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Payment Release

Open in Nocthink

Module: Finance · URL: /procurements/payments · Responsible role: Finance Manager (full: final release) / Finance Staff (write: prepares) · Also used by: F.A.T Manager (full), Owner/Director (full), project owners/managers and department managers (fund approval), Accounting Staff (read)

Payment Release — the vendor payments list (page titled "Payments") with one completed bank transfer, ACH-88213 for Atlantic Computer Supply invoice ACS-INV-2026-0912, $2,900.00 paid Oct 22, 2026

Screenshot: Sarah Hall (Finance Manager), Nocthink Demo Institute demo data. The menu opens the Procurements › Payments page, so the sidebar shows Procurements expanded.

Why I use this page

This is where I give the final release on vendor payments. A payment reaches me after Finance Staff have prepared it against an approved, 3-way-matched bill, and after the project or department owner has approved the funds. My release is the last control before money leaves the bank, and it posts the payment to the books. I open it for each payment run (usually weekly) and whenever I get a "Payment funds approved" notification. The same page is documented from the procurement side in Procurements › Payments.

What's on the screen

  • Header: Payments (the title is not "Payment Release"), a description, and the orange + button ("New payment").
  • Toolbar:
    • Status filter: Pending, Completed, Failed, Refunded.
    • Method filter: Bank transfer, Cash, Card, Check.
    • A column/sort control.
    • Search payments..., which searches the reference only.
  • Table:
    • Payment: the invoice number with the vendor underneath; links to the detail page.
    • Reference.
    • Method.
    • Amount: sortable.
    • Paid: sortable.
    • Status.
    • ⋯: Edit and Delete while the payment is Pending; otherwise it only offers Open payment.

The demo row is ACS-INV-2026-0912, Atlantic Computer Supply, ACH-88213, Bank transfer, $2,900.00, paid Oct 22, 2026, Completed. The amount is in the purchase order's currency (USD here).

On the detail page:

  • Approve project funds shows while funds are unapproved.
  • Final release shows once funds are approved; both appear only while the payment is Pending.
  • The Payment details rail: Reference, Invoice, Vendor, Amount, Method, Status, Paid, Created.
  • Tabs: Notes and Summary (amount paid and the invoice total).

How I …

How I work through the release queue

  1. Click Finance › Payment Release.
  2. Filter Status to Pending.
  3. Open each payment (see Detail page, forms & dialogs below):
    • If the top-right button reads Approve project funds, the budget owner hasn't signed yet. Chase them; it isn't mine to approve unless I own that budget.
    • If it reads Final release, it's ready for me.

How I give the final release

  1. On the payment, check:
    • Invoice: click through to confirm the bill is 3-way matched.
    • Amount: no more than the bill's remaining balance.
    • Method and Reference: they match the bank instruction I'm about to send.
  2. Click Final release.
  3. Enter the Required final release note, for example the bank batch ID. If the note is empty, nothing is sent.
  4. If a soft grant rule is hit (outside the award period, prior approval needed), a second prompt shows the rule. Type a reason of at least 10 characters to go ahead; it is kept in the audit log. Cancel to stop. Hard grant breaches block the release outright.
  5. On success:
    • The status becomes Completed and Paid is set to today.
    • A payment posting (payable and cash) is created, and F.A.T. drafts the journal.
    • The preparer is notified "Payment released".
    • When the bill is fully paid, it turns Paid and its PO budget commitment is consumed.

How I prepare a payment (Finance Staff)

  1. Click +.
  2. Fill in:
    • Invoice: required; only Approved, matched bills are listed, with the Invoice total shown beside it.
    • Amount: positive; partial payments are allowed.
    • Method.
    • Reference and Notes.
  3. Click Create. It starts as Pending with you as the preparer. You cannot approve or release your own payment.

How I fix a payment before release

  1. In the list, open ⋯ › Edit and change the amount, method, reference or notes (the invoice can't change). Only Pending payments can be edited.
  2. Any such change clears an earlier funds approval, so the budget owner has to approve again before I can release.

Detail page, forms & dialogs

Payment Release opens the same page as Procurements › Payments, so its screens are documented once, there:

The demo data has one payment, already Completed, so the release buttons and the row menu's Edit are not shown in those screenshots; they appear on any Pending payment. Both release steps ask for their comment in a browser prompt, which the screenshots cannot show.

Access & permissions

  • Menu: shown under Finance to holders of finance.view (now including Accounting Staff). The route accepts finance.view, accounting.view or procurements.approve.
  • Final release: needs procurements.approve plus the finance-manager or fat-manager role, or Owner/Director. Otherwise the error is "Only the F.A.T Manager can perform final payment release." The preparer can never release their own payment.
  • Approve project funds: needs procurements.approve, and you must be the project's Owner/Manager or the requesting department's manager (Owner/Director always pass). Finance Staff are not fund approvers by role.
  • Prepare, edit and delete (Pending only): need procurements.create / update / delete, or finance authority, so Finance Staff prepare payments without the Procurement role.
  • Accounting Staff: read-only; with accounting authority they see every payment in the organization.

Caveats

  • Release re-validates everything. The release is bound to the approved amount, method and reference. If any of them changed, the server refuses: "The payment differs from what was approved…; funds must be approved again." It also refuses if the bill is no longer approved and matched, or if the payment would overpay it.
  • Completed is final. Only a Pending payment can be edited or deleted; a Completed one is refused ("Released payments are immutable; use a lifecycle action."). Errors are shown in an alert.
  • Currency. The payment is posted, and shown, in the PO's currency.
  • Comments. The release note is mandatory and goes into the audit trail. The funds-approval comment is optional.

Limitations

  • No bulk release, no payment batch or bank-file export.
  • No Fail, Refund or Reverse action, although the filter offers Failed and Refunded.
  • Notes and overrides are typed into browser prompts, not a proper dialog.
  • Nothing on the list shows whether funds are approved; you have to open each payment.