Resource reports (WIP)

 

Overview

From: Finance > Billing > Resource reports

As an alternative to Monthly reports, resources in the system can be paid based on Resource reports.

Resource reports are not time-based, so tasks can be picked freely to create reports that can be treated individually.

The approval process can have between 1 and 4 steps, as needed.

 

Configuration

System configuration

By default, the system applies one approval step to the Resource reports.

If more are needed, follow the steps below.

Setting up approval steps

From: Administrator > Web administrator > Configuration > Settings

Under the Finance Settings section, choose the needed number of steps from the “Number of resource report approval steps”.

If used, the “Processed by accounting” column in the Resource reports page will change to reflect the number of steps:

Relevant roles

Can approve resource report step 1

Allows the user to approve or un-approve the first step in the approval process.

Can approve resource report step 2

Allows the user to approve or un-approve the second step in the approval process.

Can approve resource report step 3

Allows the user to approve or un-approve the third step in the approval process.

Naming conventions

The names of the steps can be customized from Administrator > Web administrator > Name conventions.

User configuration

There are two user settings relevant for this functionality: Approval manner and Payment manner.

Setting up at the system level

From Administrator > Web administrator > Configuration > Settings

  1. Select the Default resource approval manner

  2. Click “Apply to all users”

Setting up at the user level

The Approval manner and Payment manner can also be set at the resource level from the dropdown menus in the user’s profile:

 

Other relevant roles

 

Resource reports page

From: Finance > Billing > Resource reports

Once a user submits their resource report, it will be available on this page, where managers can keep track of the current status of a report.

Key columns

  1. Resource - The resource the report belongs to

  2. Resource report number - The unique ID of the resource report

  3. Description - An editable field. Defaults to “billing in (report currency)”

  4. Full view - A detailed listing of the tasks and files included in the resource report

  5. Items - A detailed listing of the tasks included in the resource report

  6. Total billed - The total amount in the due in the resource report

  7. Currency - The currency of the resource report

  8. Submitted by resource - Confirmation if the resource report was submitted or not

  9. Submitted on - The date in which the resource report was submitted

  10. Reject by accounting and send rejection mail - Click to reject a resource report. More info under Rejecting a resource report

  11. Processed by accounting - Current status of the approval

  12. Billing messages - Messages related to the resource reports. More info in the billing messages article

  13. Accounting date - The date in which the approval process was completed

  14. Billing Hold - A toggle (Can Pay/On Hold) to flag if a resource report can, or cannot, be paid

  15. Payment due on - The date the payment is due. Can be autopopulated using the Payment manner

Approving a resource report

After being generated, resource reports will be shown in the Resource reports (Finance) page.

The approval can be done from the “Processed by accounting” column and may have between 1 and 4 steps.

Please refer to the Configuration section for more info on how to set up a multistep approval process.

If the user has the necessary role for the current step, a prompt will appear, and the approval will move to the next step after clicking “Yes”.

If the user has the necessary role for the current and the next step, a prompt will appear, and the user can either approval the current step, by clicking “Yes”, or revert the approval to the previous step by clicking “No”. For more info on un-approving approval steps, please check the Un-approving a resource report section.

These change will be logged.

The complete log of approvals can be read on the tooltip of the “Processed by accounting” icon.

Once all approval steps are completed, the “Accounting date” field will be automatically populated.

Management review

Management review is an optional approval step.

This step can be approved at any moment, and is unaffected by the current approval step.

Billing hold

If necessary, the approval of a resource report can be suspended by using the “Billing Hold” option:

 

When clicking, the icon will change and the “Processed by accounting” and “Management review” icons will be disabled until it is changed back to “Can Pay”:

 

Changes to the “Billing Hold” status will be logged in the tooltip:

Un-approving a resource report

Users with the necessary role can approve and un-approve a step.

If the approval has already been done, clicking on the icon will instead ask the user if the step should be unapproved:

This will also clear that step from the approval log in the tooltip.

Rejecting a resource report

Submitted resource reports can be rejected by using the “Reject by accounting and send rejection mail” column.

 

  1. Click on the envelope of the report to reject

  2. If necessary, edit the message body. Then, click “Send”.

Once sent, the resource will be notified and the resource report will return to the “unsubmitted” status and the resource can edit it as necessary from their personal page.