Approving a Payment Request

Frist, log into the UGA Financial Mangement system.

On the Employee Self Service page, click the Approvals tile.

Note: The number in the bottom right corner of the tile indicates the number of documents awaiting your approval.

The Pending Approvals page is displayed. Transactions awaiting your approval are listed on the right side of the screen.

If you need to filter through several transaction types, click to select the transaction type on the left side of the screen.

The Payment Request page is displayed.

This page contains the initiator's comments in the top left corner, a summary of the transaction details, Line Details with accounting information, and any relevant attachments.

The Payment Request page is a good place to ask yourself the following questions to ensure best practices are met:

1. Does the transaction comply with applicable policies?

2. Is there anything unique about the transaction that should be reviewed?

3. Do I need to ask any questions or consult with my unit’s business office on this transaction?

4. Are there comments from approvers prior to me that I need to consider?

In the Line Details section, click the appropriate line(s) to view detailed information about the chartstring(s) and distributions used for the payment request.  

Example shown here: Line 1 .

The Distributions pop-up window is displayed.  

This page shows detailed chartstring information about the payment request, such as Account, Budget Reference, Program, and Department.

Scroll right to view the entire chartstring as necessary. 

When viewing the chartstring, consider the following:

1. Is the combination of the ChartFields correct?

2. Are there ChartFields that should not be included on the transaction?

3. If the transaction is related to a project or grant, is the correct PC Bus Unit, Project ID and Activity code included, if applicable?

4. Should any ChartField value or Operating Unit value be included or excluded?

To exit, click the Close [x] button.

To view any supporting attachments for the payment request, click the View Attachments link.

The View Attachments pop-up window is displayed. You can click the attached file name(s) to view the supporting item(s) in detail.

Note: If attachments are missing or cannot be read, use the Deny function to have the initiator add or correct the attachments. Also, verify that attachments and line details match.

When you are finished, click the Close [x] button.

Click the Approval Chain link.

The Approval Chain pop-up window is displayed. You can review the approvers at each level as well as the comments of any approvers before you in workflow.

To add an ad hoc approver, click the Add Ad hoc button for the first level of approval.

Use the lookup features or enter the User ID directly into the field.

Example shown here: " mr00163 " in the User ID field.

To exit, click the Close [x] button.

There are three decision buttons at the top right of the Payment Request page. 

To place a payment request on hold, you would click the More button and then select Hold. This might be used if you need to obtain additional information from the initiator about the transaction. Hold will "lock out" other approvers until you make an approval decision. 

To deny a payment request, click the Deny button. This will open the Deny pop-up window where you can enter the reason for denying the payment request.

Deny returns the transaction to the initiator for edits. 

If all the information is correct and the payment request is ready for approval, click the Approve button.

The Approve pop-up window opens. Enter comments, if any, into the Approver Comments  field.

Note: Any additional information that substantiates your approval decision should be included here.

Example shown here: "Approved".

Click the Submit button.