State of Connecticut Vendor Self-Serve Accounts Payable Division Table of Contents

1. State of Connecticut Vendor Self-ServeAccounts Payable DivisionTable of Contents Introduction Signing In Navigating Through VSS Maintain Supplier Information Searching for Invoices Searching for Payments Special Scenarios Time Out Messages Glossary How to Contact Us You may continue through the presentation slide-by-slide, or you can use the above links to go to a particular section. To return to the Table of Contents, use the scroll bar to return to Slide #1.

2. What is Vendor Self-Serve? Vendor Self-Serve (VSS) offers convenient online access to Core-CT, the State of Connecticut’s financial system, which is used by most State agencies.  As a participating VSS vendor, you will only have access to information specific to your business.

3. Signing into VSS The Core-CT VSS sign in page is accessed from the Office of the State Comptroller (OSC) VSS web site.  It is recommended that you make this web site a favorite in your web browser and always access Core-CT VSS from this link.

4. Signing into VSS Click the link to sign in

5. Signing into VSS A case sensitive User ID and password are provided to vendors enrolled in VSS. If you have trouble signing in, please contact the Accounts Payable Division at osc.apd@po.state.ct.us or (860) 702-3400.

6. Signing into VSS Enter your User ID Enter your password Click Sign In

7. Navigating Through VSS VSS consists of three main areas, however, the navigation menu on the left of your screen contains two sections, Maintain Supplier Information and Review Payment Information.

8. Navigating Through VSS You can click the arrows in the menu bar to display the page names, or you can click the hyperlink titles, which will open another view of the menu. From here, you can use the left-hand navigation menu or the icons.

9. Navigating Through VSS The Maintain Supplier Information section contains vendor address(es), alternate payee name(s), phone number(s), and email address(es).

10. XYZ COMPANY PO Box 123 100 Alphabet Lane ABC Division 1099 Address Maintain Supplier Information The address description is used to help identify addresses. The above example shows the addresses for XYZ Company. When the description is a name, such as ABC Division, it signifies there is an alternate payee name associated with that address. A 1099 Address holds the legal name of a business and/or the owner’s name. Click on the description name to go to the address details page.

11. XYZ COMPANY ABC DIVISION 321 MAIN ST HARTFORD 06106 ABC DIVISION Address Details Page In this example, ABC Division is an alternate payee name. All payments that use this address will be made payable to ABC Division rather than XYZ Company. If you need to update any of your address information, please contact our vendor file unit by emailing osc.apdvf@po.state.ct.us. Include ‘VSS vendor information update’ in the subject line.

12. Navigating Through VSS The Review Payment Information section contains two areas, Invoices and Payments. In the Invoices section, you can review pending and processed invoices that have been entered into the system. The Payments section shows payment information for invoices that have been paid.

13. Searching for Invoices The Invoice ID should correspond to your bill.  If you do not provide a bill, the agency has developed a system to create an Invoice ID.  In either case, the system needs an Invoice ID.   The system also needs an Invoice Date.  If you have provided the State with an invoice, the agency has been instructed to date-stamp the invoice upon receipt and use that date when entering the invoice into Core-CT.  For this reason, the invoice date in the system may not be the same as what you expect.  This makes the use of the date range very important.  The Invoice Amount is also a searchable field.  This is the least recommended method of searching, due to the variables that the agency can apply when creating the voucher.  However, for certain vendors who mainly receive large grants, this, combined with the date range, may be the best method of searching.

14. XYZ COMPANY The From Date will default to a month from the current date The To Date will default to today’s date Searching for Invoices Type over the dates to change them, or select new dates from the calendar. Searching by date only will list all invoices within that time frame. It is recommended you search within a small range, such as one month, and do not exceed one year.

15. Searching for Invoices XYZ COMPANY You can also search by invoice number.

16. Searching for Invoices If you enter part of an invoice ID in the From Invoice Number box and leave the To Invoice Number box blank, the system will search for all invoice ID’s equal to or greater than the invoice ID in the From box. The system evaluates characters in the following sequence – from low to high: special characters such as ‘, %, /… 0-9, A-Z, a-z. XYZ COMPANY So, searching for invoice number 122833 like this will produce…

17. Searching for Invoices XYZ COMPANY …436 results. This is because it is showing all invoice numbers greater than 122833 that have ever been processed. Click the Set filter options hyperlink to go back and modify your search criteria.

18. Searching for Invoices XYZ COMPANY In order to limit the number of results, search by the invoice number and a date range. Searching this way produces…

19. Searching for Invoices XYZ COMPANY … 7 invoices. Results are displayed by Invoice Date, with the most recent first.

20. Searching for Invoices XYZ COMPANY You can click on the Invoice Number column heading link to sort results by Invoice Number. The invoice entered in the search criteria should then be listed first. The Business Unit column indicates which agency created the voucher. If you need to contact the agency about a pending invoice, provide them with the voucher ID to assist them in locating your invoice quickly. A list of Accounts Payable contacts is available here. It is sorted by Business Unit.

21. Searching for Invoices XYZ COMPANY If the invoice you are searching for does not have an invoice date within the dates you enter, the search will produce a list of invoices not related to the invoice number you entered. The above search yields…

22. Searching for Invoices XYZ COMPANY Invoice number 122833 is not included because it has an invoice date of 7/22/09.

23. Searching for Invoices If you enter an invoice ID in both the From Invoice Number box and To Invoice Number box, the system will search for only exact matches. XYZ COMPANY

24. XYZ COMPANY Searching for Invoices From the Invoice List, you can view the details of each invoice. Click the Invoice Number hyperlink to open the Invoice Details Page

25. Invoice Details Page XYZ COMPANY (Continued on next slide)

26. Invoice Details Page (cont.) If the voucher was processed and produced a payment, the Payments Made section will be populated. The Recon Status indicates if a check has cleared. Recon means the check was cashed and cleared the State’s bank account on the Recon Date; Unrecon means the check is still outstanding. For Electronic Funds Transfer (ACH-EFT) or Wire payments, this field should not be used to determine payment status.

27. Invoice Details Page (cont.) ACH-EFT payments should be deposited in your bank account within one business day of the payment date. If you do not receive the payment, notify the agency’s Accounts Payable contact. Find the business unit on the Invoice List Page to see which agency the payment is from. Then look up the business unit on the Accounts Payable list of contacts available here. There is also a link to the contacts list on the VSS website. Similarly, if you need to have an outstanding check reissued, inform the agency’s Accounts Payable contact.

28. Invoice Details Page (cont.) Clicking the reference link will open the Payment Details page, which is also accessible through the Payments section under Review Payment Information.

29. Payment Details Page XYZ COMPANY A pay status of paid means the voucher was processed and a payment was issued. XYZ COMPANY PO BOX 123 HARTFORD 06106

30. Payment Details Page XYZ COMPANY If a payment is voided, the Pay Status will be Stop or Void. To see if the payment was reissued, search for the invoice number in the Review Invoices or Review Payments section. XYZ COMPANY PO BOX 123 HARTFORD 06106

31. Searching for Reissues XYZ COMPANY Reissued payments are created from the same voucher, so they will have the exact same invoice number.

32. Searching for Reissues XYZ COMPANY If a voided payment was reissued, a search by invoice number will produce two (or more) results. The line with a Paid Status of Canceled is the original payment. The line with a Paid Status of Paid is the reissued payment. Both lines will have the same Invoice Date, Gross Amt, Scheduled Pay Date, and Voucher ID. To see when the reissued payment was paid, click the hyperlink under Invoice Number.

33. Searching for Reissues XYZ COMPANY The reissued payment was dated 8/7/10. Since the invoice now has two payments associated with it, both will be visible in the Payment Schedule and Payments Made sections.

34. Looks Like a Reissue, but is it? XYZ COMPANY At first glance, this invoice looks like it was voided and reissued. The key distinction here is that the two lines have different Scheduled Pay Dates. Click the Invoice Number hyperlink of the Paid invoice.

35. Looks Like a Reissue, but is it? XYZ COMPANY The payment that looks like a reissue is actually a payment for $0 that had to be processed for accounting purposes. All of these types of payments will have a payment date on the last day of a month. The original payment was voided and not reissued to you.

36. Closed Vouchers XYZ COMPANY Sometimes it is necessary to void and close a voucher. This means that a payment was originally processed, but it was later voided and not reissued. If you need information about why a payment was voided, contact the Accounts Payable Contact person at the agency.

37. Closed Vouchers XYZ COMPANY The Invoice Details Page shows two payment schedules, but only one payment. Since the Payment Status is Not to be Paid, you can conclude this invoice will not produce a new payment.

38. Journal Vouchers XYZ COMPANY When doing a search, you may see some invoices that look like they were voided, but they are not really true invoices. This is an internal accounting practice we employ to correct accounting entries. They will always be for $0.00 with a Paid Status of Canceled. The Invoice Number should have a J or JV in it. If you click the Invoice Number hyperlink to open the Invoice Details Page, you will see that the voucher did not produce a payment…

39. Journal Vouchers XYZ COMPANY

40. Adjustment Vouchers XYZ COMPANY This invoice is for a credit. It gets combined with another invoice to net a payment. To see which invoice it combined with, click the Reference hyperlink

41. Adjustment Vouchers XYZ COMPANY XYZ COMPANY PO BOX 123 HARTFORD 06106 The two invoices combined to create a payment of $3,486.92.

42. Review Payment Information XYZ COMPANY You can also search for payments by invoice number, payment reference number, or payment date. This search works a little differently than in the invoice section. It searches as “contains” instead of “greater than”. It is case sensitive. So, searching for payments as in the above example results in…

43. Review Payment Information … just one payment. XYZ COMPANY

44. Review Payment Information XYZ COMPANY The From Payment Date defaults to two weeks preceding the current date The To Payment Date defaults to the current date As with the Invoice Section, you can also search by dates. We recommend keeping the date range as small as possible and less than one year. You can change the date range by typing over the defaults or selecting new dates from the calendar.

45. Review Payment Information XYZ COMPANY If you know the payment reference (also called the check number), you can search by that as well.

46. XYZ COMPANY Review Payment Information Click the payment reference hyperlink to view the Payments Details Page (which is also accessible from the Invoice Details Page).

47. Payment Details Page XYZ COMPANY XYZ COMPANY PO BOX 123 HARTFORD 06106

48. Timing Out If you leave your browser window open, your session may expire. If you get this warning, you should not click the hyperlink. Select the VSS web site from your favorites and sign in there.

49. Timing Out If you forget and click the hyperlink in the warning message, you will see this screen. Click the sign out link and go back to the VSS sign in page from your favorites.

50. Cookies Message You may also see this message occasionally. As with the time out screen, do not click the hyperlink. Simply select the website from your favorites again.