Creating Invoices
Objective
After completing this lesson, you will be able to create an invoice against a purchase order.
Procure-to-Pay with Guided Buying Process Flow
Invoice Reconciliation Terminology
- Invoice
- An invoice is a request for payment issued by a supplier.
When an invoice arrives from Ariba Network, the invoice document never gets touched or modified.
- You can consider the invoice a master document; for audit reasons, it should not be changed.
- An invoice is a request for payment issued by a supplier.
- Invoice Reconciliation
- The Invoice Reconciliation (IR) is a copy of the originally invoice. It contains a record of the reconciliation process.
- Instead of changing the invoice, changes are made to the IR document so both the original and final records reman intact.
- Invoice Reconciliation numbers have the same numbering scheme as Invoices with the prefix of "IR" (e.g. IR1234-152).
- The IR document is always generated regardless of whether exceptions are generated or not.
Overall SAP Ariba Invoicing Process
- Entry
- Invoices are sent through the Ariba Network or created manually in SAP Ariba Invoicing.
- Once an invoice is received, an invoice reconciliation document is created automatically.
- Matching
- SAP Ariba tries to match the invoice reconciliation document to existing purchase orders, contracts, and receipts data, such as price, terms, quantity, etc., then validate them according to your configuration.
- If the invoice does not match automatically, it can later be manually matched to a document.
- Reconciliation
- If no discrepancies are found, or if the discrepancies are within your company's pre-configured tolerances, the invoice reconciliation document moves to approval or payment, depending on configuration.
- If discrepancies are found and outside tolerances, the invoice reconciliation is forwarded for manual processing.
- Payment
- Reconciled invoices are exported on the "OK2Pay" file.
- Payment can be performed by ERP system or using AribaPay on the Ariba Network.
- Once a payment is made, the payment status can be updated through a remittance import for visibility in SAP Ariba Buying and Invoicing.
Ways to Receive Invoices
- Ariba Network
- Supplier can enter an invoice on Ariba Network that will be transferred to SAP Ariba Invoice Management.
- Supplier can enter PO based invoice, non-PO based (without reference to a purchase order), and Contract based invoice.
- Ariba Network offers suppliers the ability to "flip" a PO into an invoice. By inheriting the data from a PO, the supplier can ensure higher accuracy of the invoice document and secure payment faster.
- Invoice Conversion Services
- An Invoice Conversion Service provider can be used to transform the paper invoice received from supplier into an electronic invoice.
- Suppliers send paper invoices to a customer-specific postal box where the scanning provider will prepare, sort, and scan the documents.
- After an initial quality review of the scanned image, data is extracted from the scanned image, classifying, indexing, and entering the complete required information.
- Once completed, the scanning application sends the invoice to your organization via the Ariba Network.
- Manual Entry
- Invoices sent to your organization by a supplier via email, fax, or mail can be manually entered into the SAP Ariba application.
- You can choose between creating a PO-based Invoice, a non-PO based Invoice, and a Contract-based invoice.
- You can attach an image of the paper invoice on the Invoice Entry page. Supported file formats: PDF, GIF, JPEG, JFIF, and PNG.
- Manual entry can be performed by users with permissions like Invoice Agent, Invoice Manager, or Invoice Entry User.
Create Electronic Invoice via PO Flip
Step 1: Access the PO and click Invoice
- No Order Number Needed
- The orders which require your attention are listed automatically, there's no need to find PO numbers in advance.
- Filters If You Need Them
- Most users will only have a small number of requests, but you can still filter or search if you need to.
Step 2: Add or Adjust any Header Changes
- Add Tax if Required
- Depending on the buyer's configuration, the purchase order may not have included taxes. Suppliers can add tax at this time, either to the header or at the line level.
- Shipping and Handling
- One of the most common adjustments is the addition of shipping and handling charges.
Step 3: Verify Line Item Information
- Make Adjustments to Line Items
- Suppliers can change quantities or prices if allowed by the buyer rules.
- Add or Change Lines
- Line items might have shipping or tax charges to add, or suppliers may need to add new lines not reflected on the original order.
Step 4: Submit the Invoice
- Review the Final Invoice
- Before submitting the invoice, suppliers should take one last opportunity to review all information for accuracy. Accurate invoices lead to faster payment.