How do I correct previous cost tracking items that impact newer items?

Cost tracking items in Projectmates — such as Contracts, Change Orders, Purchase Orders, and Invoices — are designed to build on one another, like bricks in a wall. If an error is found in a previous item (ex. Invoice), any items that were created and/or linked after that point will need to be removed before being able to update the older item. 

In this example, once the newer invoices are deleted and the original error in the older invoice is corrected, the newer invoices can then be recreated and submitted through the approval process again.

Removing data from the system can be intimidating. In order to assist with this process, we've outlined an order-of-operations below that eliminates the possibility of data loss, helping to make those corrections be less daunting. 

Steps to follow to correct a previous item:

Important Note: The outlined steps pertain to the example of Invoice items, but can be applied to any of the cost-tracking modules when it comes to taking a record of what exists, deleting newer items, updating the older item, and recreating the newer items again.

Download all existing invoices created after the one with the error.

Helpful Hint: As a best practice, we recommend saving a Printer Friendly copy of each item before it’s deleted. It’s highly recommended, and advisable, for a Project Admin and/or Site Admin user to handle this process, as they have the necessary access rights to complete all required steps.

1. Create a new folder on your local device.
2. For each individual invoice that is impacted, download the Printer-Friendly PDF and save it in the folder.
3. Download all attachments from the impacted invoices and save them in the folder.

Delete the necessary invoices that are preventing the cost tracking item from being edited.

Just like when invoices are created, they need to be deleted in reverse order — from the latest to the earliest.

Helpful Hint: "Delete" access rights are typically restricted to the internal team and/or Admin users. If you do not have the ability to delete items, reach out to the Project Admin for assistance.

Correct the error.

1. Reset the Approval for the affected cost-tracking item so that it can be edited.

2. Correct the error(s) in the item details.
3. Restart the approval workflow for the invoice.

Recreate the deleted invoices.

1. Once the corrected item has been approved, you can begin re-creating the invoices that were deleted.

   Helpful Hint: Invoices need to be created in chronological order. Make sure that you re-create them in the correct order, awaiting each one to be approved prior to creating the next invoice.

2. Refer to the PDF versions of the invoices that you saved at the start to enter all of the details.

   Helpful Hint: Be especially careful to enter the Accounting Status and/or Payment Status data so it matches the previous invoice exactly.

3. Upload the PDF with the other attachments for posterity.
4. On the Approvals tab, click the gear icon to create a Custom Approval workflow. 

   Helpful Hint: This option is only available to Admin users.

5. Update the approval workflow to just include the Project Admin and/or Admin user, for ease-of-flow in these updates.
6. Click Start Custom Approval.
7. Approve the invoice using the Comment icon (recommended), and add a comment: "Original approvals are found in the attached PDF."

   Helpful Hint: The comment will display with the item and maintain historical data for any questions during future audits.