Supplier payment proposal approval

Manage the supplier payment proposal approval

A parameter 280 = 'Payment proposal approval' is added in 'Settings - Accounts Payable' (APS905). To approve supplier payment proposals before making the payment in (APS630), select this check box. If you leave this check box blank, you can proceed with the payment in (APS630) without approving the supplier payment proposals. The responsible approver for the bank account is defined on the bank account in the 'Accounting Identity. Open' (CRS630).

Note: You must define the account as a bank account. The approver is the only user that can approve a payment proposal in (APS630). If a bank account does not have any approver in (CRS630), no approval is needed. Normal payment proposal management in (APS630) is used instead. The fields in (APS630) for approval status, approver, and requester are blank.

Process

This is the approval process in (APS630):

Confirm the supplier payment proposal, message is sent to the approver
If a supplier payment proposal is confirmed in (APS630) by option 9='Confirm' or if the bank is changed in (APS630) by option 11='Change bank', a check is performed if there is an approver on this bank account which is connected to this payment proposal. If an approver exists, the program sends a message to this user with a link to the proposal needing approval. The approval status is set to 8='Wait for approval'.
Approver displays the bank account situation
The approver goes to the supplier payment proposal in (APS630) and uses option 13='Display bank account status' to display the current position of this bank account in 'Supplier Payment. Bank Account Overview' (APS127). In this program, the approver can see the bank account balance, the bank account transactions, and all unpaid payment proposals connected to this bank account, sorted by payment date. The current proposal is included in the 'In this proposal' column. The approver must make a decision if there is enough money in the bank account to pay this current payment proposal or not, or if the approver must take some actions before the payment is made.
Approval of the supplier payment proposal
If the payment proposal is approved, option 7= 'Approve' is used in (APS630). The information about the approver's user ID, approval date, and approval status are updated on the actual payment proposal. Only the approver can approve the proposal. Approval status is set to 9='Approved'. The user who requested the approval is notified and can confirm the proposal with option 9. The user then can make the payment in (APS630).
Supplier payment proposal is not approved
If the payment proposal is not approved, option 14='Not approve' is used in (APS630) and the approver can write a free text connected to the proposal. This text can describe the action of the approver and the instructions to the requester regarding this supplier payment proposal. The requester is then notified. The approval status is also set to 0='Not approved'.
When a payment proposal is approved, the requester can perform these actions:
- Delete the proposal
- Confirm the proposal
- Options for display and print
The requester can add free text (F6) to any payment proposal in 'Supplier Payment Proposal. Update details' (APS631) using the function key (6=Text). If a text is added, an asterisk (*) is shown in column 'Text' in (APS630).

Information saved on the payment proposal

This table shows the information in the payment proposal created:


Parameter	Description
'Approval status'	These are the approval statuses of the payment proposals in (APS630): 0 = Not approved: Supplier payment proposal is created but option 9='Confirm' is not yet been used, or the payment proposal is not approved. 8 = Wait for approval: The approver has not yet approved the supplier payment proposal. You can use all options except option 9='Confirm'. 9 = Approved: The approver approved the supplier payment proposal. If the bank account in (CRS630) does not have any approver, the approval status is set to 9 on the actual proposal.
'Approved by'	The ID of the user who approved or declined the supplier payment proposal in (APS630). The approver is responsible for the bank account in the (CRS630), and is the one who can approve supplier payment proposals that are connected to this bank account. After the approval, the payment of the supplier payment proposal can proceed in (APS630).
'Approval date'	The date when the supplier payment proposal is approved for payment by the approver in (APS630).
'Requester'	The ID of the user who requested the approval. When the approver either approves or declines the supplier payment proposal, the requester is notified and can undertake the appropriate actions. All fields except approval date are shown in (APS630/B). If the company bank account is changed in APS630 by option 11='Change bank', the program checks the new bank account in (CRS630) to determine whether any approvals must be completed.

Setup

In (APS905), you must select the parameter 280 = 'Payment proposal approval'.

In 'Settings - Application messages' (CRS424) use action F14='Create message types'. You must create these message types:

61-Approval Payment proposal
62-Request approval Payment proposal
63-Payment proposal not approved.

If email management is required, you must activate it in (CRS424) per message type.

In 'Application Message E-mail Param. Open' (CRS427) connect the users, approver and requester, to application message types 61, 62, 63.

You must set up the mail addresses for the approvers and requesters in 'Email Address. Open' (CRS111).

In (CRS630), the bank accounts requiring approval must have a designated 'Responsible' user, which is the approver, defined. You must also define the account as a bank account.

Workflow

These are the steps in managing a payment proposal in (APS630) from creation to approval or disapproval:

Create a payment proposal in (APS630) using option 1='Create'. Approval status is changed to 0='Not approved'.
Confirm the payment proposal in (APS630) using option 9='Confirm'. If the payment proposal is subject for approval, a message is sent to the approver and the approval status is changed to 8='Wait for approval'.
The approver can use the option 13='Display bank account status' in (APS630) to see the current position of the bank account connected to this payment proposal.
If the approver decides that the payment proposal is approved for payment, option 7='Approve' is used in (APS630) on this proposal. The approval status is changed to 9='Approved'. The requester of the approval is notified that the proposal is approved and the payment can proceed, that is, option 9='Confirm' is used in (APS630).
If the payment proposal is not approved for payment, the approver can use the option 14='Not approve' in (APS630). The approver can add free text to the proposal, if required. The approval status is then changed to 0='Not approved'. The requester of the approval is notified that the proposal is not approved.

View the transactions and balances in the bank account before approval

The program 'Supplier Payment. Bank Account Overview' (APS127) is used to assess and manage bank account details for supplier payments.

Select option 13='Display bank account situation' in (APS630) on the relevant supplier payment proposal.

The approver can check the bank account balances, the latest transactions carried out from today's date and after, and all open not paid payment proposals, with supplier payment proposal status=1 connected to this bank account. The not yet paid payment references in 'Suppl Payment. Report Bank Confirmation' (APS190) and in 'Suppl Payment. Report Electr Bank Conf' (APS187) are added to column 'Not yet paid'.

All amounts are displayed in the currency of the bank account. For the included payment proposals, the amounts can be converted, with the currency exchange rate being fetched from (CRS058) for the actual payment date, using exchange rate type=01. If a future rate agreement exists in (RMS120), that exchange rate is used instead.

In the header of this program, these fields are displayed: Approver, account, payment proposal, currency code, total amount of the selected payment proposal, and the current balance of the bank account.

The 'Current balance' field is the balance on the current bank account and its currency, as at the beginning of today's date, the opening balance for today's date.

All the listed bank account events, such as open not yet paid payment proposals connected to this bank account and the general ledger accounting transactions done on the bank account, are in payment date order. Bank account events with the same payment date are summarized into different total amounts: Approved payments, not yet approved, in this proposal, and balance end of day. All these amounts are in the bank account's currency.

The 'Approved payments' field is the total amount of the general ledger accounting transactions done on the bank account per payment date. The accounting transactions concerned are the ones with an accounting date from today's date and onwards.

The 'Not yet approved' field is the total amount of all open not yet paid supplier payment proposals in (APS630), (APS187), and (APS190), connected to the bank account.

The 'In this proposal' field is the total amount of the current supplier payment proposal that is selected with option 13='Display bank account situation' in (APS630), if the supplier payment proposal status is = 1 on the selected proposal. Otherwise, the amounts of the proposal are included in the other amount columns such as approved or not yet paid.

The 'Balance end of the day' field is the closing balance of the actual bank account at the end of each payment date.

Note: The supplier payment proposals from (APS630) are listed per payment date. If one proposal has many different payment dates per payment document number, they are summarized to the appropriate payment date.

Functional limitations

This functionality is only available when parameter 280='Payment proposal approval' is selected in (APS905). No fix program is created. When the new parameter in (APS905) is selected, the approval of payment proposals starts with new created payment proposals in (APS630).