How to automate invoice coding and approvals in Deltek Vantagepoint

Key takeaways

• A Vantagepoint AP voucher line carries a project, phase and task (the three levels of the work breakdown structure) and an account, so automation has to code each line, not just the invoice total.
• Vergo reads your projects and chart of accounts from Vantagepoint and proposes coding by inference from how your firm has coded similar invoices. There is no rule library to build.
• Whether a consultant or vendor cost is billed to the client is decided by the account and project it lands on, so coding accuracy decides billing accuracy.
• Approvals are optional and route by project, GL account or amount, so the project manager who owns the budget confirms the cost.
• Approved invoices post into Vantagepoint as AP vouchers through the Vantagepoint REST API. Your IT team enables API access once, and Vergo does the rest.

Where should you go next?

• Learn more about Vergo AP Invoice Automation
• Vergo's Deltek Vantagepoint integration
• What AP automation tools integrate with Deltek Vantagepoint for engineering?

How do you automate invoice coding and approvals in Deltek Vantagepoint, step by step?

1. Connect Vantagepoint. The Vantagepoint REST API sits in your environment. Your IT team enables access once, and Vergo reads your projects, phases, tasks and accounts so every coding choice is one Vantagepoint will accept.
2. Send every invoice to one inbox. Consultants, subconsultants and suppliers email invoices to your AP inbox, and staff drag and drop scans. Vergo extracts the vendor, invoice number, dates, amounts and line descriptions, and flags likely duplicates.
3. Code each line. Vergo proposes the project, phase, task and account for every line from how your team coded similar invoices. A vendor seen for the first time is coded by comparison with similar past spend, and each proposal shows why it was chosen.
4. Route for approval. Send the invoice to the project manager on the project, add a principal above an amount you choose, or let recurring overhead bills skip approval and rely on policy flags.
5. Post the AP voucher. Approved invoices post into Vantagepoint as AP vouchers with the project, phase, task and account on each detail line, ready for your normal payment run.

What does Deltek Vantagepoint need on each AP voucher line?

Architecture and engineering firms run on project accounting, and Vantagepoint records vendor cost against the work breakdown structure. Deltek's API reference shows each AP voucher detail line carrying these values:

• Project, phase and task: the three WBS levels the cost belongs to, down to the level your firm tracks.
• Account: the expense account, which in most firms also decides whether the cost is a reimbursable expense billed to the client, a direct project cost, or indirect overhead.
• Billing treatment: a line can be kept off the client invoice where a cost on a billable project should not be passed through.

A subconsultant invoice that should be billed to the client but lands on a non-billable account is missed on the next client invoice. A software subscription coded to a project instead of overhead inflates that project's cost and understates your overhead rate. Coding each line correctly when the invoice arrives prevents both. Labor categories and labor codes stay with timesheets; vendor invoices are coded to projects and accounts.

How should invoice approvals be routed for Deltek Vantagepoint?

Route to the person who knows the work was done. Vergo routes by project, by GL account or by amount, and approvers see the invoice image, the proposed coding and the reason for it on their phone, without a Vantagepoint licence. Common setups:

• Subconsultant invoices go to the project manager on the project.
• Invoices above a set amount add a principal or the controller as a second approver.
• Recurring overhead bills such as rent, utilities and software skip approval and rely on policy flags.

What syncs between Vergo and Deltek Vantagepoint?

Vergo reads projects and accounts and posts approved invoices as AP vouchers through the Vantagepoint REST API, which Deltek documents in its Vantagepoint API reference. Card spend and employee reimbursements are coded with the same model and sync as general ledger transactions and Expense Reports. The connection is customer-provisioned: your IT team enables access once. The full specification is on the Deltek Vantagepoint integration page.

A practical example

A civil engineering firm receives a survey subconsultant's invoice with two lines: field survey on one project's design phase and a small line for a different project's permitting task. Vergo proposes the project, phase, task and account for each line from how earlier invoices from the same subconsultant were coded, including the reimbursable consultant account the firm bills through. The invoice routes to the project manager on the larger project, who approves it from her phone. It posts into Vantagepoint as one AP voucher with each line on its own project, phase and task, and both costs are ready for the next client billing cycle.

How Vergo handles this

Vergo is an AI-native, card-agnostic spend platform that runs AP invoices, card spend and employee reimbursements through one coding model against your Vantagepoint projects and accounts. Proposals come from your own history, with the reason shown, and new vendors are coded on first sight. Approval flows are optional, and payment stays on the rails you already use.

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