Project Administration · Agent blueprint · validated with 7 team members

Subconsultant Invoice Voucher Prep Agent

Watches the shared mailbox for subconsultant invoices, reads the PDF, checks it against the subcontract, and prepares the Vantagepoint voucher for the coordinator to approve in one step. After approval it saves the voucher, sets the approval route and drafts the notice to approvers.

56readiness · Standardize first

6–14 hback per week, of 32 h now

$14K–36Ka year

3–5 wkto build · size M

Build this after the team follows one procedure (see the training guide). Today too many cases take different paths for an agent to follow reliably.

Trigger

A subconsultant invoice email with a PDF attachment arrives in the shared Outlook mailbox (mostly in the first week of the month).

Done when: The voucher is entered in Vantagepoint and approved by the project manager (and the principal where the invoice is over $50,000), so it is ready to pay and to bill the client.

Needs: Invoice email and PDF (subconsultant name, invoice number, amount, project, dates, hours); Subcontract agreement on SharePoint (assigned phase, not-to-exceed amount); Vantagepoint vendor, project, phase status and vouchers already entered against the subcontract; Expense backup, where the invoice includes expenses; Approval rule: PM always; principal also if over $50,000

What the agent does

1
Detect new invoice email and save the PDF attachment · Outlookconnector
Trigger on the shared mailbox. Ignore emails with no PDF and pass them to the coordinator.
2
Extract vendor, invoice number, amount, project, dates and hours from the PDF · Adobe Acrobatai
The model reads the PDF file. Scans or odd layouts get a low-confidence flag. Acrobat is not opened; the file is read directly.
3
Match vendor and project to Vantagepoint records · Deltek Vantagepointapi
Look up the subconsultant and project. If there is no clear match, route to the coordinator as an exception.
4
Find the subcontract and read phase and not-to-exceed amount · SharePointconnector
Replaces the Edge detour seen in about 38% of cases.
5
Compute remaining authorization from the subcontract and prior vouchers · Deltek Vantagepointapi
Compare the invoice amount with what remains. If it exceeds the remainder, stop and flag it.
6
Check that the phase is open and that expense backup is attached · Deltek Vantagepointapi
Closed phase or missing expense backup becomes an exception for the coordinator.
7
Set phase from the subcontract and approval route from the invoice amount · Deltek Vantagepointai
Phase from the subcontract. Route is PM only, or PM plus principal when the amount is over $50,000.
8
Show the coordinator the prepared voucher beside the invoice for approval · Outlookperson
Adaptive card or Teams/Outlook approval with extracted values, phase source, authorization check and flags. Coordinator can edit or reject.
9
Save the voucher with the approval route · Deltek Vantagepointapi
Runs only after the coordinator approves. Records changes made by the coordinator.
10
Draft the approver notice with voucher details and invoice link · Outlookai
Addressed to the PM, plus the principal when over $50,000. It is sent only on the coordinator's approval.
11
Send the approver notice · Outlookconnector
Sent after the coordinator's sign-off (the same approval or a second click). Not sent unattended.

Decisions the agent makes

Decide	Rule	Source
Vendor	Choose the subconsultant named on the invoice PDF.	The team
Phase	Use the phase the subcontract assigns to that subconsultant (each sub works under one phase). Survey firms go to 02 Survey, geotechnical to 01 Design, environmental to 03 Environmental. In the data: Northwest Survey Partners and Summit Utility Locating go to 02 Survey, Cascade Geotechnical to 01 Design, Riverbend Environmental to 03 Environmental. Some cases (11-15%) differ and the team has not sa	Team, confirmed by data
Approval route	The project manager always approves. If the invoice is over $50,000, the principal also approves. Otherwise PM only.	The team
Whether the invoice can be entered	Never enter more than the remaining subcontract authorization; check the not-to-exceed amount first. If over, send it back to the subconsultant. The team gives different reasons when an invoice cannot be entered: contract or budget mismatch (40%), missing approval (40%), missing project or phase information (20%).	The team
Whether to proceed when expense backup is missing	Not known yet: ask the team. Answers only say backup is evidently needed before entry.	Not known yet
Whether an invoice needs Project Review in Vantagepoint	Not known yet: ask the team	Not known yet
Who receives the Outlook message and what it says	Not known yet: ask the team. The team says it is sent to the approvers after entry but gives no required wording.	Not known yet
Whether to approve the prepared voucher	The coordinator approves each prepared voucher (policy: no unattended changes to records or messages).	Team, confirmed by data

Where a person signs off

Coordinator approves each prepared voucher before it is saved in Vantagepoint
Coordinator approves the approver notice (and any message back to the subconsultant) before it is sent
PM approves every voucher; principal also approves invoices over $50,000 (existing business approvals, routed via Vantagepoint)

Exceptions

When	What the agent does
Invoice is over the remaining subcontract authorization (part of the unusual invoices, which about 43% of the team say come up often)	Do not enter. Prepare a draft reply to the subconsultant with the figures. The coordinator reviews and sends it.
Expense backup is missing (same overall frequency as above)	Hold the voucher and tell the coordinator what is missing. The team has not said who is contacted, so a person decides.
Phase on the subcontract differs from the vendor's usual phase (about 11-15% of cases)	Use the subcontract phase but flag the difference to the coordinator in the approval card.
Charge would go to a closed phase (a known pain point)	Do not prepare the voucher. Send to the coordinator with the phase status.
Vendor or subcontract cannot be matched, or PDF extraction is low-confidence (scans, odd layouts)	Hand to the coordinator with the invoice and what was extracted, for manual entry.
The invoice needs the Project Review step in Vantagepoint (about 29% of cases, about 14 extra minutes)	Not known why. Until the team explains it, flag these cases to the coordinator rather than automating them.

Build with

Copilot Studio: Agent that reads the invoice, applies the phase and route rules, and runs the coordinator approval conversation
Power Automate: Mailbox trigger, SharePoint and Outlook connectors, Vantagepoint API calls, approval flow, and exception routing
Deltek Vantagepoint: Source of vendor, project, phase status and prior vouchers; target for the voucher (via API)
SharePoint: Holds the subcontract agreements (phase and not-to-exceed amount) read through the connector
Outlook: Shared mailbox intake and approver notices

Skills: Power Automate, Copilot Studio, Deltek Vantagepoint API, Document extraction and prompt design

Before building

Service account with Vantagepoint API rights for vendor, project, phase and voucher read/write, plus a decision on who audits it
Power Automate and Copilot Studio licenses (already held) and the Outlook, SharePoint and Excel connectors
Read access to the shared mailbox and the subcontract library on SharePoint
A consistent way to find each subcontract and its not-to-exceed amount (naming or metadata)
A written approval rule and $50,000 threshold; the team does not say it is written down
The training guide / standard path agreed first, since the readiness check says to standardize

Risks

Invoice formats vary (scans, odd layouts), so extraction may fail on some, lowering time saved
Only 43% of cases follow the same steps, so the agent covers the main path and exceptions go to people
Wrong-phase entry causes about 30% rework, so the phase rule and the subcontract check must be tested on real cases
The Project Review step is not understood, so the agent could miss a required check
Remaining authorization may need data that isn't in Vantagepoint (change orders, prior invoices elsewhere)

How we'll know it worked

Median work time per invoice (baseline 15.7 min; 32 team hours a week across 96 cases)
Share of vouchers where figures are retyped by hand (baseline 78%) and the mismatch rate (baseline 3%)
Rework share, mainly wrong phase (baseline about 30%)
Share of invoices handled without a person fixing them, and the share of exceptions sent to the coordinator

Still to answer before building

What is the Project Review step in Vantagepoint for, and which invoices need it?
What exactly is in the Outlook message, and who receives it?
What is done when expense backup is missing, and who is contacted?
Are the approval rules and the $50,000 threshold written down anywhere?
What decides the 11-15% of cases where the phase differs from the vendor's usual phase?
How is the invoice-to-voucher match checked, given the 3% mismatch rate on transfers from the PDF?
Where is the remaining subcontract authorization held: in the subcontract, in Vantagepoint, or in an Excel tracker?
How should closed-phase charges be handled? The team did not describe this rule even though it is a known pain point.

Where the team disagrees

Settle these first: an agent needs one rule, and new hires get mixed answers today.

Team members give different reasons when an invoice can't be entered right away: contract or budget mismatch (40%), missing approval or sign-off (40%), missing or unclear project or phase information (20%).
Estimates of how often unusual invoices occur are split between often and sometimes.

Evidence

too many different paths for an agent to follow reliably; the training guide comes first
43% of cases follow the same steps (some skip a step)
32 team hours a week
data is moved by hand from Adobe Acrobat to Deltek Vantagepoint (78% retyped)
30% of cases redo steps
38% of cases need an extra lookup (an exception the agent must handle)

Observed main path (35% of cases): Microsoft Outlook → Subconsultant Invoice.pdf (Adobe Acrobat) → Voucher Entry · Accounts Payable (Deltek Vantagepoint) → Edit Vendor → Edit Phase → Edit Approval route → Microsoft Outlook → Edit Message body

Handover spec for the builder (text) →

Designed by AI from how the team did this work (2026-10-19 to 2026-10-23), the company's tools and its rules. A starting point for the builder: confirm system access and approvals before building.