Approving Contract Invoices

08/01/2025
8 minutes to read

With the Purchase Contracts module, you can have any contract invoice (that is, any purchase invoice that's linked to a purchase contract) approved automatically when the invoice is registered. You can also set up a variance amount or percentage for each contract line, so that invoices whose amounts relate to the contract amounts within the specified variance are automatically approved upon registration.

For the sake of simplicity, this article uses invoices as an example. However, the functionality works just as well with contract credit memos.

Note

To set up a variance amount or percentage, line recognition must be enabled in the relevant template. Without line recognition enabled, the feature only works when the invoice and contract line amounts match exactly.

To enable automatic approval of contract invoices

Before Document Capture can automatically approve contract invoices, you must enable this feature on both the Purchase Contract and Template Card pages.

On the Purchase Contract page

To enable automatic approval on the Purchase Contract page:

Choose the icon, enter Purchase Contracts, and then choose the related link to open the Purchase Contracts page.
In the list of contracts, in the No. column, select the number of the contract whose related invoices you want to be approved automatically. This opens the Purchase Contract page.
Optional: On the General FastTab, select the Price Type field, and then select Variable Amount. This allows you to add variances in steps 5-6 below.
In the Auto Approve Within Variance field, select Yes.
Optional: To set up a variance percentage for a line, go to the Lines FastTab, select the relevant line, and then enter the percentage under Max. Allowed Line Variance %. Repeat this step for any additional lines you want to set up a variance for.
Optional: To set up a variance amount for a line, select the relevant line on the Lines FastTab, and then enter the amount under Max. Allowed Line Variance. Repeat this step for any additional lines you want to set up a variance for.
Note
The Max. Allowed Line Variance field may have to be added first to be visible. To do this, personalize the page as follows:
1. Select the icon > Personalize > + Field to open the Add Field to Page pane.
2. Select the Lines section, and then drag the Max. Allowed Line Variance field from the pane to the table in the selected section.
3. Select Done to close the Personalizing banner.

By default, contract invoices that are up to 3 days early or late when compared with the contract start date (for the first invoice) or with the date in the latest invoice (for subsequent invoices) can still be auto-approved. To change this:

Choose the icon, enter Purchase Contracts Setup, and then choose the related link to open the Purchase Contracts Setup page.
On the Approval FastTab, enter the desired formula in the Max. Allowed Approval Date Variance field. For example, 5D (five days).

On the Template Card page

To ensure that registered contract invoices are actually sent for approval automatically, you must configure the second step of the registration process on the Template Card page. To do this, follow these steps:

Choose the icon, enter Document Categories, and then choose the related link.
Select the PURCHASE code to open the document journal.
In the list of documents, select the invoice whose template you want to edit.
In the action bar, select Template > Template Card to open the Template Card page.
On the Purchase Documents FastTab, under Registration, select the Invoice Reg. Step 2 field, and then select Submit for Approval.
Note
By following the instructions above, you’re only enabling automatic approval for the template that’s assigned to the selected invoice. If you instead enable it for the master template, all newly created templates will automatically have it enabled too. To learn more, see Working with Templates.

To approve contract invoices

Once you've completed both parts of the setup process as described above, you can have any contract invoice automatically approved simply by registering it:

Choose the icon, enter Document Categories, and then choose the related link.
Select the PURCHASE code to open the document journal.
In the list of documents, select the invoice that you want to register.
In the action bar, select Process > Register.

This both registers and automatically approves the invoice, and the Purchase Invoice page opens. On the General FastTab, the Approval Comments field displays the text The invoice was automatically approved.

Scenarios

The scenarios below exemplify the auto-approval logic.

First contract invoice

If there are no other invoices related to the purchase contract – be them posted or unposted –, Document Capture only auto-approves the new invoice if its posting date is either the same as or later than the start date of the contract.

Unposted purchase invoice exists

If there’s one or more unposted invoices related to the purchase contract, Document Capture doesn’t auto-approve the new invoice because it can’t perform the required date check.

Posted purchase invoice exists

If there’s one or more posted invoices related to the purchase contract, Document Capture auto-approves the new invoice – provided that this invoice passes the date check.

Posted and unposted invoices exist

If there are both posted and unposted invoices related to the purchase contract, Document Capture ignores the unposted invoices, performs the date check based on the latest posted invoice, and auto-approves the new invoice – provided that this invoice passes the date check.

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