Overview
- Adding a new invoice
- Invoice approval: Individual steps of invoice approval and their specifics
- Attaching additional documents to an invoice
Before reviewing an invoice with Alasco, an invoice approval workflow should already be set up in the master data. Invoice workflows can be created by admins. They can be used in order to review an invoice within the project once assigned to a project.
Adding a new invoice
There are several ways to upload invoices in Alasco. You can use the "+" button in the navigation bar at the top of the screen. Alternatively, invoices can also be added via the "Costs" menu and the "Invoices" tab.
Using the "+ Add invoice" button, you can upload one or more invoices from your local computer by opening the file explorer or via drag and drop into the upload area.
Tip:
For a detailed guide on adding invoices, see the "Create invoices" article in our Help Center.
Invoice approval
The following explains the individual steps of the invoice approval process. An approval process in Alasco consists of at least three mandatory steps:
- Invoice: create
- Complete details
- Approval
Additionally, the invoice approval workflow can be extended to include up to 11 possible steps, depending on individual requirements and internal procedures:
Complete details (optional)
- Define the corresponding project and contract for the invoice
- Review and complete the invoice data automatically extracted by the software, such as the external identifier number, date, and the unaudited net amount plus VAT
- Assign an internal identifier number if needed
- Specify the invoice type (advance payment, single, installment, partial final or final invoice)
- If you select installment invoice, you can set the installment number
- Set a due date and a date for the discount period
- Use the "Delegate" button to delegate the task to another user
- Archive the invoice by clicking "Other actions". Here, the invoice can also be postponed for further review by 1-7 days, preventing daily reminders during this period
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Add a comment about the process step in the "Comments" tab
- View the invoice's progress in the "History" tab
- After completing the details, click "Pass on" to move the invoice to the next workflow step
Note:
Please note that for installment invoices, you should always enter the cumulated values of the unaudited invoice amount. This is because the total amounts already approved in previous installment invoices will be deducted in later workflow steps.
Note:
Entered comments will appear on the invoice cover sheet and will be visible to other users. At the moment, it is not possible to modify entered comments retrospectively. Please contact your designated Customer Enablement Manager if you do not wish for comments to appear on the invoice cover sheet.
Formal check (optional)
- Review the formal invoice details, such as the identifier number and invoice date, the service period, VAT rates, tax number, and the contractor's bank details
- Click on the pencil icon above the invoice on the left side to make review and correction comments on the uploaded invoice document
- Click on the tick icon next to the pencil icon, in order to tick off individual items, sign the invoice electronically, or to place predefined or customised stamps on the invoice
- Check the automated query for the validity of the tax waiver statement, if available, and adjust the status to "valid", "invalid", or "not available" accordingly
- Click on the "Edit" button next to the address verification for the contractor and the contracting entity to correct the master data in case any information has changed
- Use the "Delegate" button to delegate the task to another user
- Archive the invoice by clicking "Other actions". Here, the invoice can also be postponed for further review by 1-7 days, preventing daily reminders during this period
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From this workflow step on, the invoice can be returned to the previous approval step by clicking the "Send back" button and specifying a reason
- Add a comment about the process step or view previous comments in the "Comments" tab
- View the invoice's progress in the "History" tab
- Click on the round icon next to the "Check the formal correctness of the calculation" headline to view the completed and remaining workflow steps and the involved participants
- After completing the formal check, click on "Check & pass on" to move the invoice to the next review step
Note:
If the step "Formal check" is deactivated, the automated query for the validity of the tax waiver statement is moved to the first workflow step "Complete details".
Approval construction manager (optional)
- Review of the formal correctness and the correctness of the calculation by external users such as construction management
- Select the VAT rate applicable due to the temporary VAT reduction (in Germany) in 2020 based on the progress of the contract
- Click on the pencil icon above the invoice on the left side to make review and correction comments on the uploaded invoice document
- Click on the tick icon next to the pencil icon, in order to tick off individual items, sign the invoice electronically, or to place predefined or customised stamps on the invoice
- See all important invoice amounts, such as the unaudited and audited invoice amounts, deductions, retentions, cost allocations, insurances, cash discount as well as the amount payable
- Adjust the audited amount if necessary
- Click on the pencil icon next to the retentions to edit the underlying contract terms within the contract
- Use the "+ Add" button to add additional manual retentions, to make manual corrections or to change the cash discount reference for installment invoices
- Use the "Delegate" button to delegate the task to another user
- Archive the invoice by clicking "Other actions". Here, the invoice can also be postponed for further review by 1-7 days, preventing daily reminders during this period
-
Return the invoice to the previous approval step by clicking the "Send back" button and specifying a reason
- Add a comment about the process step or view previous comments in the "Comments" tab
- View the invoice's progress in the "History" tab
- Distribute the costs incurred by the invoice to e. g. sub-projects or construction phases in the "Allocations" tab
- See the current billing status of the contract for installment invoices in the tab "contract approval state"
- After completing the formal check and checking the correctness of the calculation, click on "Check & pass on" to move the invoice to the next review step
Note:
Click the "+ Add" button to define a cash discount reference manually. Alasco calculates the discount amount based on the previously defined contract terms. If your invoice does not follow the predefined logic, you can adjust the cash discount reference manually to ensure the correct amount is deducted.
Approval
- Review the entries from the previous review step and correct them if necessary
- Click on the pencil icon above the invoice on the left side to make review and correction comments on the uploaded invoice document
- Click on the tick icon next to the pencil icon, in order to tick off individual items, sign the invoice electronically, or to place predefined or customised stamps on the invoice
- See all important and possibly already edited invoice amounts, such as the unaudited and audited invoice amounts, deductions, retentions, cost allocations, insurances, cash discount as well as the amount payable
- Adjust the audited amount if necessary
- Click on the pencil icon next to the retentions to edit the underlying contract terms within the contract
- Use the "+ Add" button to add additional manual retentions, to make manual corrections or to chance the cash discount reference for installment invoices
- Alasco automatically generates an invoice cover sheet including the invoice amounts and an approval stamp after the first formal check and checking the correctness of the calculation
- Use the "Delegate" button to delegate the task to another user
- Archive the invoice by clicking "Other actions". Here, the invoice can also be postponed for further review by 1-7 days, preventing daily reminders during this period
-
Return the invoice to the previous approval step by clicking the "Send back" button and specifying a reason
- Add a comment about the process step or view previous comments in the "Comments" tab
- View the invoice's progress in the "History" tab
- Distribute the costs incurred by the invoice to e. g. sub-projects or construction phases in the "Allocations" tab
- See the current billing status of the contract for installment invoices in the tab "contract approval state"
- After completing the formal check and checking the correctness of the calculation, click on "Approve & pass on" / "Approve" to move the invoice to the next active review step or to finalise the review process if there are no further steps in the approval workflow
Note:
Once the invoice has been approved in Alasco, the approved amount is displayed in the cost controlling and the payment can be recorded.
Payment (optional)
- The "Payment" step in Alasco can be defined as a task in the invoice approval workflow or it can be done manually without an approval step
- Select an invoice in the "Invoices" tab and click the the "Mark as paid" button, to mark the invoice as paid if the payment step is activated
- See all the relevant payment amounts, the contractor's bank details, and information about the contract
- Click on the contractor's name to correct the master data if any information has changed
- Use the "Login" button to connect to DATEV in order to transfer the invoice including the cover sheet and all relevant invoice data to DATEV
- Click the "Documents" button above the invoice and choose "Coversheet with documents" to download the invoice and cover sheet for further processing
- Select the payment date and the final paid amount from the suggestions (approved amount or approved amount after cash discount) or enter a custom gross payment amount
- Add a comment on payment during this process step if necessary
- Use the "Delegate" button to delegate the task to another user
- Archive the invoice by clicking "Other actions". Here, the invoice can also be postponed for further review by 1-7 days, preventing daily reminders during this period
- Add a comment about the process step or view previous comments in the "Comments" tab
- View the invoice's progress in the "History" tab
- Click the "Mark as paid" button to complete the invoice approval process
Note:
Once the invoice has been marked as paid in Alasco, the paid amount is displayed in the cost controlling.
Attaching additional documents to an invoice
During the invoice approval process from the the "Formal check" step, or after the invoice has been marked as "Paid" you can add additional documents to the invoice.
To do this, first, open the invoice and click the "Documents" button during or after the review. Select "Manage documents" to upload more documents in PDF format.
Before uploading, you will be asked to specify the type of document. The available options are:
- Invoice
- Attachment
- External coversheet
- Audited invoice
- Internal correspondence
- External correspondence
- Valuations
- Plans
- Revised invoice
- Payment certificate
- Protocol
- Other
The attachment will then be displayed in additional tabs, just like the invoice cover sheet and the original invoice.