Oracle Payables – Interview FAQ – Invoice Payment

What is the difference between the Electronic and Wire payment methods?

In short, the Electronic method enforces the existence of a supplier bank
account and the Wire method does not.  Therefore, use the Electronic payment
method to generate instructions to your bank to make payment to a supplier bank account.  Use the Wire payment method to record payment when you have used a process outside of your Oracle Payables system to instruct your bank to pay a supplier.

Electronic Payment

Use the Electronic payment method when Payables will create instructions for your bank to make payment to a supplier bank account. Typically, this communication is an electronic file that instructs your disbursement bank to pay your suppliers, and is in the specific format that your bank requires.  However, you should use the Electronic payment method whenever you need to generate a document that requires a supplier bank account.  For example, use it if your Payables system is set up to print letters that you send to your bank to request that the bank make an electronic funds transfer directly into the supplier’s bank account.

Payables ensure that you have recorded supplier bank account information when you use the Electronic payment method. Typically, to pay invoices with the Electronic payment method, users use a payment document with a Computer Generated disbursement type and use a payment batch or Quick payment to create a payment instruction file.  The payment instruction file is saved in the ap.out directory for delivery to the bank, unless one of the following features is used to automatically transmit the instruction file to the bank: e-Commerce Gateway (for EDI payments), Automatic Bank Transmission, XML Payment Processing.

However, you can use localizations, or custom payment methods and payment formats to create any type of communication with your bank when you use the Electronic payment method.

Wire Payment

Use the Wire payment method to manually record payment when you have used a process outside of your Oracle Payables system to instruct your disbursement bank to pay a supplier. Oracle Payables does not require supplier bank account information when you use the Wire payment method. When you define payment documents for these payments, we recommend you use the Recorded disbursement type because you are simply recording a payment made outside of the system.  Further Oracle recommends that you record the transaction with a manual payment.

(However, the system will allow you to use any disbursement type.  For example, some users who regularly record Wire payments for multiple suppliers use payment documents with the Computer Generated disbursement type, create an electronic payment batch, and then delete the resulting electronic file.)

What is the Payment Batch processing flow?

AutoSelect - First you initiate the Payment Batch by entering criteria for invoices
Build – The system then builds payments based on the selection criteria.
Modify – You can optionally modify the payment batch.
Format – Format payments to have Payables produce an output file.
Print – Print checks from the output file or deliver the output file to your bank.
Confirm  - Confirm the payment batch.

I selected a Payment Document for my Bank Account that says it is in use.

When you selected the Payment Document for the Bank Account, the Document Names window displays a column “In Use By”.  This is the Payment Batch name that is using the Payment Document.  You must complete the Payment Batch using that document before you can use it.  You will only get the list of payment documents if there is more than one payment document associated with that bank account.  If there is only one payment document for that bank account, you will simply get the message that the payment document is in use.  If you still do not see a Payment Batch, then most likely a QuickCheck did not complete successfully.

How do I add an invoice to the Payment Batch?

1. From the Actions Window, unselect Format and select Modify Payment Batch.
2. Enter the Supplier Name and Site.
3. Select Yes for Pay Supplier.
4. Select the invoice you wish to add to this Payment Batch.
5. Select Done.
The system will automatically submit the Build Payments program to rebuild the payments.

When can I modify a Payment Batch?

After the Payment Batch has been Built and before it has been Formatted.  Once the payment batch has been Formatted, Modify is no longer an option.

Can I add an invoice that has been excluded because the payment batch exceeds the maximum outlay.

Yes.  Select the Supplier and Site and choose ‘Force’ as the Pay Option in the Modify Payments Window.

How do I  reprint checks after payment batch has been formatted.

1. Navigate to the concurrent request summary form (Other -> Concurrent)
2. Either query the format payment concurrent request, or query all and manually search for the format payments request.
3. Select Special…Reprint from the toolbar.
4. This opens the reprint dialog box.
5. Select the number of copies, the printer, and the print style
6. Press OK

Can I cancel a Payment Batch that has been confirmed.

No.  You must void each payment created by the Payment Batch to accomplish this

How do I determine the status of the Payment Batch?

Query up the Payment Batch in the Payment Batches Summary window to view the status.  If you can not get into the application, you can select the status from SQL*Plus:

SELECT status
FROM ap_inv_selection_criteria_all
WHERE checkrun_name = ‘<payment batch name>’

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