What is a payment application contact?

 For Procore Customers in the United States

flag-us.png  When your company applies the 'Owners English' or 'Specialty Contractors English' point-of-view dictionary, you'll see different tool names and term changes in the user interface. Learn how to apply the dictionary options. 

  • To learn the differences: Show/Hide      

    • This table shows the differences in tool names (bold) and terms across the point-of-view dictionaries for Project Financials. These dictionaries are available in US English only. The default dictionary is designed for general contractors, which means that you will need to work with your Procore Administrator at your company and your Procore point of contact to access the other dictionary options. 

      General Contractors

      English (United States) - Default

      Owners

      English (Owner Terminology V2)

      Specialty Contractors

      English (Specialty Contractor Terminology)
      Invoicing Invoicing Progress Billings
      Owner Funding Owner
      Owner/Client Owner/Client GC/Client
      Prime Contract Change Order Funding Change Order Client Contract Change Order
      Prime Contracts Funding Client Contracts
      Revenue Funding Revenue
      Subcontract Contract Subcontract
      Subcontractor Contractor Subcontractor
      Subcontractor Schedule of Values (SSOV) Contractor Schedule of Values (CSOV) Subcontractor Schedule of Values (SSOV)

Answer

An Invoice Contact is a person who ensures that an invoice is submitted to an upstream contractor for payment. In Procore, an invoice contact is always an employee of the designated 'Contract Company' on a purchase order or subcontract. The contract company is the party responsible for performing work and/or supplying materials for a project. For customers in the United States using Procore's Progress Billings tool, this term is synonymous with progress billing contact.

What permissions do payment application contacts need to create & submit subcontractor payment applications in Procore? 

This table details the permissions that payment application contacts need to create subcontractor payment applications in Procore. 

  Permissions Level on Commitments
Action None Read Only Standard Admin
Accept or Decline an 'Invite to Bill' as a Payment Application Contact :minus: :check_mark: icon-inactive-checkmark-pfcp.png 1 :minus:
Submit a New Payment application as an 'Invoice Contact'  :minus: :check_mark: icon-inactive-checkmark-pfcp.png 1 :minus:
Create a New Subcontractor Payment application as a Payment Application Contact :minus: :check_mark: icon-inactive-checkmark-pfcp.png 1 :minus:

1 Some Procore clients choose to provide payment application contacts with 'Standard' level permissions on the Commitments tool. It is important to note that providing external collaborators with permissions higher than 'Read Only' level permissions is NOT recommended by Procore.

 PROCORE SUPPORT: INTERNAL NOTES

When troubleshooting a payment application contact's user account in the Company Directory, ensure that:

  • The payment application contact should have 'Read Only' level permissions on the Commitments tool. Although 'Standard' level permissions are allowed, Procore does not recommend providing 'Standard' level permissions to downstream collaborators as that provides the user with the ability to see information in other commitments. 
  • The payment application contact's user account in the Company level Directory tool must be set to Active.
  • The payment application contact's email address in their Procore user account must be valid.
  • The 'Send this User Messages' setting in the Procore user account must be turned ON by selecting the Via Email option from the drop-down list.  
  • To appear as an option in the 'Invoice Contacts' drop-down list on a commitment, the user's company must be set as the 'Contact Company' and the user must be listed in the 'Users' tab of the company record in the Company level Directory. 
  • When adding the payment application contact to a commitment, Procore automatically adds the contact to 'Private' list for that commitment.

Do payment application contacts need to be granted special access permissions to Procore?

No. When designated as a payment application contact on a commitment, Procore automatically adds the contact to the 'Private' list for that commitment. A payment application contact can then view the commitment and its payment applications in Procore.

 Note
On a subcontractor payment application, the contact's name appears in the 'Invoice' section of the 'Advanced Settings' tab in the 'Invoice Contacts' area.

How do I add payment application contacts to Procore?

To add a payment application contact, an authorized user for the company managing the commitment in the Procore project must:

  1. Add the subcontracting company to the Company Directory. The subcontracting company corresponds to the 'Contract Company' on a commitment. See Add a Company to the Company Directory. The user who will be the payment application contact must be added to the company. See Add Users to the Company.
     Notes 
  2. Grant the payment application contact's user account 'Read Only' level permissions on the Project level Commitments tool. Procore recommends managing payment application contact permissions with a project permissions template. See Manage Project Permissions Templates.
  3. Add the 'Contract Company' and 'Invoice Contact' to the commitment. See Add Payment application Contacts to a Purchase Order or Subcontract. 
  4. Optional. Configure optional email notifications for the payment application contact: 

Unsure about your payment application contact status or missing an 'Invite to Bill'?

When does Procore send an 'Invite to Bill'? 

When an payment application administrator for the Procore company account creates a new billing period, that user has the option to send out an automated billing invite to anyone who is either (1) named on the 'Private' list for the payment application or (2) a member of the Commitment tool's default 'Invoice Contact' list. See Add Payment application Contacts to a Purchase Order or Subcontract.

Does a payment application contact need an 'Invite to Bill' to create a payment application?

No. A payment application contact has several options for creating a payment application. 

There are two ways to respond to an 'Invite to Bill' as an invoice contact: (1) from the 'Invite to Bill' email or (2) from the upstream collaborator's Project level Commitments tool. Use the second option when you know you have invoice contact permissions but the 'Invite to Bill' is missing or lost.

When responding to an invite, you can accept or decline it as follows:

  • To respond to an 'Invite to Bill' email: Show/Hide      
      1. Open your email Inbox. 
      2. Look for the email message with the subject line, " "Project Name: User Name has invited you to bill." 
      3. Open the 'Invite to Bill'. 

        invite-to-bill.png
         
      4. Review the Invoice Details:
        • Commitment. Shows the commitment number and name. 
        • Invoice Type. Shows the invoice type. See Configure Settings: Invoicing. 
        • Billing Period. The date range for the Open billing period. 
        • Invited By. The first and last name of the sender. Typically, this is the invoice administrator. 
        • Due Date. The date your invoice is due. Invoice contacts cannot create or submit an invoice in the Procore project after this date.  
      5. Click one of these buttons to respond to the Do you want to bill this period? prompt:
        • Yes. Accept the invite and submit an invoice. This changes the invoice status to Accepted. Continue with the steps in Submit a New Invoice as an Invoice Contact.
        • No. Decline the invite if you don't want to submit an invoice for the Open billing period. This changes the invoice status to Declined.  
  • To respond to an 'Invite to Bill' in the Commitments tool: Show/Hide      
    1. Navigate to the project's Commitments tool. 
    2. Locate the commitment to which you were added as an invoice contact. 
    3. Under Do you Want to Bill this Period?, indicate your intent to submit an invoice by clicking the Yes button. 
      do-you-want-to-bill-this-period.png
    4. Click the Post Response button. 
 Tip

Can't find your 'Invite to Bill' or uncertain if one was sent?  An invoice contact always has sufficient permissions to create a new invoice for an open billing period in the upstream collaborator's Procore project. See Create a New Invoice as an Invoice Contact.

What can payment application contacts add or update in Procore?

You can only perform tasks in Procore when you are added as a payment application contact on a commitment in the upstream collaborator's Procore project. What you can do and how you do it depends on the options used by the upstream collaborator. 

Payment application contacts can... To learn more...
Accept or Decline an 'Invite to Bill' from the email sent by a payment application administrator. See Send an 'Invite to Bill' to a Payment Application Contact.  Accept or Decline an 'Invite to Bill' as a Payment Application Contact
Respond to an 'Invite to Bill' sent by a payment application administrator. See Send an 'Invite to Bill' to a Payment Application Contact.  Submit a New Payment application as a Payment Application Contact
Create a payment application in the Commitments tool without an 'Invite to Bill' from a payment application administrator. You must grant the recipient payment application contact permissions.  Create a New Payment application as a Payment Application Contact
Update a Subcontractor Bill of Quantities. This feature must be enabled on the project. See Enable or Disable the Subcontractor BOQ Tab on the Commitments Tool.  Update a Subcontractor Bill of Quantities as a Payment Application Contact
Revise and resubmit any payment application line items that are rejected by a payment application administrator. Revise & Resubmit a Subcontractor Payment application as a Payment Application Contact

Do payment application contacts receive emails from Procore?

Yes.  Procore sends email notifications to payment application contacts when these actions occur:

Actions Details & Learn More Next Step
When a commitment with a designated payment application contact is created. The email is sent when the upstream collaborator clicks 'Create & Email' or 'Save & Email' on the General tab of the commitment. See Send an 'Invite to Bill' to a Payment Application Contact from the Payment Applications Tool.
If a payment application administrator sets the 'Remind Subcontractors to Bill' option.   If a payment application contact accepts an 'Invite to Bill,' a reminder is sent at the specified interval until the 'Draft' payment application is submitted. Reminders are no longer sent once the payment application's status changes to 'Under Review'. 
When the Subcontractor Bill of Quantities is 'Rejected.' See What is a Subcontractor Bill of Quantities? An email is sent when the upstream collaborator changes the status of a Subcontractor Bill of Quantities to 'Revise & Resubmit.' See Review a Subcontractor Payment application as a Payment Application Administrator.
If the upstream collaborator configured the Send Expiration Notification setting for insurance in the Company level Directory tool.  An email is sent when the insurance is within two (2) weeks of its expiration date. See Add Insurance to a Company Record in the Company Directory.
If the upstream collaborator configured the Notify Subcontractors when Payment applications are Approved setting in the Project level Payment applications tool.  An email is sent when the upstream collaborator changes the payment application status to 'Approved.' See Configure Settings: Payment applications and Bulk Edit the Status of Subcontractor Payment applications. -

 

See Also

 

If you would like to learn more about Procore's commitments software and how it can help your business, please visit our construction financials tool product page icon-external-link.png.