Purchase invoice proceeding (approval), i.e. the approval round, means that the cost of a purchase invoice is approved by the responsible person(s) before it is confirmed in accounting. The Directo signature remains on the document together with a timestamp and can be verified later.

This page gives an overview of setting up and using purchase invoice proceeding. Detailed descriptions can be found on the page Document proceeding.

The settings required for proceeding are located in Common settings → Confirmation prerequisite / Proceeding.

For the purchase invoice, at least one of the following options must be set:

• Number of points required to confirm the document.

The purchase invoice cannot be confirmed if there are not enough signatures with the required points.

• And/or the number of proceeders required to confirm the purchase invoice (setting Purchase invoice proceeding mandatory number of signer role users).

The purchase invoice cannot be confirmed if the required number of proceeders has not been added to it. Saving and confirming the purchase invoice also shows a corresponding message:

• And/or switch on 100% (Purchase invoice confirming expects proceeding to be fully signed).

The purchase invoice cannot be confirmed if the proceeder(s) have not signed or have refused to sign.

In Directo, purchase invoices can be processed in three ways:

• Parallel proceeding - all proceeders process the invoice and receive notifications at the same time.
• Sequential proceeding - proceeding in order of levels: first the proceeders with fewer points (P1) sign, then those with more points (P2), etc. Notifications are sent in the same order. Sequential proceeding requires at least 2 proceeders.
• Row-based proceeding - proceeders take a share of the dividable sum on the purchase invoice rows, and the code of the user who has accepted that amount is added to the row. The last signer cannot sign until the difference of the dividable sum is 0.00.

By default, proceeding is parallel. It becomes sequential when the option Sequential is ticked (Purchase ledger settings → Purchase invoice proceeding type).

Purchase invoice proceeding becomes row-based without exception if the setting Purchase invoice proceeding is row based is set to Yes.

A proceeder can be any user who has Points set on the purchase invoice row in the user or group rights. Points determine the proceeding level. A user without points cannot sign the invoice.

See also how to set a proceeding substitute for holidays or give a proceeder additional rights, e.g. to change proceeders or receive notifications about refusals.

The person entering the purchase invoice can add proceeders manually, or adding proceeders can be automated with the following options:

• Default proceeders - on the employee card, you can define the conditions under which a specific employee is added automatically to different documents that go through proceeding.
• Supplier-based proceeders - proceeding set on the supplier card is applied automatically to the Purchase invoice, Purchase order and Stock Receipt when a document with that supplier is saved.
• Proceeding templates - proceeding templates let you predefine sets of proceeders that can be added to a document in one step, or that are applied automatically based on the object.

The proceeder can review documents in proceeding and add or change their decision:

• directly on the document in the PROCEEDING section
• in the Proceeding report
• in the MyDirecto proceeding solution

When refusing, add a comment about the reason for refusal and the necessary changes. In sequential proceeding, a refusal may stop the proceeding order. In that case, after the corrections, the refusal or the signatures must be cancelled. Read more: Refusal.

If a field set in the setting Purchase invoice fields which will reset proceeding (signatures removed) upon changing is changed on the invoice, the signatures given are removed and the invoice must go through proceeding again. Read more: Invalidating proceeding.

• Purchase invoice linked to a purchase order - a purchase invoice created from a purchase order that has already gone through proceeding can be confirmed by the automatic confirmation proceeder if the invoice amount stays within the allowed excess. Read more: Proceeded purchase orders and purchase invoice not going through proceeding.
• Credit invoices - proceeding of invoices with a negative amount: Credit invoice proceeding.