This is a Quick Reference Guide for approving, denying, cancelling, holding, reevaluating and/or redirecting invoices. Steps to apply an available credit to an Invoice before approving it are also included. 

Approve Invoices

Fund Accounting > Billing > Entry-Approval > Approve Invoices > Search 

1.   Year – Select the year of the invoices to be approved, redirected, reevaluated, etc.

2.   Approval Route – Selecting an Approval Route will limit the displayed invoices to the specific selected Approval Route.

3.   Building – Selecting a Building will limit the displayed invoices to the specific Building used during Invoice Entry.

4.   Status – Displays invoices matching the selected status.  NOTE: The FIS system will default to the status of Submitted when this menu item is selected.

5.    Invoice Type – Displays invoices that match the selected Invoice Type. This field is used when Importing Invoices and the dropdown list may be empty if you do not import invoices.

NOTE:  The Approval Route, Building, and  Invoice Type  are not required fields.  If a selection is not made, all Invoices in the selected Year and with the selected Status will display. Making selections will limit the Invoices available based on criteria selected. 

6.   Current Username is – This will default to Approver.   If you are an Alternate Approver trying to approve an invoice, you will need to change this dropdown to Alternate Approver (or Both).

7.   Current Plus Lower Approval Route Steps – Selecting this checkbox will bypass a lower step on an Approval Route. This is helpful if someone on the Approval Route is out of the office and an Alternate Approver is not set up. Selecting the checkbox permits the Approval Process to continue.  

8.   Search – Select this button to display Invoices mathcing the selected criteria in the grid.

9.   Reset – Select this button to clear out all previously selected search options and return only the default values.

10. Action – Each Action is defined below.  Select the option for the the Action that is to occur.  This field defaults to Approve but the other options are available within the selection box.  NOTE: Cancel and Deny have the same meaning.

Approve – This action moves the invoice to the next step on the Approval Route.  If you are the Final Approver on the Approval Route, the Invoice will be finalized at this point. (Only the Final Approver can apply a credit.) 

Cancel/Deny – This action changes the Invoice stautus from one of the other default statuses (Submitted, Out of Balance, Overdrawn) and prevents accidental approval while maintianing an audit trailof what Invoices were submitted or reached your approval level. 

Hold– Similar to the Cancel/Deny options, this action changes the Invoice status from one of the default statuses (Submitted, Out of Balance, Overdrawn) to prevent accidental approval.

Redirect – Use this option to send the invoice to a previous Approval ste or to the user who entered the Invoice.  When redirected to the user who entered the invoice, updates to the information can be made and the Invoice can be re-submitted for Approval.  The Approver redirecting the Invoice is also able to Add a Step Note explaining the reason for redirecting the Invoice.  This can be accomplished by selecting the Add link in the Step Note column.

 11. Start Invoice #/End Invoice # - This option allows the user to specify a numerical range of currently displayed invoices to Approve, eliminating the need to select each Invoice individually. 

This step must be done before you approve the Invoice.

12.  Apply Available Credit–. If there is a credit due to a customer, only the Final Approver has the ability to apply the credit to the Invoice(s). Applying a credit will reduce the balance owed to the  district.

In the example below, the 76ers are being invoiced for $5,000 on the originally submitted Invoice, but they have a credit of $1,000 from a prior invoice; this will result in them owing the district $4,000 on Invoice 230000027.

13. Select All – Selects all the Invoices displayed.  (Users always have the option to manually select individual Invoices within the grid by selecting the checkbox to the left of each Invoice number.)

14. Clear All – This unselects the checkbox on all selected invoices within the grid.

15.  Save – After the Invoices are checked for the selected action, select the Save button to complete the process.

Once the Save button has been selected, the Invoice(s) will move to the next step of the Approval Process, or if approved by the Final Approver, the Invoice(s) can be printed.