Overview
- Create and customise an invoice workflow
- The individual steps of the invoice verification process in Alasco, their special features, and which settings can be modified as an admin
Creating invoice workflows in the master data
In the submenu item "Workflows", under master data, you can view the invoice workflows that have already been created and in which projects they are used (the display may vary depending on the user and authorisation). To create a new workflow, click the "+ Add" button at the top right.
Tip:
During project creation, you must select an invoice workflow. If you have not created one, you can name a default workflow. You will have to edit it later on by navigating to the submenu item "Workflows".
You can change a project's default invoice workflow under the project settings at any time.
When you select a workflow, you can activate, deactivate or edit the individual steps by clicking on the pencil at the top right of the corresponding step. Greyed-out steps are currently unused. In editing mode, move the slider to the right to activate an inactive step. There are 3 mandatory steps; they are demarcated as such with a *.
Note:
If a workflow step has active tasks, the number will be displayed on the top right of that step. When changes to steps with active tasks take effect, depends on the change. Assignee and minimum invoice amount changes, as well as the deactivation of the step will become effective only for future tasks. Changes to stamps, however, are immediately applied.
Changing the invoice workflow assigned
Contract units inherit the invoice workflow assigned to the project. However, it can be changed to another workflow, or the project's invoice workflow can be modified in the master data.
Tip:
In the article regarding creating contract units, you will learn how to assign workflows to individual contract units.
Note:
If you replace a workflow, the new workflow only applies to invoices uploaded after the change. However, if you adjust the respective workflow, these adjustments take effect immediately from the next workflow step - even for invoices already in the workflow.
The invoice workflow in detail
In the invoice workflow, you can assign a certain task to a specific user. However, the first step, "Invoice: Create" cannot be assigned to a particular user. The option "Uploader" is selected here by default so that every user with the required authorisation can upload an invoice. This user then takes over the respective task in all subsequent workflow steps that use the option "Uploader".
Eleven steps are available; three of them are mandatory. They are the following:
Invoice: Create - Step 1 (mandatory)
An invoice is created via the previously defined project email address or by manually uploading an invoice in Alasco. This makes the invoice available in Alasco and can then be edited in the invoice workflow.
This mandatory step cannot be disabled or further customised.
Complete details - Step 2 (optional) and 3 (mandatory)
In these steps, the automatically uploaded invoice data must be reviewed and corrected if necessary. This concerns the basic invoice details, such as the invoice date, the invoice number, and the unverified invoice amount.
In Alasco, you can have the basic invoice details double-checked by activating the optional step 2 and assigning it to a different user than the one from mandatory step 3.
Formal check - Step 4 (Optional)
After entering and, if necessary, correcting the invoice details, the formal invoice details, such as the invoice address and the contractor's bank details and tax number, should be reviewed. This optional step can be assigned to a specific user in Alasco.
Tip:
Experience shows that most clients assign the two steps, "Enter details" and "Formal check", to the same user. However, if step 4 is deactivated, the formal check requirements will form part of step 3.
Approval Construction Manager - Step 5 (Optional)
This optional approval step is the first factual and accounting check in Alasco. In this step, you can, for example, have an external construction manager/auditor in the invoice workflow. They must be previously created as a user in Alasco.
Click on the pencil icon to assign this step to an existing user in Alasco. The Alasco invoice cover sheet is created after this step and correspondingly the associated approval stamp. Therefore, you can customise the approval stamp here.
Approval - Step 6 (mandatory)
This step is similar in structure to the previous step 5, except that this step is the only mandatory approval step in the invoice workflow.
You have the same options for editing this step as in the optional step 5.
Approval - Steps 7, 8, 9, 10 (Optional)
You have the option to add up to four additional approval steps to the invoice workflow in Alasco. These optional steps have the same editing options as the two previous steps, 5 and 6. You can assign these steps to different users, and an approval stamp is also created after each check that can be edited.
Additionally, you can define a minimum invoice approval amount for each of the four review steps. Meaning that this step is only activated for invoices that exceed the specified minimum invoice amount in net.
Payment - Step 11 (Optional)
In this step, an approved invoice is marked as paid. If this step is deactivated, the payment can still be manually entered.
Activate the step and assign it to a specific user if you want to create a separate task for the payment of an invoice. Usually, this step is done by the accounting department; therefore, the separate step is convenient.
This step must be deactivated if you want to use the SEPA export function to export relevant payment information to common banking software.
Note:
It does not matter whether you want to complete the payment step in Alasco manually or via the invoice workflow; in both cases, you can transfer the invoice, the cover sheet with the approval stamps, and the required invoice data to DATEV.
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