# Subconsultant Invoice Voucher Prep Agent

Agent blueprint, validated with 7 team members · Task: Enter subconsultant invoices · Project Administration · readiness 56/100 · Standardize first

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.

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

**Inputs:** 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

**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.

## Steps

1. Detect new invoice email and save the PDF attachment (Outlook, connector): 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 Acrobat, ai): 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 Vantagepoint, api): 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 (SharePoint, connector): Replaces the Edge detour seen in about 38% of cases.
5. Compute remaining authorization from the subcontract and prior vouchers (Deltek Vantagepoint, api): 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 Vantagepoint, api): 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 Vantagepoint, ai): 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 (Outlook, person): 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 Vantagepoint, api): Runs only after the coordinator approves. Records changes made by the coordinator.
10. Draft the approver notice with voucher details and invoice link (Outlook, ai): 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 (Outlook, connector): Sent after the coordinator's sign-off (the same approval or a second click). Not sent unattended.

## Approvals

- 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)

## Prerequisites

- 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)

## Measure after launch

- 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

## Decisions

| Decide | Rule | Source |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Vendor | Choose the subconsultant named on the invoice PDF. | 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 + data |
| Approval route | The project manager always approves. If the invoice is over $50,000, the principal also approves. Otherwise PM only. | 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%). | team |
| Whether to proceed when expense backup is missing | Not known yet: ask the team. Answers only say backup is evidently needed before entry. | unknown |
| Whether an invoice needs Project Review in Vantagepoint | Not known yet: ask the team | unknown |
| 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. | unknown |
| Whether to approve the prepared voucher | The coordinator approves each prepared voucher (policy: no unattended changes to records or messages). | team + data |

## 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.

## Exceptions

- When 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.
- When 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.
- When 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.
- When Charge would go to a closed phase (a known pain point): Do not prepare the voucher. Send to the coordinator with the phase status.
- When 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.
- When 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

## Effort and return

- Size M, about 3-5 weeks (Power Automate, Copilot Studio, Deltek Vantagepoint API, Document extraction and prompt design)
- Team time on this task now: 32 h/week; expected back: 6-14 h/week

## 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)