Generate Invoice Requests

Note: This feature is part of an Early Adopter Program (EAP). We'll review and implement participant feedback to prepare for limited and general availability.

Invoice requests track expenses and distribution info for approvers to review. When you choose to generate invoice requests, you upload a receipt or invoice (that you've already scanned or downloaded) to automatically generate a new, open invoice request.

Using Microsoft's Azure AI Document Intelligence and Blackbaud AI, key data points are extracted and added to the new request including requestor, invoice number and date, description, expense detail and purpose, and expense category. Uploaded receipts or invoices are attached for a quick preview.

Your business office can then follow your existing approval and processing workflows that you have today. This results in a faster, more accurate and user-friendly experience that reduces manual data entry and minimizes errors.

Note: Only users associated with the Generate invoice requests task for the Create WebPortal role can upload.

Tip: Generating invoice requests is a huge time-saver! For a deeper dive, including the powerful AI technology behind the scenes, scan our Document Intelligence - FAQs.

After requests are generated, you can view and manage them from the My invoice requests page. To display attachment previews for easy reference, select Show image previews. If you've already submitted invoice requests for existing vendors, save time by copying a previous invoice. If you choose to copy, a message informs you that specific field values extracted during the generate process will be overwritten.

It's important to note that you can only delete open or rejected requests. When filtering to show deleted invoices, these will only display if the transaction was deleted after final approval.

1. You can generate invoice requests in two ways:

   • From Expenses, Expense management, under My invoice requests, select Generate request.

   • From Expenses, Expense management, under My invoice requests, select Work with my invoice requests. From the My invoice requests page, select Generate request.

2. Select a file to upload (browse or drag and drop).

   Tip: Supported file types include pdf, png, jpg, and bmp.

   After you select a file, the file name displays as the attachment name.

   Feel free to edit as scanners and photo applications often use their own naming conventions. The file name you use displays when viewing the request and later on the invoice record.

3. When applicable, set yourself as the requestor.

   For example, with hotel or food reimbursements, employees add themselves as requestors when submitting receipts. For bills or invoices, clear this checkbox and allow AI to extract vendor details for the request.

4. Determine the rules you want to apply during the upload. For example, AI can extract details from the file to assign a category for the expense distribution and automatically generate descriptions.

5. Select Generate.

   Messages inform you when the process starts and completes. When the invoice request is ready, select the message to open and view.

   Tip: At any time, you can select the invoice request under your top-level navigation bell.

6. From the My invoice requests page, view the newly added request. Uploaded receipts or invoices are also attached to the request for a quick preview that you can show or hide.

   If you selected to extract and generate invoice details, you'll see pre-populated values added for you. These include requestor, invoice number and date, description, expense detail and purpose, and expense category. You can update these values at any time.

   Note: Continue with the steps below to manually enter remaining details. In future releases, we'll leverage AI technology to enhance additional areas.

7. Select the approval rule to use.

   Approval rules route requests to selected reviewers. For example, you might have one set of reviewers for travel invoice requests, and a different set of reviewers for requests over a specific dollar amount.

   Note: Make sure your solution admin has defined your approval rules. If you have rights, you can self approve.

8. Under Distribution, enter the expense category, description, quantity, rate, and date for the distribution.

   Note: Expenses typically fall into certain categories, such as travel, phone and internet usage, or mileage. Ensure you have access to all the expense categories you need for your requests.

   Enter distributions to determine amounts to allocate. You can specify debit and credit accounts, classifications using grants or transaction codes, and custom fields for reporting purposes. You can also distribute evenly or by percent.

   Tip: To save time entering distributions, select More, Apply account distribution set. Distribution sets default the information you need in the line instead of selecting data in each column. If you split the distribution, select the icon in the Split column and then select More, Apply project distribution set to also save time entering splits.

9. Add custom fields and attachments as necessary.

10. To submit for approval, select Submit (you can't edit the request after submitting).

    Tip: To finish adding invoice request details at a later time, save the invoice as a draft and return when it's convenient for you.

    You can recall a submitted invoice request if you need to update or add info, but you can't recall a request if it's already approved or rejected.

Copy Previous Invoice Request

Copying previous invoice requests is helpful if you submit numerous, similar invoice requests for a vendor. This saves time and promotes a more efficient workflow.

When you submit an invoice request for an existing vendor, you can select to copy from a list of previously submitted requests (or search for one).

If you choose to copy, a message informs you that specific field values extracted during the generate process will be overwritten.