Approving Payables in the Management Portal

Online invoice approval is an optional business process that your management company can offer you through the CiraConnect Management / Board Portal (“Classic”), CiraMobile for iOS devices and now, we are very excited to introduce, the new and efficient Management Portal. This Tip Sheet will focus on the Management Portal but is translatable to the other venues which are all integrated and the options are consistent, except for the multiple selection tool, which is unique to the Management Portal. See more about that new feature below. Once you have determined which invoices you as a board prefer to approve before disbursement and that set-up has been configured, invoices will begin populating to the Board Approval page in My Work Queue in the Management Portal. To assist you with the review process, we have prepared this Tip Sheet, but please do not hesitate to contact your Community Association Manager anytime you have questions or concerns about the process.

The Board Approvals Page

If you have spent time in the Resident Portal, you will notice that the look and feel is similar. Users navigate to the modules using the side Navigation Pane. We have additional resources to help board and committee members how to use that to its full advantage, but for these purposes, the Board Approval page is in the My Work Queue under the sub-node Community Management:

Invoice Approval is one of three potential online approval options (Architectural Request Approval and Collections Approval being the others). If you are an approver for more than one option, when you first open the Board Approval page, the approval types will appear in alpha order. To filter to the invoices waiting for review, use the grid to filter to WF. Alternatively, you see the options when you first open the page, the approval types will appear in a grid format, with the entries “collapsed” under the Process header. There are two options to expand the grid to view to the items that you want to action on:

1. Click on the arrows to the left of the Process title and the ID line items to manually expand the grid as you need it, or;
2. Click on the “+” symbol in the grid settings to expand the entire grid. (You can in turn then click the minus sign in the same location to collapse them again.)

Navigating the Page View

Before we step you through reviewing and approving the pending invoices, we will take you through some of the features available on the page view.

1. Open and Closed Tabs. The page is split into two tabs, with the Open items being the default view, but users can look back on actioned items by clicking on the Closed tab.
2. Task View. The page will open by default to the setting of All Tasks, which means that you will be able to see, but not action on, all other voters’ line items and be able to assess immediately what their status is. This can be helpful when trying to understand what your fellow members are leaning toward but also to know who has actioned on an item versus who might need a little nudge to cast their vote to be able to move a project forward. That said, if you have numerous invoices to review, it can be helpful to switch to My Tasks, which filters the view down to just your line items. This also helps the page work more efficiently.
3. Begin Due Date and End Due Date. These date ranges can be used in either tab to help filter down to only the results you wish to concentrate on.
4. Days Remaining. This column helps you gauge how long you have to review the invoice before the due date, which is set based on information on the invoice itself or, if no due date is clearly represented there, based on a Net 30. If the application is past due based on those settings, the font appears in red and will count down how many days the invoice is past due.
5. Info. These symbols allow a quick visual assessment of all the approvers’ voting status. In the illustration above, the caution symbol tells us that no one has voted on the pending invoices. A green check mark would indicate the voter approved the item, and a red X indicates a denial.
6. Status. However, we do also state it clearly in the next column.
7. Documents. This allows you to see the invoice without the workflow form that carries it through the approval process. The number in parentheses indicates how many documents are attached. In the case of invoice approval, that should be limited to one. To view the document, click on the paperclip icon.
8. Discussion Notes. This notepad allows you to communicate with your fellow board members about the bill you are working on. If there is a note in place the notepad is highlighted green with a check mark. If there are no notes yet, the notepad is clear, as is the case in the illustration above. To add a new note, simply click on the icon to open to a pop-up window enabling you to leave your comment.
9. Log. Most actions taken in CiraNet are logged so this allows you to see the activity for this line item, including when email reminder notifications were sent.
10. Required. Some board members may be designated as Required, meaning that they must opine on an invoice no matter what other approvers do. A green check mark in this column indicates that individual’s approval is Required.
11. Details. Clicking on the “i” here opens to the AAP Workflow, which is a form containing the invoice and defining the information on the invoice for the system to be able to record it correctly, including coding, fund to pay from, whether the item is paid by EFT, etc.

Any line items highlighted in green in the Open tab indicate a recently actioned invoice. By default, these items will remain in place on the Open tab for three days* to allow the committee members to keep track of the files that have been brought before them recently. This does not, however, impede the payment of the invoice in the meantime. Note that the Action button seen on your open items is replaced with View in this status, since the item has been moved on or rejected back and no further action can be taken on it.

* This is configurable by community association.

Viewing the Workflow

The workflow, as mentioned above, is the vehicle that carries the invoice through the payables process in CiraNet. For you, as an executive approver, the workflow is a read only view in the Management Portal, but allows you to see the information keyed in for each invoice, and verify how it is set to be paid (from the operating, replacement, or other funds), as well as the preliminary GL Coding (coding can be modified at any time for disbursements until the books are closed on the fiscal year). If any of that information appears incorrect or you have any questions, then the appropriate action is to Deny the invoice (more on this below) and leave a note with your concerns.

Note that the invoice in the illustration appears on the right side of the pane. This can be changed to better meet your needs by clicking on the gear in the upper right-hand side of the workflow form.

Acting on an Invoice

When you are ready to action the file, use your mouse pointer to click on Action to open to a smaller pop-up* window.

* Please be sure to always allow pop-ups from CiraNet.

1. View AP Workflow Details. This opens the workflow and invoice for the issue you are working on. See above for an example.
2. Discussion Notes. Any notes made by all users are available for review here, but new notes cannot be added directly from this view.
3. Approval Action: Approve. If the invoice looks good as is, click Approve.
4. Approval Action: Deny/Requestion Additional Information. If you have any concerns about the invoice or the information in the workflow, choose this option. A notepad will open requiring a clarifying note be entered about why you are denying the request. Once denied, the workflow returns to the CAM (Manager) so they can review the information and react accordingly. Keep in mind that this is the only way the CAM knows you have left a note for them to review an item. They do not receive an alert when the board uses the Board Discussion notepad.
5. Approval Action: In Review. This action basically leaves the invoice in queue. While it can be used if you want to check on the work before approving a bill, as one example, in general it is a better practice to deny an invoice back to the CAM if there is a concern so they can address it.
6. Cancel. This allows you to close the window.

NEW MULTIPLE SELECTION FEATURE! The new Management Portal can support actioning on multiple line items at once using the Action For Multiple Selection tool. The option is only available for one Process at a time, so use the filter to the process you wish to action on and using the check boxes at the far left-hand column, either click the box at the very top (to select all items) or check just the ones you wish to vote on and note that the button entitled Action For Multiple Selection will then be enabled. Click on it to open to the vote options and select the appropriate action.

Please keep in mind that in general, invoices eligible for board review cannot be disbursed until they are approved from the Board Approval step, so reviewing the items is time sensitive. The exception are vendors who are set up on EFT (Electronic Funds Transfer). Since the vendors draft from the community’s account directly, we cannot suspend that process despite the approval status. However, the failure to action on those invoices can disrupt other processes we manage on your behalf, so it is still important to work them timely. Again, always remember if you have concerns about an invoice, deny it back to the manager so they can work to address your concerns.

Knowing When Invoices Are Ready for Approval

CiraConnect processes invoices for review every weekday, so it is possible, depending upon your community’s size and activity, that new invoices will be ready for review daily. Approvers receive an email when a new invoice is added to the approval queue. Past that, your manager can enable an automatic email reminder if you so choose that will send an automated message to the email on file for you periodically. If they enable it for you, it can be set for any number of days that you prefer. Therefore, work with your management team on what would be the most convenient for you. Automated email reminders will come from [CommunityID]@ciramail.com, so if you believe you are not receiving emails and expect to, please check your Spam folder. The inventory of items to review listed in the email reminders is based on the queue as of the early morning of that particular day. If you log in later in the day, you may find that items have been acted on by your fellow board members, so it is not generally indicative of an error with the platform. Note that for now the link in the email reminder will continue to take users to the Classic Portal. To use this new Management Portal, please log in directly using either of the methods mentioned on the first page of this Tip Sheet.

A Bit About Browsers

Working in the Cloud means you can access CiraNet no matter where you are or what computer you are using, but all browsers differ slightly and your use experience will as well, depending upon which one you select. CiraNet is supported on Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Firefox, and Safari, but you may use any browser that you are comfortable with and prefer. However, to enjoy the best user experience, make sure you are using an up-to-date version of your selected browser. Be mindful that if you are in a public setting, such as a coffee shop or in the airport, you are sharing your bandwidth with your fellow patrons, and it will impact the browser’s efficiency. Other applications running at the same time on your browser, such as any streaming media application, will also slow down the application.

CiraMobile

CiraMobile is available for free download in the Apple App Store. The application is accessible on a tablet as well as an iPhone. Simply search for CiraMobile (spelled as a single word) or CiraConnect. (While there is an Android version of the mobile application, it does not support executive approvals currently.) Approving pending applications through CiraMobile is based on the same basic approval/response principles as outlined for CiraNet above and the data is returned in the same manner, so there is no advantage or disadvantage to using one over the other; it is completely your preference!

Technical Support Tips

While we hope you do not, if you ever experience a technical difficulty with either CiraNet Portal, please try these preliminary self-help options to see if they will clear the issue:

1. Hard refresh (Ctrl+F5) the page to cause it to reload. Often that is all it takes to remove an impediment to the data loading correctly.
2. If it does not, however, try clearing your browser cache and cookies*
• Instructions for Chrome: https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/32050
• Instructions for Firefox: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/how-clear-firefox-cache
• Instructions for Edge: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/10607/microsoft-edgeview-delete-browser-history
• Instructions for Safari: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201265 After

*The purpose here is to make sure you are loading the most up-to-date version of the platform. Old, cached data may be preventing any updates and recent bug fixes from loading for you.

After you have done this, completely close the browser and start over with a new session. Log directly into CiraNet without using a bookmark, meaning simply type in "ciranet.com" into your browser and proceed to login from there. Sometimes if people use bookmarks or "recent website" link to access CiraNet, the link can include an old session ID which causes the browsing experience to be dramatically slower or takes you to an incorrect location within the platform.

NOTE: If you are worried about losing password information, please use the advanced options available in most browsers and uncheck the option to clear passwords.

If those steps fail, please let your Community Association Manager know right away. The following information will help us troubleshoot the issue and get you back in business as soon as possible:

1. Please walk us through the steps you took to navigate to the point of the error in as much detail as possible.
2. What is the error message you received, or describe the unexpected outcome you received?
3. Please provide a screenshot of the error if possible. It is most helpful to snag the entire screen, including the URL search bar. This allows us to see the error in context.
4. Please identify the environment you were working in. What we mean by that is please tell us if you were on a mobile device, PC, or a Mac, and the browser you were using. If you can identify the version of browser you were on and the zoom or magnification settings you are using, that is also great information.