Invoice Approvals

PeopleSoft Billing uses a common approval framework that is owned by Enterprise Components to implement invoice approvals. A sample approval process is delivered which mimics an approval process for credit invoices which is based on amounts, but because of the flexibility of the approval framework, it is possible for you to implement invoice approvals using any criteria you wish, not just amounts. For example, criteria could be set up to route approvals based on bill type or some other criteria that fits your business needs.

Invoices in PeopleSoft Billing are approved at the bill header level and not at the line level. The invoice approval process definition is set at the billing business unit level. This means that each business unit can have a different approval process if necessary.

An invoice has an approval status which tracks what state an invoice is in during the approval flow. Valid values for the Approval Status are:

• Initial: approval status has not yet been determined

• Pending: invoice has been submitted for approval and is pending the approval process

• Approved: invoice has been approved, that is, the invoice was submitted to the approval framework and was approved.

• Denied: invoice has been denied by someone in the approval process.

• Not Required: approval is not required for this invoice either because approvals were not enabled for the business unit, or the invoice was created via the Billing Interface or Worksheet.

• Cancelled: the approval process has been cancelled.

Once a bill is in a RDY status, an Approvals link will appear in Standard Bill Entry or Express Bill Entry components. This link appears at the bottom of the header pages in the Go to section of the navigation links. Click this link to navigate to the approval page and initiate the approval process. This link is also used to take an approval action, like approve or deny, or to check on the status of an invoice that has already been submitted for approval. Depending on the user logged into the system, different action buttons will appear on this page.

If you modify an invoice that is approved or is pending an approval, the approval will be canceled and the invoice will need to be resubmitted again for approval. The approval status is reset to initial.

The finalization program will only pick up invoices that are in a RDY status and the approval status is either Not Required or Approved.

Invoices that are created through the Billing Interface or Billing Worksheet processes will be created with an approval status of Not Required. This is because it is assumed that the approvals have occurred in the source system or in the Billing Worksheet.

Approvals are not tracked at the Consolidated header level, but each attached invoice is subject to approvals similar to regular invoices. Invoices can be attached to a consolidated header in any Approval Status. Consolidated Invoices cannot be made RDY unless all attached invoices have an Approval Status of Not Required or Approved.

See PeopleSoft: Approval Framework