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Invoice Status Workflow

Every purchase invoice in Shaari follows a defined status lifecycle. The status tells you where an invoice stands in your processing pipeline and what action it needs next.

Status Lifecycle​

Invoices move through the following statuses in order:

Draft → Needs Review → Confirmed → Paid → Archived

Each transition represents a step in your invoice processing workflow.

Draft​

What it means: The invoice has been created but is not yet ready for review. Data may be incomplete or unverified.

How invoices get here:

  • Newly uploaded invoices start as Draft.
  • Manually created invoices are saved as Draft by default.

What you can do:

  • Edit all fields freely.
  • Add or remove attachments.
  • Delete the invoice entirely.

Needs Review​

What it means: The invoice data has been populated (either by AI extraction or manual entry) and is ready for someone to verify.

How invoices get here:

  • After AI extraction completes, the invoice can move to Needs Review.
  • A user manually sets the status to Needs Review when draft entry is complete.

What you can do:

  • Review the extracted or entered data against the source document.
  • Make corrections to any fields.
  • Approve the invoice by moving it to Confirmed.
  • Send it back to Draft if more work is needed.

Confirmed​

What it means: The invoice data has been verified and is accepted as accurate. The invoice is awaiting payment.

How invoices get here:

  • A user reviews the invoice and confirms it.

What you can do:

  • Mark the invoice as Paid once payment is made.
  • View the invoice in confirmed totals and reports.
note

Confirmed invoices have limited editability. To make significant changes, you may need to move the invoice back to an earlier status.

What it means: Payment has been made for this invoice. The transaction is complete.

How invoices get here:

  • A user marks the confirmed invoice as Paid.

What you can do:

  • The invoice is included in paid totals and financial reports.
  • The invoice remains accessible for reference.
  • It can be archived manually or by the auto-archive feature.

Archived​

What it means: The invoice is no longer active but is retained for record-keeping and compliance.

How invoices get here:

  • A user manually archives a paid invoice.
  • The auto-archive feature moves it automatically based on your retention policy.

What you can do:

  • View the invoice and its attachments.
  • Restore the invoice from the archive if needed.

How to Change Status​

To change an invoice's status:

  1. Open the invoice detail view.
  2. Use the status action button or dropdown.
  3. Select the desired next status.
  4. The status updates and the invoice moves to the new stage.

Status changes are forward-progressing by default (Draft to Needs Review to Confirmed, and so on), but you can move an invoice back to an earlier status when corrections are needed.

Legal hold is a special flag that can be applied to any invoice, regardless of its current status.

What legal hold does:

  • Prevents status changes -- The invoice cannot move forward or backward in the workflow.
  • Prevents deletion -- The invoice cannot be deleted while under legal hold.
  • Prevents auto-archive -- The auto-archive feature skips invoices under legal hold.
  • Protects data integrity -- Fields cannot be modified while legal hold is active.

When to use legal hold:

  • During audits, when invoices must be preserved exactly as they are.
  • For legal disputes, where invoice records may be needed as evidence.
  • For regulatory compliance, when retention policies require certain invoices to remain untouched.

To apply or remove legal hold:

  1. Open the invoice detail view.
  2. Toggle the legal hold option.
  3. Confirm the action.
caution

Only apply legal hold when genuinely needed for compliance or legal reasons. An invoice under legal hold cannot be processed further until the hold is removed.

Batch Operations​

You can change the status of multiple invoices at once:

  1. On the Purchases list, select multiple invoices using the checkboxes.
  2. Choose a batch action from the toolbar (e.g., Confirm Selected, Mark as Paid).
  3. The selected invoices are updated to the new status.

Batch operations follow the same rules as individual status changes. If any selected invoice cannot transition to the target status (for example, because it is under legal hold), that invoice is skipped and the rest are processed.

tip

Use batch operations for end-of-month processing. For example, select all confirmed invoices that have been paid and mark them as Paid in one action.