Supplier Payment Proposal Approval
There is a new method to approve a supplier payment proposal in 'Suppl Payment Proposal. Open' (APS130) before making the payment. The reason for this is to check that there is enough money in the connected bank account to be able to make the payment, before the payment is completed. The approver gets an approval request, reviews the bank account, and approves or rejects the payment proposed.
Manage the supplier payment proposal approval
A new parameter 280 = 'Payment proposal approval' has been added in 'Settings - Accounts Payable' (APS905). Select the check box if the supplier payment proposals are to be approved before the payment is made in (APS130). If you do not select this check box, the supplier payment proposals do not need to be approved before the payment is made in (APS130). The approver who is responsible for the bank account is defined on the bank account in the 'Accounting Identity. Open' (CRS630). Note, the account must be defined as a bank account. The approver is the only user that can approve a payment proposal in (APS130). If a bank account does not have any approver in (CRS630), no approval is needed. Then normal payment proposal management in (APS130) is used, and the fields in (APS130) for Approval status, Approver, and Requester are blank.
Process
Confirm the supplier payment proposal - message is sent to the approver
When a supplier payment proposal is confirmed in 'Suppl Payment Proposal. Open' (APS130) by option 9='Confirm' or if the bank is changed in (APS130) 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, a message is sent to this user with a link to the proposal that needs to be approved. Approval status is set to 8='Wait for approval'.
Approver displays the bank account situation
The approver goes to the supplier payment proposal in (APS130) and uses option 13='Display bank account status' to display the current position of this bank account in 'Supplier Payment. Bank Account Overview' (APS127). Here the approver can see the bank account balance, the bank accountings, and all open not paid payment proposals connected to this bank account, listed per payment date. The current proposal is included in a separate column 'In this proposal'. A decision must be made by the approver if there is enough money in the bank account to pay this current payment proposal or not, or if some actions must be taken before the payment can be made.
Approval of the supplier payment proposal
If the payment proposal is approved, option 7= 'Approve' is used in (APS130). The information about the approver (user ID), approval date and approval status are updated on the actual payment proposal. It is only the approver that can do the approval. Approval status is set to 9='Approved'. The user that had requested the approval is notified and can confirm the proposal with option 9, so the payment can be made in (APS130).
Supplier payment proposal is not approved
If the payment proposal is not approved, option 14='Not approve' is used in (APS130) and the approver can write a free text connected to the proposal. This can describe the approver's actions and the instructions to the requester regarding this supplier payment proposal. The requester is notified. Approval status is set to 0='Not approved'.
When a payment proposal is approved, the following actions can be taken:
- Delete the proposal
- Confirm the proposal
- Options for display and print.
Free text (F6) can be added to any payment proposal in 'Supplier Payment Proposal. Update details' (APS137) by using function key (6=Text). If a text is added, an asterisk (*) is shown in column 'Text' in (APS130).
Information saved on the payment proposal:
'Approval status'
These are the different approval statuses of the payment proposals in (APS130):
- 0 = Not approved. Supplier payment proposal is created but option 9='Confirm' has 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. All options except option 9='Confirm' can be used.
- 9 = Approved. The approver has approved the supplier payment proposal. If 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 did not approve the supplier payment proposal in (APS130). The approver is responsible for the bank account in the (CRS630), and is the one that can approve supplier payment proposals that are connected to this bank account. After the approval, the payment of the supplier payment proposal can be made in (APS130).
'Approval date'
The date when the supplier payment proposal was approved for payment by the approver in (APS130).
'Requester'
The ID of the user who requested the approval. When the approver is approving or not approving the supplier payment proposal, the requester is notified and can take the appropriate actions. All fields except approval date are shown in (APS130/B). If the company bank account is changed in APS130 by option 11='Change bank', a check is carried out on the new bank account if any approval must be finished or not, by checking the bank account in (CRS630).
Setup
In 'Settings - Accounts Payable' (APS905) the parameter 280 = 'Payment proposal approval' must be selected.
In 'Settings - Application messages' (CRS424) use action F14='Create message types'. These message types must be created:
- 61-Approval Payment proposal
- 62-Request approval Payment proposal
- 63-Payment proposal not approved.
If email management is required, it must be activated 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.
The mail addresses for the approvers and requesters must be set up in 'Email Address. Open' (CRS111).
In (CRS630), the bank accounts to be approved must have a 'Responsible' user (the approver) defined. The account must also be defined as a bank account.
Workflow
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Create a payment proposal in (APS130) with option 1='Create'. Approval status is changed to 0='Not approved'.
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Confirm the payment proposal in (APS130) with option 9='Confirm'. If the payment proposal is to be approved, a message is sent to the approver and the approval status is changed to 8='Wait for approval'.
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The approver uses option 13='Display bank account status' in (APS130) to see the current position of the bank account connected to this payment proposal.
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If the approver decides that the payment proposal is to be approved for payment, option 7='Approve' is used in (APS130) 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 be made, that is, option 9='Confirm' is used in (APS130).
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If the payment proposal is not approved for payment, the approver uses option 14='Not approve' in (APS130). Free text can be added to the proposal by the approver, if required. The approval status is 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
There is a new program 'Supplier Payment. Bank Account Overview' (APS127) which is used as follows:
Select option 13='Display bank account situation' in (APS130) 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 APS190 and in 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 amount might be converted, the currency exchange rate is fetched in (CRS058) for the actual payment date, exchange rate type=01 is used. 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' 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.
'Approved payments' - 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.
'Not yet approved' – the total amount of all open not yet paid supplier payment proposals in (APS130), (APS187), and (APS190), connected to the bank account.
'In this proposal' – the total amount of the current supplier payment proposal that was selected with option 13='Display bank account situation' in (APS130), 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.
'Balance end of the day' – the closing balance of the actual bank account at the end of each payment date.
Functional limitations
This functionality is only available when parameter 280='Payment proposal approval' is selected in 'Settings - Accounts Payable' (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 (APS130).