tasks approval Archives | Comidor Platform

How to Create Invoice Approval Workflows in Minutes

Comidor Team — Fri, 19 Aug 2022 09:53:28 +0000

The global business world is more interconnected than ever before. Most of the products and services provided by businesses to consumers and other businesses rely on each other in some way. It’s this interconnectedness that powers most of our modern industries and keeps the global market operating smoothly. Having invoices paid on time, every time is critical to keep these valuable business relationships in good standing.

Herein lies the value of invoice approval workflows. These processes structure and organize the way that invoices get validated and paid to keep payment consistent and reliable. Automated invoice approval workflows can help to streamline your invoicing processes and save your organization time and money.

All you need to create invoice approval workflows is a solid understanding of what these processes are and how they operate. You also need to know which workflow tools to use to ensure that your workflows are as smooth and efficient as possible.

Here’s what you need to know to create a successful workflow for invoice approval.

Understanding Invoice Approval Workflows

Invoice approval workflows are processes that businesses can follow to streamline invoice processing and invoice approval for quick payment. They are similar to checklists that determine whether or not an invoice is accurate and valid.

These workflows begin when a vendor submits an invoice for payment. The invoice gets reviewed to ensure that the billed services, information, and amounts within it are valid before settling it. After everything is validated and the invoice approved, payment can get processed.

Steps to Create an Invoice Approval Workflow

Invoice approval workflows will naturally vary from business to business. But the basic steps needed to set them up are similar.

1. Establish a Database for Invoice Reception

Your invoice approval workflow should start by diverting all invoices to a queue for validation. This will simplify the process of tracking and processing them in an organized way.

You can either create a designated email address to receive only invoices. Or you can create a customized invoice submission form that will automatically add any submitted invoices to a queue.

2. Specify Conditions of Approval

Your team will need to determine whether each invoice you receive is valid before it’s processed. The conditions for this process will differ depending on your industry and the products and services you supply. Some common questions that you can use to review an invoice include:

Has the vendor delivered the billed product or service?
Are there any inconsistencies in the invoice that need addressing before settlement?
Have any issues arise regarding the product or service billed for that would justify a discount or reorder?
Is the invoice complete and accurate, and does it contain all the data required for processing?
Does the amount specified on the invoice align with the prices established between you and your vendor?

3. Create a Hierarchy for Approval

Most businesses have dedicated people or teams responsible for the validation of invoices. However, inefficiencies can still occur if you don’t have a clear approval hierarchy in place. If you have a larger business, you may appoint department heads or managers to make decisions on the invoices specific to their departments.

Smaller businesses may have their accountants or other specific team members appointed to validate their invoices instead. Ensure that you have a clear idea of who is responsible for approving invoices and which invoices they’re tasked with handling.

4. Specify Workflow Routes

Invoice approval workflows usually follow an ‘if-then’ structure, which enables you to confirm that basic information is in order and slowly increases the complexity of your validation workflow. For instance, if the invoice specifies a bank account for payment remission, you can move it onto the next item on your list. If the invoice does not supply this information, then you will need to contact the sender to request more information.

You can use this same process to establish an approval hierarchy for your workflow too. For instance, if the invoice is submitted by a web developer, send it to your IT department for validation. Many developers use invoice templates that provide a full breakdown of the completed work. But if this breakdown is full of technical jargon, it needs validation by someone who can understand and verify that the costs are correct.

Once your workflows are established, you’ll have the ability to minimize any uncertainty involved in your invoice processing protocols. This will make it easier for your team to approve invoices faster.

Invoice Processes built with low-code | Comidor approach

Use Comidor to Create Your Invoice Approval Workflows

According to accounting statistics from G2, 80% of companies who are already experiencing the benefits of invoice automation expect to increase their investments over the coming three years.

Automated workflows take full advantage of organizational structure to provide intuitive process design and action monitoring. Comidor No-Code/Low-Code and Hyper-automation platform can be used to customize and automate workflows to save you time, reduce the margin of human error involved in processing and approving invoices, and simplify the processes involved in settling the invoices you receive from your vendors.

Use our Workflow Designer to navigate and modify existing processes, create new workflows tailored to your business using our user-friendly BPMN 2.0 drag-and-drop tools, and test and optimize your workflows with our first-in-class Workflow Simulator.

Check out how our client, McKesson, automates invoice approval processes in lighting fast cycles
with Low-code and RPA

READ OUR SUCCESS STORY

The post How to Create Invoice Approval Workflows in Minutes appeared first on Comidor Low-code Automation Platform.

5. Tasks and Expenses Approvals

Marketing Team — Wed, 03 Jul 2019 14:11:52 +0000

Project Managers can approve or reject Hours spent and Expenses added by Project members in Project WorkPackages using Project Approvals.

Pending Task Approvals & Resources Used

Simple users that have been booked through Personnel Booking of a Project and accepted to work on this Project’s Work Packages from Personnel Booking Approvals, have been assigned to that Work Package and have already booked Work/Tasks on specific Dates. They can add Tasks’ execution information and Expenses that are related to that Work Package from Timesheet unit. Still, from Work Package inside, Project Manager, Project Manager 2 & Supervisor can manage Tasks from the Kanban Board. These Tasks will be displayed in simple users’ Calendar and Timesheet. Finally, completed Tasks should be approved or rejected by Project Managers and (Line) Managers.
Pending Hours (Tasks) that should be approved or rejected can be viewed in terms of a specific project from the Project’s inside (Pending Hours in a Project) and in terms of all Projects that you are Project Manager(s)/Supervisor from Task Approvals unit. These Hours can be approved also from (Line) Managers in Team Task Approvals.
Accepted Hours/Tasks will be displayed in the Resources Used tab inside the related Project and will also be transformed automatically as Project Income and Expenses.
Comidor provides automated Home Notifications/Tiles when Tasks haven’t been reviewed on time.

Pending Hours (Tasks) in a Project

Go to Modules Menu Icon > Project Management > Projects.
Enter the Project you wish from the list of Projects.

Projects highlighted in yellow are the ones with Pending Tasks or Expenses.

Click on the Pending Hours tab.

The number inside brackets (), indicates the Tasks/Hours that are still Pending and wait for the Project Manager to decide upon them.

Select the Approval state of these Hours/Tasks (Approved, Rejected, Pending), the Date range, zoom-in to a specific Personnel. Also, you can preview only the Tasks that are inside Projects you are a Project Manager (Role). Finally, you may review a specific type of tasks. Press Reload to see the results in the table below.
You can multi-check and select whether you will Approve or Reject the simple users’ completed Tasks. If select the Rejection, a pop-up appears, so as to add a rejection reason. Personnel will be notified upon the Task’s review.
- You may preview this Project’s Tasks from Tasks Approvals unit, too.
- Sort the entities by the way you wish.
- Tasks that are not in bold are the ones that have already reviewed and do not have a checkbox to act upon them.

Approved Tasks will be then displayed in Resources used tab of the related Project and their calculated Cost (Hours spent combined with Personnel/Job Title Cost) will be added in Project’s Expenses & Income tabs.

Project Tasks Approvals in Projects

Go to Modules Menu Icon > Project Management > Approvals > Task Approvals.
Select the Approval Status of these Hours/Tasks (Approved, Rejected, Pending), the Date range, specify the Project you would like to see Tasks from, zoom-in to a specific Personnel Tasks or in a specific type of tasks. Also, you can preview only the Tasks that are inside Projects you are a Project Manager (Role). Press Reload to see the results in the table below.
You can multi-check and select whether you will Approve or Reject the simple users’ completed Tasks. If select the Rejection, a pop-up appears, so as to add a rejection reason. Personnel will be notified upon the Task’s review.
- You may preview specific Project’s Tasks from Project’s inside in Pending Tasks tab, too.
- Tasks that are not in bold are the ones that have already reviewed and do not have a checkbox to act upon them.
- Approved Tasks will be then displayed in Resources used tab of the related Project and their calculated Cost (Hours spent combined with Personnel/Job Title Cost) will be added in Project’s Expenses & Income tabs.

Resources Used in a Project

Go to Modules Menu Icon > Project Management > Projects.
Enter the Project you wish from the list of Projects.
Click on the Resources Used tab.
Here are displayed all the approved tasks/hours that refer to this Project.

Approved Tasks will be then displayed in Resources used tab of the related Project and their calculated Cost (Hours spent combined with Personnel/Job Title Cost) will be added in Project’s Expenses & Income tabs.

Pending Expenses Approvals

Simple users that have been booked through Personnel Booking of a Project and accepted to work on this Project’s Work Packages from Personnel Booking Approvals, have been assigned to that Work Packages. They can add Expenses that are related to that Work Package from Timesheet unit. Finally, added Expenses should be approved or rejected.
Pending Expenses that should be approved or rejected can be viewed in terms of a specific project from the Project’s inside (Pending Expenses in a Project) and in terms of all Projects that you are Project Manager(s)/Supervisor from Expenses Approvals unit.
Accepted Expenses will be displayed in the Expenses tab inside the related Project.
Comidor provides Home Notifications/Tiles when expenses haven’t been reviewed on time.

Pending Expenses in a Project

1. Go to Modules Menu Icon > Project Management > Projects.
2. Enter a Project from the list of Projects.
3. Click on the Pending Expenses tab.
4. Select the Status of these Expenses (Rejected, Pending) and the Date Press Reload to see the results in the table below.

You may click on an Expense to edit it from the pencil button. After editing an Expense, press Save to save changes.
You can multi-check and select whether you will Approve, Reject or even Download Receipt of the simple users’ added Expenses.

You may preview this Project’s Expenses from Pending Expenses Approvals unit, too.

Approved Expenses will be then displayed in the Expenses tab of the related Project.

Project Expenses Approvals

Go to Modules Menu Icon > Project Management > Approvals > Expenses Approvals.
Select the Status of these Expenses (Rejected, Pending) and the Date.
Zoom-in a specific Project, if needed and then, press Reload to see the results in the table below.
You may click on an Expense to edit it from pencil button. After editing an Expense, press Save to save changes.
You can multi-check and select whether you will Approve, Reject or even Download Receipt of the simple users’ added Expenses.

Approved Expenses are displayed only in Expenses tab of the related Project.

You may preview specific Project’s Expenses from Project’s inside in Pending Expenses tab, too.

The post 5. Tasks and Expenses Approvals appeared first on Comidor Low-code Automation Platform.