2.1.3.1.8.3. Special Handling Invoices
Most organizations also have invoices that receive special handling.
A property management firm has several property managers each responsible for a group of properties. The normal process is for them to be the first approver for all invoices for their properties with an approval group created for each of these PMs. The firm also has an in-house insurance specialist whose responsibility is to approve all insurance bills for all properties before they are sent to the PMs for approval. To accommodate this situation, a second approval group is created for each PM, this time with the insurance specialist as the first approver and the PM as the second approver. The manner in which the invoices get routed to the various approval groups will be described in the Approval Group Criteria section.
The next scenario is that of a construction company that has multiple project managers each of whom oversees one or more jobs. Again, an approval group has been created for each PM. The company has a policy that all materials invoices for all jobs be approved by a purchasing agent after being approved by the PM. In this case, a second materials approval group is created with the PM as the first level approver and the purchasing agent as the second.
A common approval group that is typically created is an Administrative group. Many companies have vendors such as Fed Ex or UPS whose invoices are allocated to the appropriate jobs even though it is not necessary for the project managers to approve them. By assigning these vendors as members of the Administrative group, invoices for them can be allocated to the jobs but approved by administrative personnel.
