Explaining the SUPPLIER-INVOICE process

Procurement in ConnectWise Manage can be a very powerful part of the process in ConnectWise Manage, providing that you understand the way in which ConnectWise Manage will create records, and prepare them to be sent to the Accounting Interface.

There are three key principals, that you need to be aware of:

  1. ConnectWise Manage will group all purchases by the Packing Slip ID
  2. Only records that are Closed will be available to sync through the Accounting Interface.
  3. ConnectWise Manage only natively provides for ONE field for the Vendor (Vendor) invoice, including the Vendor Invoice Date - so we need an approach that will work around this limitation.

Wise-Sync, together with our MSP Partner Virage IT, have designed a process that can be used to maximise the efficiency of the Procurement process in ConnectWise.

This involves adding a $0 "Supplier-Invoice" product to the Purchase Order in ConnectWise to capture key information about the received Invoice (such as Invoice number, Due Date, and Invoice Totals) and then mapping this through to your accounting package as a text note on the Bill. This provides you with valuable cross-reference information about the supplier's invoice and lets you ensure the details entered in the Bill are correct.

Here is the overview of the process:

Create the Supplier-Invoice Product

  1. (Optional) Create a new Category / Sub Category (If required) for informational products
  2. Create a new Product called "SUPPLIER-INVOICE"
  3. Set the Product Class to Service and Product Type to Service
  4. Set the Product Description to:
Supplier Invoice
- Invoice # (CW Pack Slip ID):
- Invoice Date (CW Ship Date):
- Invoice Subtotal:
- Invoice Tax (GST/VAT):
- Invoice Total:

Add the Supplier-Invoice Product to the Purchase Order

  1. For each Purchase Order, add the Supplier-Invoice product, and add details in the Product Description under each heading (ie. Invoice Number, Invoice Date, Invoice Totals)
  2. (If the vendor Part-Invoiced your PO (ie. if some goods were out of stock and were invoiced at a later time, and you received multiple invoices for your one PO) then you should add one Supplier-Invoice product for EACH Invoice you receive from the Vendor. You may also decide to change the "Sequence" number of your products on the PO so that you can group and order these under the correct Supplier-Invoice record)
  3. Check the pricing for all products on the supplier's invoice, and update the costs on the PO if there are any discrepancies
  4. If there is Shipping charged to you, we recommend adding a "Shipping" product to the PO and setting the cost there
  5. For all Products listed on the supplier's invoice, update the "Ship Date" to be the Invoice Date (you can use the Mass Actions to "Update Ship Date"
  6. Receive all Products listed on the supplier's invoice (including Shipping and the Supplier-Invoice product) and when prompted for a Packing Slip number, enter the Invoice Number as the Packing Slip number.

Because you have already reviewed your costs on the PO product lines in ConnectWise Manage and have entered information about the supplier's invoice when you are reviewing the Bill in your accounting package you can use this information to cross-reference and ensure it has correctly been created and is accurate. This saves you a lot of time and reduces double work when processing and approving bills to be paid.

Video Overview

The following Video Tutorial runs through the whole Supplier-Invoice process and covers the how and why of the process in more detail:

Did you find it helpful? Yes No

Send feedback
Sorry we couldn't be helpful. Help us improve this article with your feedback.