Disbursement Accounts
The disbursement account is the list of services and charges on a job. Providers build it, decide what the buyer sees, and send each service for approval when its work is done. It is what the PDA, DA and FDA are built from.
FOR BUYERS & PROVIDERS
Prices, costs and margins are visible only to the Admin, CEO, Manager and Finance roles. Operations can work on the account and approve services, but cannot see what anything costs or earns.
How the account works
Accepting a quote fills the account. Every quoted service and item carries across, already published.
Billable items are charged to the buyer and are public. Non-billable items are internal costs or income and stay private.
Anything added during the job starts as a draft. The buyer sees nothing new until it is published.
Each service goes to the buyer for approval when its work is done. The buyer approves it or sends it back with a reason.
Delivery status is tracked on every service and item, separately from publishing and approval.
Where to find it
Open a job and select the Disbursement Account tab. The count beside it tells you how many services are on the account.
If you are providing the service
You build the account from the services in your catalog. On a job from a quote, everything you quoted is already there and already published, so you adjust it rather than start from nothing.
Each item has a Billing Category:
- Billable: charged to the buyer, public, and the only kind that can appear on an exported document.
- Non-billable: internal, either an Expense that deducts from your margin or Revenue that adds to it. Together they give a true profit and loss picture for the job. Non-billable items are private and never reach the buyer.
Publication then decides when the buyer sees a billable item:
- Item: Draft, Published, or Pending Changes when you have edited it since publishing.
- Service: Draft, Partially Published or Published, depending on how much of it you have released.
Before publishing anything, check what the other side will see. Three views switch the same account:
- All: every service and item, including drafts and private items.
- Requester's View: only published, public items.
- Internal Costs: private items, plus the cost breakdown behind anything you have marked up.
The switcher is yours alone. A requesting organization has no equivalent.
If you are requesting the service
You see the published billable items, each with its delivery status, and no costs or margins. There is no view switcher on your side.
When the provider finishes a service, it comes to you to approve. Approve Service accepts it as it stands. Reject Service sends it back with a reason. It is not cancelled: the provider corrects it or explains, and it comes back to you to check again. Everything said about the service stays on its card.
The approval workflow
A service is sent for approval by setting its Status to Completed. Every public item on it must first be Completed or Cancelled, and published with no pending changes.
The buyer approves it or sends it back as Changes Requested. The provider then does one of two things:
- Changes something: editing the service moves it back to In Progress. Publish the changes, then complete it again.
- Changes nothing: if the buyer only needed a clarification or a document, select Resubmit for Approval with a note.
A service whose items are all private never reaches the buyer, so it needs no approval. To change an approved service, set it back to In Progress. The approval is cancelled and the buyer approves it again.
Approval statuses
Status
Pending Approval
What it means
Sent to the buyer and waiting for their decision. No items can be added in the meantime.
Status
Approved
What it means
Accepted as it stands. Private items can still be added for internal costs.
Status
Changes Requested
What it means
Sent back by the buyer with a reason. The provider corrects it, or explains, and sends it again.
Tracking delivery
Separately from money, every item and service carries a delivery status: Not Started, In Progress, Completed or Cancelled. Cancelled items are left out of the totals.
A service's status is set on its own rather than worked out from its items, so a service can read In Progress while all its items are done. This is what the buyer watches while the work is under way.
On a manual job
Items work the same way: Billable for anything you charge the client on your documents, Non-billable for internal costs. There is no buyer on PortzApp, so nothing is published or sent for approval. Completing a service simply marks it done.
For providers
Manage the disbursement account on a job
Add services and items, publish what the buyer sees, and send each service for approval.
For buyers
Track your job and approve each service
Follow the work on your job and approve each service, or send it back, when your provider finishes it.
When the account does not look right
The buyer cannot see an item
It is still a draft, or it is Non-billable and therefore private. Publish it, and check its Billing Category is Billable.
I cannot see costs or margins
Financial figures need the Admin, CEO, Manager or Finance role.
An item shows as Pending Changes
You edited it after publishing, and the buyer still sees the previous version. Publish it again to send the new one across.
A service will not go for approval
Every public item on it must be Completed or Cancelled, and published with no pending changes. PortzApp lists what is still open.
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