Automated Purchasing and AP Processing

In some cases, vendors may supply you with EDI, XML or other data files containing accounts payable invoice and other related information that you wish to load into your system automatically.

This section describes the different types of automated Purchasing and AP Invoice Processing options that are supported in StreamV.  The Purchasing options are described in the documentation for the AP system as they are closely related to the way in which each AP invoice is processed.

The AP automation options which are supported by the system vary based on whether the vendor invoice is for an inventory or a non-inventory related purchase.

The following options are available in the system and each of these options are described in more detail in the following sections.

Update of Purchase Order Information prior to shipment. 

If you place purchase orders with a vendor, and the vendor sends purchase order confirmation data back to you electronically, the information from the vendor can be used to update the Purchase Order information in your system prior to the shipment of goods by the vendor.  The Purchase Order information that is normally updated includes.

•      The estimated shipment date for each item:  The Purchasing system will calculate an estimated shipment date for each item you place on a PO based on the PO date and the PO Lead Days specified in each item.  If the estimated shipment date supplied by the vendor is different than the date shown in your PO line, the system can update the estimated shipment date, and recalculate the estimated arrival date for the item (based on the transit days in the freight method being used for the PO).  The estimated shipment and arrival dates are displayed in the PO Lookup programs and are used to determine when specific items are due to be received into inventory.

•      The po price for each item:  If the vendor supplies you with a confirmed price for each item, this price can be compared to the price in the PO line and updated if required (you may also generate an exception report vs. automatically changing the price).  If the price is updated, a data change record can be created to indicate why the price was changed.  The Next price for the item can also be adjusted to the current vendor price for the item if appropriate.

•      Confirmed On, By:  Each PO line in the system stores a Confirmed On and a Confirmed By field that can be used to indicate if the PO dates, prices, and quantities have been confirmed by the vendor.  This information provides additional assurance to the users viewing the PO information that it is correct (has been verified by the vendor).

•      Other information:  If the vendor is able to provide you with additional information such as updated item descriptions, product line information, new pricing information, this data can also be used to update your system.  How this data is used depends on what data the vendor is supplying to you and whether or not this information should be synchronized on your system.

Importing non-inventory AP Invoices

StreamV supports the following options for importing accounts payable invoice information for vendor invoices which are not tied to inventory receiving, vendor shipment, or returns processing activity.

•      Submitted Invoice Processing – In this case, the accounts payable invoices are created as submitted invoices (status S) and they are not posted to the general ledger.  Once the invoices have been created on the system, the accounts payable department manually distributes the invoice amounts to the general ledger and converts the invoices to active status.

•      Active Invoice Processing – In this case, the data used to import the accounts payable invoice detail also includes information on how the invoice amounts should be distributed to the general ledger.  The accounts payable invoices are created with a status of active and they are distrbuted to the appropriate general ledger accounts during the import process.  The invoices can be saved with or without an AP Hold code.  The Hold code allows the automatically imported invoices to be reviewed prior to payment processing.

Importing AP invoices for inventory purchases

StreamV supports the following options for importing accounts payable invoice information for vendor invoices which are tied to inventory receiving or vendor shipment activity.  Each of these options require the vendor to provide advanced shipment notification records that identify the specific purchase order lines and quantities that are associated with each invoice.  The ASN records are used to automatically match the appropriate receiving transactions to each invoice and they can also be used to track the amount of inventory that is in transit from your vendors.  The ASN detail can also be used to update the Estimated Ship and Arrival dates in the open PO lines for the vendor.

The options that are available for importing inventory related vendor invoices depend on the shi       pment terms being used by the vendor.  These shipment terms indicate when the ownership of the items shipped by the vendor transfer to your company.

•      Ownership transfers when items are received.  In this case,

•      The accounts payable invoices are imported as submitted invoices and they are not distributed (posted) to the general ledger. 

•      The system also creates advanced shipment notifications for the specific items and quantities shipped by the vendor and this ASN information is tied to the appropriate vendor invoice. 

•      On a regular basis, a process is run which checks the submitted invoices and the ASN detail for each invoice to see if the inventory associated with the invoice has been completely received. 

•      If the items for the vendor invoice have been completely received and the system can match the receiving detail to the invoice amount, the system matches the inventory receiving or vendor shipment detail to the appropriate invoice,  it updates the status of the asn records to indicate that they are closed, and it converts the vendor invoice from submitted to active status.  A Journal Entry is also made to distribute the invoice to the appropriate GL accounts.

•      If serialized inventory information is available for the items shipped by the vendor, this information can be used to create Serial Master records automatically during the receiving process

•      If freight charges are included on the vendor invoice, the freight amount should be specified in the ASN header record for the invoice, and if present, this freight amount is also posted to the GL when the invoice is converted to active status.

•      Ownership transfers when items are shipped.  In this case,

•      The import program checks the asn detail for each invoice against the invoice total, and it verifies that all po lines specified in the ASN detail are open for at least the quantity specified in the asn detail.  If the invoice and the asn detail do not match up, the invoice is not imported and it must be processed manually.

•      If the invoice and asn detail totals match, the system creates a submitted AP invoice record and open ASN records for the shipment.  The system then converts the invoice to In Transit (I) status and it posts the invoice to the In Transit Inventory account in the general ledger.  If a freight amount is specified for the invoice, this amount is posted to the inbound freight account in the general ledger.  The ASN records for the shipment are updated to indicate they are In Transit (the status is changed to “I”).

•      If serialized inventory information is provided, this information is used to create Serial Master records which are tied to the ASN detail.  These records are also flagged to indicate that the inventory items are in transit (not yet received) from the vendor.

•      During the receiving process, the receiving program checks to see if ASN records exist for the po lines being processed.  If so, the system updates the received quantity in the ASN records and it changes the status of any records with a received quantity to R.  The same process also flags any invoice associated with the shipment with a status of R (to indicate it has been partially or fully received against).  If serialized inventory records were created for the ASN detail, the Serial records are updated to show that they are In House.

•      The receiving program posts any receipts with In Transit ASN detail to the In Transit Account in the GL and it automatically matches the inventory receiving transaction to the vendor invoice.  This removes the amount received from the In Transit sub-ledger and the associated GL account.

•      On a regular basis (generally after receiving has been completed), a process is run which checks the receiving detail for each invoice against the invoice total.  If the invoice being processed matches the inventory receiving activity matched to the invoice, the system converts the invoice to active status, it removes the hold code from the invoice, and it closes the ASN records for the invoice.  If the invoice amount (excluding freight) and the receiving detail do not match, the process displays an error message.  At this point, the operator can research or skip the error (to deal with situations where a partial receipt is procesed), or the operator can create an adjusting invoice for the vendor (to handle situations like a price difference between the po and the vendor invoice).

More:

Importing non-inventory accounts payable invoices

Importing accounts payable invoices for inventory purchases.