Payments

Record a Payment for a Purchase Order

Track Payments made for existing Purchase Orders in ConstructionOnline's OnCost™ Purchasing

BACKGROUND

Engineered for fully-integrated financial management, ConstructionOnline's OnCost Purchasing is designed to manage Purchase Orders from requisition to payment. By recording Payments directly from existing Purchase Orders in ConstructionOnline™, construction companies can eliminate tedious manual entry and prevent errors by pulling from information already saved in their account to document payments made. Additionally, this workflow enhances overall project accounting by providing clear visibility into payment statuses and helping teams stay on top of their financial obligations. 

This article contains the following sections: 

  1. Best use recommendations
  2. Step-by-step instructions
  3. Video walkthrough
  4. Additional information

BEST USE

The recommended OnCost Purchasing workflow encourages the creation of Bills and Payments from existing Purchase Orders for seamless financial management. Any number of Bills may be linked to the Purchase Order from which a Payment is generated, depending on your company's use of the system. However, recording a Payment directly from the Purchase Order will not automatically update any of the linked Bill's Payment Statuses—it must be manually updated.

If you have a Bill attached to your Purchase Order and would like to ensure both the Purchase Order and Bill are updated with the Payment information created, the Payment must be created from the Bill. For step-by-step instructions on creating Payments from Bills, visit this article. 

STEPS TO RECORD A PAYMENT FOR A PURCHASE ORDER

  1. Navigate to the desired Project via the Left Sidebar. 
  2. Select the Financials tab and choose the Purchasing category. 
  3. Click the Payments tab, and then click the green (+) Create New Payment button at the top of the Purchasing pane and select the "...for Purchase Order" option from the dropdown menu. 
    1. If the Project has no Approved Purchase Orders (based on your company's Purchase Order & Bills Settings), you will receive a notification indicating no Purchase Orders are available for selection. 
  4. Within the "Create New Payment" window, step through the following tabs to enter the new Payment's information - 
    1. Select Purchase Order
      1. Using the table below, select the Approved Purchase Order you wish to create a Payment for 
        1. If working within a Project, the current Project will be selected within the "Project" field and cannot be modified. 
        2. Mark the circle 🔵 next to the Purchase Order you wish to create a Payment for. 
          1. Only Approved Purchase Orders will appear within the Approved Purchase Orders table.
    2. Payment Details 
      1. Title: Give your Payment a title, or keep the automatically generated title
        1. The default title assigned combines the word "Payment" with the generated Payment Number, described below. 
      2. Payment Number: A unique identifier for the Payment automatically generated by combining two numbers—the Project ID and a sequential number based on the number of Payments previously created within the Project
        1. This field cannot be modified. 
      3. Paid To: Specify the recipient of the Payment 
        1. By default, any Contact added to the Subcontractor/Vendor field for the Purchase Order is automatically included, but can be removed.
        2. Contacts that populate within the "Send To" dropdown are pulled from your ConstructionOnline Company Contact List. New Contacts must be added through the Company Contacts page and cannot be added when creating a Payment.
        3. Only one Contact can be assigned to this field.
      4. Payment Method: Indicate how the Payment was or will be made (i.e. via credit card, check, cash, ACH, wire transfer, etc.)
        1. This field is unique to the Payment feature and can be customized through the gear icon ⚙️.
      5. Payment Date: Record the date in which the Payment was made or is scheduled to be made 
      6. Tags: Assign any predefined keywords or labels to the Payment 
        1. This field can be customized. 
      7. Memo: Add any additional notes or comments related to the Payment, such as other payment details; references to invoices, contracts or the purchase order; or any other information that provides context for the transaction
      8. Once you have filled in the Payment's details, choose the Items you wish to include on the Payment from the table by marking the checkbox ☑️  next to the desired Purchase Order Items
        1. The selected Purchase Order Items are marked by default
      9. Then, choose the Payment Amounts by selecting from one of three options  
        1. Remaining total of all lines: This default option selects all Line Items with a remaining balance 
          1. Any Line Items already marked as "Paid in Full" will be automatically deselected within this option 
        2. % of each line: This option allows you to record a payment for a percentage of each Line Item with a remaining balance 
          1. Any Line Items already marked as "Paid in Full" will be automatically deselected within this option
        3. Custom amount of each line: This option gives you total control to customize how much of the payment is applied to which Line Items
    3. Link to Estimate
      1. Link the Payment Items to your Project Estimate, if desired, by choosing the desired Estimate Category, Subcategory, and Estimate Item from the dropdown menus. 
      2. If the selected Purchase Order's Items were previously linked to the Estimate, they will be designated by a 🔗 link icon. 
      3. If the selected Purchase Order was created from an Approved Change Order, no items will appear within this step for linkage as they have already been integrated with the Project Estimate. 
      4. Linked Payment item totals will appear in the Project Estimate's Actuals column. Unlinked items will not affect the estimate. 
    4. Attachments
      1. Upload any files, photos, or videos pertinent to the Payment
  5. Once you have finalized the new Payment's details, click the blue "Create" button.
    1. Upon creation, the new Payment will be logged & the associated Purchase Order will be updated with Payment details. If the Purchase Order is associated with any Bills, this Payment will not affect the Payment Status of those Bills. For more information, revisit our best use recommendations at the beginning of this article. 

VIDEO WALKTHROUGH 

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

  • Payments for Purchase Orders can also be recorded from the Purchase Order tab by right-clicking on the desired Purchase Order and selecting "Record Payment", or from the Purchase Order's Timeline.
  • Subscription Level: ConstructionOnline's Purchasing module is available for companies with current ConstructionOnline subscriptions at the Team, Business, and Enterprise levels.
  • Permissions: ConstructionOnline Company Users must have Purchase Orders, Bills, and Payments permissions set to "Can Create & Edit" or "Can Create, Edit & Delete" to create new Payments.
    • Purchase Orders, Bills, & Payments permissions are set and managed at the Company level. For more information on editing Company-Level permissions, visit this FAQ.
  • ClientLink™/TeamLink™ Access: ClientLink and TeamLink Users do not have access to the Purchasing feature via the Project Portal.
  • CO™ Mobile App: The Purchasing feature is exclusively available via browser access to ConstructionOnline. 
    • The Purchasing feature cannot be accessed through the CO Mobile App.

HAVE MORE QUESTIONS? 

  • If you need additional assistance, chat with a Specialist by clicking the orange Chat icon located in the bottom left corner or visit the UDA Support Page for additional options.