Invoices and Credit Notes
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      Invoice and Credit Note Flags Explained

      This article explains the logic behind Invoice and Credit Note Flagging in PurchasePlus.

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      What are Invoice and Credit Note Flags?

      PurchasePlus constantly analyzes all Invoices and Credit Notes in the 'Open' and 'Flagged' state, and raises Header- or Line-Level Flags on the document, according to the settings applied to your Organization.

      A 'Flag' is a concern that is raised on the Invoice or Credit Note, to bring attention to any issues with the document that will require review (and Operational and Financial Approval). Flags ensure that only Invoices and Credit Notes that meet your Organization's specific criteria are able to progress to a Reconciled state in PurchasePlus, without manual intervention. 

      Flagged Invoices or Credit Notes are easily-identifiable in PurchasePlus. You can view summary (or Header) level information about the document in the Status section:

      Flagged Invoice 1

      And clicking on a Line-Level Flag will reveal more information about the Flagged Line:

      Flagged Invoice 2

      Flagging or Reconciling an Invoice or Credit Note

      When an Invoice or Credit Note is manually created in PurchasePlus, it typically begins life in the 'Open' state. Then Open state indicates that the document is a Draft, and it is still being worked on, or may still need information added to it. For convenience, PurchasePlus will show Flags on any Invoice or Credit Note in the 'Open' state, to help show concerns that will need to be addressed, as it is being worked on.

      Once work has finished on the 'Open' Invoice or Credit Note and it is ready to progress to the next state, you will find a primary action in the header of the 'Open' Invoice:

      • If there are zero Flags raised on the Invoice or Credit Note, the primary action available will be [Mark as Reconciled]. Clicking Mark as Reconciled will progress the Invoice or Credit Note to the state of 'Reconciled', and no Operational or Financial Approval will be required. This is because according to the settings applied to your Organisation, this document has met all criteria, and there are no Flags raised.
      • If there are one or more Flags raised on the Invoice or Credit Note, the primary action available will be [Mark as Flagged]. Clicking Mark as Flagged will progress the document to the state of 'Flagged', and Operational and Financial Approval will now be required. This is because according to the settings applied to your Organisation, this Invoice or Credit Note has not met all criteria (hence the raised Flags), and these Flags need to be considered by a Financial and Operational Approver user at your Organization who has the permission to decide if the document should be approved despite the Flags, or if the Flags should indeed be resolved. Once Operational and Financial Approval have both been granted on the Invoice or Credit Note, the document will progress to the state of 'Reconciled'.

      In PurchasePlus, the objective with all Invoices and Credit Notes is to progress them to the 'Reconciled' state. Once in the Reconciled state, they are ready to be exported to your external accounting platform. See our Export an Invoice or Credit Note or our Create a Batch Invoice and Credit Note Export File article to learn more about exporting Reconciled Invoices and Credit Notes.

      Flag Settings - Summary

      Invoice Flags can be customized to meet the unique requirements of each Organization, and are usually established during your PurchasePlus Implementation in close consultation with our team.

      If you are finding that Invoices are Flagging for nonsense reasons, please speak with an Administrator at your Organization, or contact our friendly customer support team for assistance in reviewing your Organization's Flagging preferences.

      Flag Settings & Organization Hierarchies

      These settings are specific to each Organization and Department level, and do not cascade down an Organization hierarchy; Each level of the Organization chart must be configured independently.

      Flag Thresholds

      Some of the Flags available for Invoices and Credit Notes in PurchasePlus are further customizable using Thresholds. Thresholds allow Invoices with minor discrepancies to not trigger a specific Flag, assisting to progress Invoices and Credit Notes to the Reconciled state with less human intervention.

      Read our article Guide to Invoice Flag Thresholds for more information.

      Flag States

      Each Invoice and Credit Note Flag (defined below) can be set to Off, Regular or Important, based on your Organization's requirements. 

      • [Off]: The Flag will not apply to your Organization.

      • [Regular]: The Invoice or Credit Note can still be approved by an Approver, if the only Flags raised on the Invoice or Credit Note are Regular Flags. 

      • [Important]: An Invoice or Credit Note cannot be approved by an Approver, if one or more Important Flags are raised on the document. All Important Flags must be resolved before an Approver can approve the Invoice or Credit Note.

      Flag Settings and States appear like so to PurchasePlus System Administrators, able to be state-switched as required:

      Flag settings and States

      Invoice Flags

      The following Flag Settings can be configured for Invoices.

      There are 5 Invoice Line-level flags that apply to every Line of the Invoice, and there are 10 Invoice header-level flags, that apply to the entire Invoice.

      Invoice Line Flags

      Line Unit Price Flag

      This Flag is raised if the difference between the Invoice Line Unit Price and the Purchase Order Line Unit Price exceeds the Organization's threshold for Line Unit Price.

      Invoice Threshold can be set for this Flag.
      Line Ordered Quantity Flag

      This Flag is raised if the difference between the Total Invoice Quantity of the Invoice Line and the Ordered Quantity of the Purchase Order Line exceeds the Organization's threshold for Line Quantity.

      Invoice Threshold can be set for this Flag.
      Line Received Quantity Flag

      This Flag is raised if the difference between the Total Invoice Quantity of the Invoice Line and the Received Quantity of the Purchase Order Line exceeds the Organization's threshold for Line Quantity.

      Invoice Threshold can be set for this Flag.
      Line Not Linked Flag This Flag is raised if the Invoice Line is not yet linked to a Purchase Order Line.
      Original Line Total Flag This Flag is raised if the difference between the current Calculated Total of the Invoice Line and the Original Total of the Invoice Line exceeds 0.00. This Flag is only applicable to Invoices that are created via PurchasePlus Paperless Invoicing. The Original Line Total is stored when the Invoice is scanned and created by Paperless Invoicing.

       

      Invoice Header Flags

      Flagged Line Flag This Flag is raised if there are one or more Flagged Lines on the Invoice.
      Purchase Order Flag This Flag is raised if the Invoice is not yet matched to a Purchase Order.
      Receiving Notes Flag This Flag is raised if there are no Goods Receiving Notes have been recorded against the Purchase Order matched to the Invoice.
      Total Out of Balance Flag

      This Flag is raised if the difference between the Invoice Total and the sum of the Invoice Parts exceeds the Organization's threshold for Invoice Total.

      Invoice Threshold can be set for this Flag.
      Reference Flag This Flag is raised if there is no Reference set on the Invoice.
      Supplier Number Flag This Flag is raised if there is no Supplier Number set on the Supplier that sent the Invoice.
      Department Flag This Flag is raised if there is no Department set on the Invoice.
      Account Code Flag This Flag is raised if there is no Account Code set on the Invoice.
      Currency Flag This Flag is raised if the Invoice Currency does not match the Currency of the Purchase Order.
      Approval Required Flag This Flag is raised if the Invoice has not been granted approval. This Flag will cause all Invoices to be Flagged, and require approval, even if the Invoice would otherwise be auto-reconciled. This Flag cannot be set to Important.

      Credit Note Flags

      The following Flag Settings can be configured for Credit Notes.

      There is one Credit Note Line-level flags that apply to every Line of the Credit Note, and there are 6 Credit Note header-level flags, that apply to the entire Credit Note.

      Credit Note Line Flags

      Total Out of Balance Flag

      This Flag is raised if the difference between the Credit Note Total and the sum of the Credit Note Parts exceeds the Organization's threshold for Credit Note Total.

      Credit Note Header Flags

      Invoice Flag This Flag is raised if the Credit Note is not yet matched to an Invoice.
      Reference Flag This Flag is raised if there is no Reference set on the Credit Note.
      Supplier Number Flag This Flag is raised if there is no Supplier Number set on the Supplier that sent the Credit Note.
      Department Flag This Flag is raised if there is no Department set on the Credit Note.
      Account Code Flag This Flag is raised if there is no Account Code set on the Credit Note.
      Approval Required Flag This Flag is raised if the Credit Note has not been granted approval. This Flag will cause all Credit Notes to be Flagged, and require approval, even if the Credit Note would otherwise be auto-reconciled. This Flag cannot be set to Important.