levels of the WBS. The following column types require SQL: o Display columns Display columns are read-only; i.e. they can display any data that exists in the Vision database. o Drilldown columns Drilldown columns may or may not display unique data per row, but when clicked, will open a user-defined web window showing additional information. For instance, a drilldown column JTD Billed would display a pop up window showing all invoices with the invoice number, date, and amount broken out by invoice section. o Input columns Input columns will be used to add comments for a particular stage change (ex. Hold invoice reason why would be entered into this column). This column will update a field in the project info center. o Both display columns and input columns require SQL knowledge in order to create them. Each column has filtering capability. Details for filtering will follow in this document. 7

9 Sub Project Grid The sub-grid is configured to display the user defined columns at the WBS2 and WBS3 level of the project. PDF Tool Bar The PDF Toolbar provides the ability to mark up the Invoice and Unbilled Detail Report. If the firm uses Vision s Transactional Document Management (TDM), A/P invoices and expense receipts are visible directly within EI. Using the C and E dropdown menu, the user will have the option to view billed and unbilled invoices and receipts. If the C or E are not red, EI could not find any documents. More information on the various toolbar options will follow in this document. PDF Panel The PDF Panel displays the invoice PDF and the associated Unbilled Detail Report, if selected in batch billing The PDF panel will also display the final invoice and related back up if the client uses Final Packaging. During the billing cycle, any edits made to the PDF by the Project Team will display in the PDF Panel. 8

10 Terminology Invoice Group - The purpose of the Invoice Group is to group related projects some firms group invoices by Biller, organization or client. Firms can also use a 2 nd level of invoice group to further stratify the projects. For example, a firm may have 3 billing cycles under each biller. Projects within an invoice group will have the same bill through date or period, allowing for multiple billing cycles within the month. Users can select the Invoice Group as a filter when using Batch Billing. Invoice groups provide flexibility in organizing projects, giving Billers an easy way to process similar projects. Invoice Stage Flow - The Invoice Stage Flow dictates two things: o Which EI Roles will have access to invoice data, on a per project basis o The order in which the EI roles (employees) have access to the invoices Invoice Stages The Invoice Stage is the status of the invoice during the review process. Invoice Folders - The Invoice Folders dictate where the client will store the project s documents (draft invoice, Unbilled Detail Report and final invoices). Invoices normally reside on a shared system drive. Roles EI roles are Vision Project Info Center user defined fields created to identify the individuals included in the project s review and approval process. Final Invoice Packaging - This optional feature allows a firm to define dynamic and static content to include in the final invoice package. If a firm uses Vision s TDM (Transactional Document Management), Final Packaging will include A/P invoices and employee expense receipts. Firms can also create additional documents based on predefined templates. Examples of templates are timesheets and expense reports specific to that project (no more redacting!) and progress reports. Accounting defines, at the project level, the templates to include when generating a document package to accompany the client s invoice. 9

11 Project Set Up For invoices to route correctly in Electronic Invoicing, the Project Info Center requires additional fields: o Invoice Group o Invoice Folders ( Draft and Final) o Invoice Stage Flow o Each project will have all EI fields for roles. However, only the roles, based on the project s stage flow, need to be populated (ex below: Stage flow is Approval Required. The biller must add employees to the Reviewer and Approver fields for proper flow) Firms can create a Vision workflow to populate these fields when a new project is created. For existing projects, clients can use the Vision Search and Replace utility to update these fields. 10

12 Creating Invoice Drafts and Unbilled Detail Reports At the beginning of the billing cycle, the Billers will run draft invoices and the Unbilled Detail Report (if normally included) in Batch Billing. A Biller can create an invoice for a single project through Interactive Billing, if no Unbilled Detail Report is required. The printer settings for both methods of creating an invoice are pictured below. Please note: Clients running Vision V7.1 cannot use Interactive Billing to create their draft invoices. For Batch Billing, use the detail setting below. Only check the Unbilled Detail Report if your process requires it. 11

13 When setting the invoice criteria for the initial draft run, the best practice is to run them by Invoice Group for firms with a large number of invoices. Other options to limit the batch run is to filter by Invoice Group, then Reviewer, as depicted below, or Project Manager, Organization, etc. After the batch completes, the drafts and Unbilled Detail Report (if selected) will display in the Biller s EI grid. The Biller should reset projects with new drafts to the Accounting Stage. Filter the projects by Invoice Stage use the Reset Visible option to change the Invoice Stage to Accounting. A good practice is to review the draft invoice and Unbilled Detail Report for accuracy. Once completed, the Biller will now change the stage to Review. An will trigger alerting the first person in the review process that an invoice requiring an action is in their EI Grid. 12

14 In the example above, the Reviewer is the first person in the approval process. The column will highlight, alerting the Biller to where the invoice is in the review process. Firms define the colors to use in role columns. Based on the Invoice Stage Flow, when the Reviewer has completed reviewing the invoice, it may be sent to the Approver. In this example, the Reviewer will change the Invoice Stage to Approver, an will trigger alerting the Approver that they have an invoice requiring an action in their EI Grid. The Approver Column will now highlight, alerting the Biller to where the invoice is in the review process 13

15 Invoice Review Process During the review process, the Project Team will mark up the PDF s with instructions on holds, transfers, etc. The Biller will make these changes in Interactive Billing and based on the Invoice Stage, will send out the invoice for re-review or final the invoice. The firm can have multiple Invoice Stage Flows. However, only one is assigned to each project. The Invoice Stages will vary based on your business need. Below are some common examples and descriptions. Stage Flow - The invoice review process will vary based on the Stage Flow selected for each project. Examples : o Reviewer- Approver - In this Stage Flow, the initial draft will go to the assigned Reviewer, then pass on to the assigned Approver. o Approver Only - In this Stage Flow, the invoice will go only to the Approver Invoice Stages - This value determines the routing of the invoice through the review process. Firms define a role s available Invoice Stages in EI Configuration. Firms can name and define their Invoice Stages to fit their business processes. Firms also decide which roles receive s at a stage change. The following Invoice Stages are examples used by some firms: o o o o o o o o o o Accounting - The default stage at the opening of the billing cycle. Review - The initial stage to start the approval process. Approver A stage set by the Reviewer or Accounting to send the invoice to the Approver. Revise and Return A stage set by the Reviewer/Approver to send the invoice back to the Biller requesting a revised draft based on changes made by the Project Team. Re-Review A stage the Biller sets to send the revised invoice to the Reviewer/Approver. Invoice as Is A stage used by the Reviewer/Approver if the invoice doesn t require changes. Invoice as Noted Used by the Reviewer/Approver instructing the Biller to make noted changes and send the invoice. Do Not Bill This Month or Hold Stages used by the Reviewer/Approver if no invoice will be sent this month. Firms can require comments for these stages. Write-Off Approved - This stage can be set by the Approver if the invoice will be written off. Final The Biller sets this stage once the invoice is completed. It signifies that the Final Invoice went to the client. 14

16 Final Invoice Process Once the invoice review process is completed, the Biller can finalize the invoice. The Biller will finalize the invoice in Interactive Billing or Batch Billing. Use the same Save Reports to the Application Server print function to send the invoices into EI. Now that the invoice has been finalized, change the Invoice Stage to Final in the EI grid. The final invoice will appear in the left side of the PDF Panel. If you organization uses the Final Packaging feature, the final package will display on the right of the PDF Panel. At the start of the next billing cycle, some projects may still be in process. To avoid creating a new draft for these projects (which will overwrite the one in EI), Accounting can filter out projects by Invoice Stage in the advanced filters option of Batch Billing. 15

17 % Complete Window A pop up grid feature for projects billed other than T&M. The user will enter the amount to bill in this grid, as opposed to opening the project s Billing Terms. Firms have the option to automatically update, from EI, the project s Vision Billing Terms with these values. Once completed, the user will Save to Vision on each project. The Save Visible will update the record in Vision with the changes. Accounting users have the ability to see only one project at a time or multiple projects The % Complete Grid follows the EI main grid project filter options Read-only rows are supported for non-accounting users, e.g. PMs The grid menu has the Enable Summaries options, same as the EI main grid Current Units and Units to Date input columns allow users to indicate the desired fee billing by specifying the number of units to bill. This option must be enabled in EI Configuration and values are only allowed on rows with unit-based fee billing terms for the project. 16

18 Billing groups are treated the same as on the main EI grid. The Scheduled Billing grid is visible (no modifications from within EI). Ability to modify Vision s Billing Terms from EI (if allowed via security). An advanced option To show the Roles columns in the % complete grid as shown here in red: 17

19 Field Chooser option will allow the user to select additional columns to view in the % complete window 18

20 PDF Toolbar Open the folder that contains the current project s PDF documents. This feature can be used to: Open a different PDF into the right-side window (e.g. the previous draft invoice) Open a PDF via the user s default PDF software (e.g. to see the current 2 PDFs and last month s draft invoice) Quickly the current PDF to another employee Save the PDF files Print either or both PDF files. May choose to print comment and annotations under print options Pan the document by holding and dragging the mouse Move, resize or delete PDF annotations. Attempting to modify someone else s annotation will result in an error dialog box stating the annotation creator and creation date. Select and highlight text in a color defined in EI Configuration (Roles Tab). Add a sticky note. The size and position of the sticky note window is user defined. This window can be closed, and when re-opened via double-click, will appear inthe same location with the same size. Add a callout textbox a textbox with an arrow. The initial click is the location for the head of the arrow, second click is the bend in the arrow, and third click is the textbox s location. Remember Add a textbox click and drag the location/size of the textbox, enter the text, then click somewhere else on the document. Users can modify the text when the hand tool is selected, by double-clicking the text. Use the mouse or ctrl-left arrow or ctrlright arrow to move within the text. Add raw text to the document. Select the top-left position of the first character. Raw text can be modified when the hand tool is selected, by double-clicking the text. Use the mouse or ctrl-left arrow or ctrl-right arrow to move within the text. Add an arrow Add a line 19

21 Add a rectangle Add an oval Add freeform drawing Merge PDF documents onto the back end of either the draft invoice or the Unbilled DetailReport. Fit the PDF width to the view area Sets PDF view to single page scrolling mode Sets PDF view to multiple pages side-by-side Zoom in to the area selected by a rectangle Zoom out via rectangular area Zoom in 10% Zoom out 10% Rotate the document left 90 degrees Rotate the document right 90 degrees Brings up a search dialog same as ctrl-f key. A/P invoices - Will display unbilled and billed, by date. Red signifies existing documents Expense receipts - Will display unbilled and billed, by date. Grey signifies no documents Based on role configuration, users may not have access to all PDF tools. 20

22 Add Doc Feature Many clients require additional documents to be included with their invoice. This may be a Lien Waiver, Progress Report, Cover letter, etc. and these documents may be in various file types. Your client may also have a specific invoice format and you do not send the system generated invoice. Using the Add Doc feature, Accounting and the Project team will be able to upload various document types (Excel, Word, PDFs, s, and jpg files) within EI and have the ability to edit these documents. This feature eliminates the need to send s back and forth between Accounting and the Project Team. Another benefit to this feature is that everyone will be working in the same file, to avoid incorrect information going to the client. If your organization uses Final Packaging, these documents can automatically be included in the final invoice package. Upload / View / Edit Documents To upload a document, click in the body of the Add Docs column and a pop up window will open. Simply click Upload and choose the document to upload and Save. This document is now attached to the project and may be viewed, edited and saved within EI. Note: must be on a shared location for all users to access the file. The document will stay attached until the user deletes the file from the Add Docs in EI and the File Name in the Project Info Center 21

23 In the Project Info Center there will be a new file path for Invoice Supp Docs. This folder will sit within the same folder path as the projects finals and drafts. When files are uploaded via Add Docs in EI, the files are attached to the project and the File path will be visible in the Project Info Center 22

24 Column Filter Capability Each column in the EI Grid has a detailed filter option. When the mouse pointer enters the filter cell above a column, the user will see four parts to the filter. The first blue box will open a drop down menu with filter options such as Starts With, Contains etc. For example, the user may only want to view projects with numbers that start with 199. When the user begins to type 199 in the white box, the filter will display only those project numbers that fit the criteria ( starts with 199) The second option is the dropdown arrow. This option displays a list of all the values in that column and some additional choices such as Custom. The Filter icon with a diagonal line will clear the filter on that column. 23

25 History The history of the project review and approval process for all of the project s invoices can be viewed by clicking on the button. A window will pop up displaying the history, with date and time stamp, for each action taken on that project. Messages are also displayed in this window. 24

26 Grid View Options Enable Summary o When the Enable Summary option is checked in the Grid View, the user will see the sum symbol on top of the applicable columns. Click on Select Summaries and choose the desired function. This option is also on option to set at the WBS 2 and 3 level. o Each column will now display the summary results at the bottom of the grid. Grouping o If the user selects the Grouping option, a new field will appear on the Header bar: 25

27 o For example, by dragging the Reviewer column from the header bar, the user will see a quick recap of the totals for each Reviewer based on the columns chosen to summarize. o To un-group invoices, drag the selected column back to the main grid.. 26

28 Input Column Options This menu is only used for input columns that are defined as part of the User Defined Columns. The options under the dropdowns are all based on how the input columns are setup and where the data is being saved for each column. Reset Visible This function only resets values inside of Electronic Invoicing. What is does is refreshes the grid back to the original value in the input column. If the value is only saved in Electronic Invoicing tables then the values will be cleared. If the value is saved ultimately in Vision then this resets the EI input column to the value saved in Vision tables. Update Visible This function is only used when an input value EI has to be approved by an accounting user first before it updates a Vision table. Basically a mechanism to approve input values before updating Vision. Vision Clear This function is used to clear input values that are saved in Vision. Different than Reset Visible which only clears EI. This function only clears the data in Vision. If Vision is the source of the values being displayed in the input column, once Vision is cleared, EI will be cleared by either using Refresh or Reset Visible.. 27

29 Final Packaging When Electronic Invoicing packaging functionality is enabled, a group of user defined fields will be added to the project info center. All packaging content is selected and ordered here the way you would like them included in the final package. Then each piece of content has its own options for how it is displayed. Some of the options for the built-in content are configured using these fields in the Project Info Center. Other options are template-based and will be controlled in the EI template setup. Existing Content Vision Client Invoice The client invoice from Vision is often the main document to be sent to the client. In some cases this may be the only document and packaging may be used to simply attach the invoice to a template-based that is sent to the client. For Final Invoice Packaging, the Vision final client invoice must be generated as a PDF. The packaging functionality will locate the invoice file PDF where Electronic Invoicing is configured to store them (Invoice Folder Finals). Providing a numeric value in the Include Invoice field both includes the invoice in the package and determines the order relative to other content included. The Include Invoice Markup option will control if any markup on the document will be included in the package. Only markup from Electronic Invoicing is supported with this feature.. 28

30 A/P Invoices and Expenses from Vision TDM If you are using Vision 7.1 or later with Transaction Document Management enabled, you will be able to include any A/P documents or expense receipts linked to the invoice. If you are using EleVia s Payables Approval and Tracking software to manage you re A/P invoices, you will be able to include any A/P document linked to the invoice. Providing a numeric value in these Include fields both includes the content in the package and determines the order relative to other content included. The Include Markup option will control if any markup on the document will be included in the package. Only markup from Electronic Invoicing is supported with this feature. A minimum value can be configured to exclude items below the amount provided, otherwise when blank all documents found will be included regardless of the amount. Lastly, the Sub/Exp Order field can be used to control the order of transactional documents relative to each other. By default, items are ordered to match the order they appear on the invoice. Other options (which can be added to the dropdown) include WBS, Date, Amount, and Amount Desc. Template Content The remaining content types for Final Invoice Packaging uses templates to generate content. The template name for , Timesheet, and User Documents (if type equals Template ) grid must match a template defined in Electronic Invoicing Template Configuration. The template must be of type, the others can be any of the remaining types. The User Documents grid has three columns; order, type, and document. Order works like the Include fields, where it is a numeric value that indicates its order in the package. Type can be File or Template. If Doc Type is File, the document field will be the UNC path to a file. If type is Template, the document field will be a template name pointing to an EI template.. 29

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32 Create Final Package in EI Once Final Packaging is enabled in EI, the final package icon will appear in the main grid at the project level. Click on the icon to open the Package Builder. Choose the invoice from the dropdown that the user will be working with ( can be draft or final) Click on Create Package. Based on the information populated in the Project info Center, this action will pull in all the required documents for that invoice package.. 31

33 Edits to the document pages can be done by right clicking while in the document( EI 5.5 ) or by using the toolbar. Note: If changes are made, the user will need to save the document in this screen to refelct any changes made to the package. Once completed, the user has the ability to the invoice package directly to the client from EI. An tempalte must be created in order to use this option.. 32

34 Troubleshooting Invoices not saving to EI Folder Did Vision generate the invoices? The IT department should verify if the PDFs exist on the Vision web server or process server. If the PDFs are there, then Vision properly created the invoices. If the invoices are not in the Vision folder, the user may have improperly ran the batch in Batch Billing by not clicking on Save the PDF s to the Application Server. If the PDFs are in the Vision folder but not moved to the EI project folder, IT should verify that the CCG Invoice Watcher Windows Service is installed and running. Once the service starts, it will move the PDFs to the EI folders. If the invoices don t automatically move after restarting the Invoice Watcher Service, IT can simply move the PDFs to another location and then back into the Vision folder. The Invoice Watcher will then move them to the EI folders. Check the print settings : \ 33

35 The invoice folder in the Project Info center is empty or invalid Note: The invoice watcher will create the project folders on your system drive not in the project info center. That field is manually added or through a vision workflow There needs to be a stage flow in the project and invoice group listed The user does not have access to the Invoice Folder Do not include to print supporting back up documents in project billing terms, this will not produce the invoice if that box is checked in billing terms. (vision 7.5 and below) \ 34

36 Initial s are not being sent Check the Server information in EI Configuration under the Settings tab. If a new server was added, the IT department will need to redirect the s to the new server.it must restart the Service. Verify that the Roles Stage Flow options concerning s are set correctly in EI configuration Try to stop and restart the watcher. Are any messages in the message queue \ 35