Understanding Invoice Disputes

In eSettlements, an invoice cannot be paid until a related dispute is resolved. The system prevents the invoice schedule from being selected for payment. An invoice can consist of multiple payment schedules. Therefore, when you place an invoice on hold, the payment schedule is actually on hold, and the invoice can be partially paid.

If an invoice has multiple payment installments or schedules, you may place one or all of the schedules on hold. To place an entire invoice in dispute—preventing any payment of it—you must put in dispute all payment schedules associated with that invoice. If you place a hold on only one installment of a multiple installment invoice, then all other installments remain eligible to pay.

Invoice payment schedules can be placed on hold at any point in the business process until the actual time of payment. Dispute initiation by the buyer triggers email notification to the recipients specified in the buyer notification setup for the Dispute - Payment Schedules notification type. The supplier can then view the disputed invoice and enter comments for the buyer. Both invoice schedule and line disputes must be resolved before an invoice schedule can be selected for payment.

Saving a new dispute automatically triggers email notification to the supplier. After the dispute is resolved, the system sends the resolution email message to the appropriate roles and user IDs (which are specified during email notification setup) when the buyer clicks Save with the Hold Payment check box deselected and new comments entered.

Buyers can override registration-level notification setup at the agreement level. That way, a different role or user ID can receive the email notifications according to the particular buyer-supplier location combination. The system first checks the agreement level to identify the roles and user IDs that are recipients of dispute notifications. If at the agreement level the user accepted the default email notification definitions, then the default originates at the SetID level for each buyer.

Ensure that the Instant Messenger Access check boxes are selected on the Review Buyer Details - Registration page and the Review Supplier Details - Registration page to enable the parties to use the instant messaging feature. You must also enter instant messaging IDs on the Review User Profiles - Buyer User Details and the Review User Profiles - Supplier User Details pages.

If an invoice should not be approved immediately, a buyer can place it on hold and initiate dialog about it with the supplier. Specific comments from the buyer about the invoice accompany the email notification sent to the supplier.

You can place an invoice in dispute at any time after it has been created—even before the approval process runs.

If the invoice has multiple schedules, then once approved, all nondisputed schedules are eligible for payment as long as all lines of the invoice are approved and no lines are in dispute.

You can dispute individual invoice lines as well.

See the product documentation for PeopleTools: Workflow Technology