Commercial Invoices

1. As of June 03^rd, all invoices will be raised via the new SIPS system 
   

2. For assistance with using SIPS, please review the guidance document or video clip. 

3. Credit notes will also be raised via SIPS. Credit notes now follow largely the same process as for requesting a new invoice. The differences are that you will need to input the credit as a negative balance, and also you will indicate the original document number that you are crediting in the Line Description.

4. As with every new system there will be a learning curve and room for improvements. We do have a list of developments in progress to enhance SIPS (including better integration of the credit note process to allow for selection on the back of a previous invoice), but if you have any suggestions for how this could be improved we would love to hear your thoughts. Please send these to invoicerequests@contacts.bham.ac.uk
   

5. When the request invoice has been submitted via SIPS it will join an authorisation queue. Authorisation is done by the Invoicing Team. When this has been completed the invoice will be uploaded to Fusion and sent out to the customer. The status can be checked via your SIPS dashboard, which is explained in the invoicing guidelines above. 

6. The Income Collections teams will carry out credit control processes to ensure that the invoice is paid.

Notes: 

Minimum invoice value: Due to the cost of issuing an invoice and ensuring it is paid we cannot invoice for less than £50.

New Memo Lines: Memo lines are used as a quick way to select account codes for regular invoices. The Invoicing team has the ability to request that these are added to the system. If you are raising a particular invoice on a regular basis please contact the invoicing team to add a memo line. Your request must include a description, explaining how often it is used, and the account code that you would like to use.

Invoices that also need to be raised in a Portal: Some companies state that their invoices need to be raised via portals such as Coupa or Tungsten. When raising an invoice via SIPS please explicitly state that the invoice needs to be raised by portal, which is can be done in the “Special Requests/Comments” box. The Invoicing team will see this note at authorisation stage and will action accordingly.

If the University has not invoiced a customer before we will need to set up a new account in Fusion. These requests will be submitted using the new account creation form. Please note that is for completely  new accounts only. If the company exists and you need to request a new site, please use the New Site creation form. You will receive confirmation from the invoicing team when this has been completed. The company/site will be ready for use in SIPS the day after you have received confirmation (the system updates overnight).

Please note that it is the responsibility of the department requesting a new customer account to ensure that the customer details are correct and complete. Any incomplete forms will be returned to the sender to be resubmitted.

Credit notes now follow largely the same process as for requesting a new invoice. The differences are that you will need to input the credit as a negative balance, and also you will indicate the original document number that you are crediting in the Line Description. If you have any questions on this please contact invoicerequests@contacts.bham.ac.uk.

Invoice Requests, Credit Notes and New Customers: 

Email: invoicerequests@contacts.bham.ac.uk 

If your query concerns a request you have already submitted please also provide the Invoice ID number, which is unique to the SIPS request.

Raised Invoices

If the requested invoice has already been sent out to the customer please contact: accountsreceivable@contacts.bham.ac.uk