Incoming EDI invoices automatically change amounts in fund debits

[Tiffany Little]

When an EDI invoice is pulled in where the line item cost differs from the origin amount on the PO, the encumbrance amount is changed in the fund debit before a user ever takes any action on it. I think that the amount of a fund debit should remain the same as the origin_amount until an invoice is--at a minimum--saved, or more ideally when the invoice is closed by a user.

Use case scenario: We have a library where the vendor rolls their processing charges into the line item cost. So if the item is $8 and processing on that item is $4, the line item cost is $12 on the PO. On the subsequent invoice, the line item cost is $8 and there is a direct charge at the bottom of $4. So theoretically, funding-wise this should be a wash.

So the fund debit origin amount is $12, and when the PO is activated the origin amount is $12. When the EDI invoice is pulled in with a line item amount of $8, the amount is automatically being updated to $8 before the user ever accesses the invoice. I don't think it should--it should remain the origin_amount until the user takes some action on that invoice, whether that's to save or close.

This also happens with created invoices, but it happens when you save the invoice. That makes sense to me because that's user-generated, whereas as it's happening with EDI invoices it's happening before a user touches the invoice at all. So they're looking at their fund summaries, and they've inexplicably changed overnight even though they haven't made any orders or paid any invoices.

This is on 3.0.2.

[Jane Sandberg (sandbergja)]

I wonder if this could be configurable behavior. We really prefer the current behavior, because it prevents our staff from doing more manual work. The EDI Invoices come in, correct the prices without our staff having to worry about them, and then we don't have a process of Saving or Closing invoices.

[Tiffany Little (tslittle)]

Jane, I'm okay with the invoices having the corrected amount--that's definitely okay! I don't want to increase work in that way. I'm thinking more that the fund debit itself shouldn't be modified until the invoice is saved and/or closed for the first time. When you say you don't have a process of saving or closing invoices--do your staff not close invoices?

[Jane Sandberg (sandbergja)]

Correct, we don't close invoices. We only use EDI invoices to correct the fund debits themselves; we're not actually very concerned with viewing or working with the invoices in Evergreen. So, kind of the exact opposite of your use case, I think. :-)

[Tiffany Little (tslittle)]

So do your funds stay encumbered forever? Are you just not looking at encumbered vs spent? (Hopefully not veering too off topic, but I'm interested. I literally never thought of not closing invoices!)

[Jane Sandberg (sandbergja)]

Yeah, I guess the funds never stop being encumbered for us. It is nice that the encumbrance gradually gets more and more correct as EDI invoices come in, I guess. :-D