A clarification is a targeted question about an invoice. As soon as you resolve the clarification, the invoice returns to the inbox with the status Clarified, and your colleagues can continue processing it.
Prerequisites
Your company is taking part in the beta for clarifications. Contact support to enable the feature.
Someone has assigned a clarification to you. As an admin, accountant or requester, you can also resolve clarifications that aren’t assigned to you.
Find a clarification
When someone assigns a clarification to you, Candis notifies you by email and in the desktop app. Candis also shows you open clarifications in two places:
In the Clarification tab, you see all clarifications assigned to you. The counter on the Clarification tab shows how many there are.
On the dashboard, you find the Clarification row under My tasks. The Clarification row shows the invoices you’re responsible for resolving. Click the Clarification row to open the Clarification tab.
The Clarification tab has additional columns:
Waiting since: shows how long a clarification has been waiting, for example “just now”, “3 hours” or “1 day”. Hover over the value to see the exact date. If a clarification has been waiting for more than 7 days, Candis highlights the row in red.
Clarification reason: shows the selected clarification reason.
Requested by: shows the person who moved the invoice to clarification.
Assigned to: shows the person or people responsible.
By default, Candis sorts the newest clarifications to the top. You can sort the table in the Clarification tab by any column.
Tip: When you get your first clarification, Candis guides you through each step with a short tour.
Resolve a clarification
Open the invoice in the Clarification tab. Candis shows you the clarification card with the clarification reason, the comment from the person who requested the clarification, and the fields you need to fill in. Which fields Candis shows depends on the clarification reason.
Clarification reason Missing details: general ledger account, cost center, cost object, workflow
Fill in the requested details. Candis shows a separate required field for each requested detail, in the order general ledger account, cost center, cost object and workflow.
General ledger account, cost center and cost object: Select the right value from the list. If the right value isn’t in the list, select New… in the list. Candis turns the field into a text field where you enter the value directly. To return to the list, select Back to list.
Workflow: Select the workflow the invoice should use for approval. Candis shows you all active workflows in your company. You don’t select an invoice recipient here. The New… option isn’t available for workflows.
Optionally, you can add a comment.
Note: Candis doesn’t write values you enter as free text via New… into the invoice field. Instead, Candis records these values as a comment in the history. Candis writes values you select from the list directly into the matching invoice field.
Clarification reason Incorrect invoice
Answer the question in the free-text field.
If you have a new invoice to replace the incorrect invoice, upload the new invoice directly in the clarification:
In the clarification card, click Upload corrected document.
Select one or more files, up to 10 files. Candis accepts PDF files and XML files in XRechnung format up to 20 MB per file.
Candis uploads the files in the background. Wait until Candis has finished all uploads. Only then can you mark the clarification as done.
Note: Candis only processes the uploaded files once you mark the clarification as done. If you don’t mark the clarification as done, Candis deletes the uploaded files after 60 days.
Clarification reason Other
Answer the question in the free-text field. Once you’ve filled in all required fields, click Mark as done.
What happens after you resolve a clarification
As soon as you click Mark as done, Candis does the following:
Candis moves the invoice back to the inbox and sets the status to Clarified.
Candis records all details and answers in the invoice history, together with the person who resolved the clarification.
Candis notifies the person who requested the clarification in the desktop app. All other assigned people, members of assigned teams and substitutes of absent people receive an email and an in-app notification.
Candis opens the next invoice in the Clarification tab.
If you selected a workflow
Candis fills in the selected workflow automatically as soon as someone requests approval for the invoice. That person can still change the workflow before submitting. Candis doesn’t send the invoice to approval automatically.
If you uploaded new invoices
Candis creates a new document in the inbox for each uploaded file and classifies the document like a regular upload.
Candis confirms the upload with the number of uploaded documents. You also find the documents in the overview of your recent uploads. If processing a file fails, Candis marks the file as failed in this overview.
In the history of the original invoice, Candis lists the uploaded files with a link to the new documents.
In the history of each new document, Candis records that the document was uploaded as a clarification for the original invoice.
Tip: The original, incorrect invoice returns to the inbox with the status Clarified.
Tip: You keep read access to the invoice even after you’ve resolved the clarification.
Tip: Candis hides the History and comments panel by default. Click the History and comments icon to open the history.
Reassign or cancel a clarification
Assigned people, admins, accountants and requesters can reassign or cancel a clarification.
Reassign: If someone else is better suited to resolve the clarification, you forward the clarification to that person. The clarification reason stays the same.
Cancel: You end the clarification without resolving it. You must give a reason. The invoice returns to the status it had before the clarification. Candis notifies the person who requested the clarification and all assigned people by email and in the app.
Second round of clarification
An invoice that’s already been clarified can go into clarification again, for example if another detail is still missing after the first response. The process is the same as in the first round. The new clarification is independent of the previous one: it has a new clarification reason, a new assigned person and a new comment. Candis keeps the full history of all rounds of clarification.
Use cases
Add a cost center: Someone assigns you a clarification with the clarification reason Missing details and the detail cost center. You select the cost center from the list and click Mark as done. The invoice returns to the inbox with the status Clarified, and the cost center appears in the processing form.
Value not in the list: You need to add a cost object, but the value doesn’t exist in Candis yet. You select New…, enter the cost object as free text and click Mark as done. Candis records the value as a comment in the history.
Set the workflow: Someone assigns you a clarification with the detail Workflow. You select the workflow “Marketing” and mark the clarification as done. When the accounting team then requests approval, Candis fills in the workflow “Marketing” automatically.
Upload a new invoice for an incorrect invoice: Someone assigns you a clarification with the clarification reason Incorrect invoice because the company address is wrong. The supplier sends you a corrected invoice. You upload the corrected invoice in the clarification and mark the clarification as done. The corrected invoice lands in the inbox as a new document.
Resolve a clarification for a colleague: As an admin, you sent a clarification to the team lead, and the corrected invoice arrives in your inbox. You resolve the clarification yourself without forwarding it to yourself first.
Pass on a question: You’re not the right person to answer, so you forward the clarification to the responsible colleague. The clarification reason stays the same.