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BILLING & INVOICING

AP Invoice Entry Assistant: Solving Top Pain Points in Viewpoint with AI-Powered UI

How a smart assistant can eliminate guesswork and streamline invoice processing in Viewpoint Vista.

Entering vendor invoices into a construction ERP like Viewpoint Vista can be a painstaking process. Accounts payable (AP) professionals often wrestle with multi-step tasks and uncertainties that slow them down. Manually finding the right cost codes, figuring out who must approve each invoice, and chasing down that approval are daily frustrations. Common mistakes such as duplicate data entry or mis-coded phases add even more rework to the process. It's no surprise that more than half of AP effort (53%) goes into manual invoice entry and coding tasks – time that could be better spent on analysis or vendor service. In construction, the stakes are even higher: errors like duplicate payments or incorrect job costing can directly hit project profitability.

Imagine instead an AI-powered assistant built into Viewpoint that addresses these pain points head-on. This AP Invoice Entry Assistant could guide users with interactive, context-aware responses – even presenting mock data or forms – to make invoice entry faster and error-free. Below, we explore the top pain points AP staff encounter in the invoice entry process and show how an AI chatbot with generative UI can resolve each issue with practical, reassuring examples.

Pro Tip: Automating data entry can reduce AP processing time by up to 53%, freeing up your team for more strategic tasks. This AI assistant aims to deliver those gains directly within Viewpoint.

Ambiguity in Job/Phase Coding

One of the biggest challenges for AP clerks is knowing how to properly classify an invoice to the correct job and phase (cost code). Viewpoint requires each payable invoice to be coded to a specific job and cost phase for job costing, but often the invoice description or backup is unclear. AP staff may not know which project a vendor's charge belongs to, or which phase code (e.g. 03000 Concrete Work vs 05000 Steel Erection) is appropriate. This ambiguity leads to delays and risks misallocating costs.

Smart Cost Code Suggestions

Instead of leaving the user to manually find and set cost codes, the AP Invoice Assistant can dynamically suggest the most likely job and phase based on the invoice context. For example, if a user asks "Which job and phase should I assign for a $5,000 concrete delivery from Acme Supplies?", the chatbot could present a card with intelligent suggestions. It might analyze recent invoices from that vendor, the project names, and even keywords like "concrete".
In the UI, each suggestion might appear as a selectable card or row, with the job and phase pre-filled. The assistant could even show a confidence score. By clicking a suggestion, the user would see the AP invoice form update. This guided selection saves time and trains newer staff, resulting in fewer mis-coded invoices.
AI Assistant UI Example
Recommended

Job 210 – Lakeside Apartments

03100 – Concrete Work

Rationale: Vendor Acme Supplies has billed to Job 210 under concrete-related phases before.

Job 212 – Oak Plaza Expansion

03300 – Concrete Formwork

Rationale: The description mentions 'delivery', matching past material deliveries for Job 212.

Confusion Over Retainage Handling

Retainage – withholding payment until a milestone is met – is a common source of confusion. Clerks must properly split invoice amounts, and mistakes like forgetting retainage, wrong percentages, or not realizing it was already held, are easy. This uncertainty can slow entry or result in inconsistent tracking. For instance, for a 10% retainage on a $10,000 invoice, clarity is needed.

Guided Retainage Entry with Instant Calculations

The AP Invoice Assistant can remove the guesswork by providing a pre-filled retainage entry form. Suppose the user asks, "How do I enter a $10,000 invoice with 10% retainage?" The chatbot could display a card illustrating how to record it:
The mock form shows Invoice Total ($10,000), Retainage (10% = $1,000 held), and Net Payable ($9,000). Tooltips (hover on values above) can explain fields and GL impacts. This visual confirmation reduces errors and ensures consistency.
AI Assistant UI Example
Invoice TotalRetainage (%)Retainage AmountNet Payable
$10,00010%$1,000 (withheld)$9,000

Delays and Uncertainty in Invoice Approvals

After entry, invoices need approval, which can become a black hole. AP staff often chase approvals, unsure of status. Traditional methods (email, physical signatures) cause delays, frustrating AP teams and vendors, and risking late fees.

Live Approval Status Dashboard

The assistant provides instant visibility. Instead of manual chasing, a query like "Show me invoices pending approval," generates a dashboard view of invoice statuses:
The table shows pending invoices, approvers, and duration. Overdue items are flagged (e.g., INV-1011 ⚠). This empowers AP to be proactive. The interface could allow reminders, reducing cycle times.
AI Assistant UI Example
InvoiceVendorApproverStatusDays Pending
INV-1005Acme Concrete Co.John Doe (PM)Pending
7 days
INV-1010Delta ElectricSarah Smith (PM)Approved
2 days
INV-1011Acme Concrete Co.John Doe (PM)Pending
18 days

Manual Data Entry and Duplicate Invoices

Construction AP involves heavy data entry, which is slow and error-prone. Typos, missed fields, and duplicate entries (e.g., vendor resends invoice) are common. Duplicates can lead to double payments. Mis-entering dates or posting periods also causes issues.

Auto-Entry and Error Prevention

The assistant reduces manual effort with AI-powered OCR and context understanding. Uploading an invoice prompts auto-population, presenting a preview:
The user reviews and confirms. The AI also cross-verifies against historical data to catch duplicates before saving, providing a safety net. Intelligent validations for dates or amounts act like an always-on auditor, ensuring cleaner AP processes.
AI Assistant UI Example

Auto-Filled Invoice Preview:

Vendor:
Acme Concrete Co.
Invoice #:
INV-1005
Invoice Date:
May 30, 2025
Amount:
$5,000.00
Job:
210 – Lakeside Apartments((suggested))
Phase:
03100 – Concrete Work((suggested))
Description:
Concrete materials delivered 5/29
Retainage:
10%((identified, $500 withheld))

Duplicate Invoice Detected

Invoice INV-1005 from Acme Concrete (amount $5,000) was already entered on 06/01/2025. This might be a duplicate.

Conclusion

By addressing these pain points with a mix of automation and guided user interface, an AI-driven AP Invoice Entry Assistant can transform how construction companies handle accounts payable. We saw how the chatbot can clarify cost coding, demystify retainage, expedite approvals, and eliminate tedious data entry and duplicate errors. Each solution is delivered not just as text advice, but as a generative UI example – from pre-filled forms to status dashboards – making the guidance immediately actionable.

For AP professionals, the experience is like having an expert colleague always on hand. The end result is a more efficient, error-resistant AP process. Invoices get entered and approved with less friction, and the team can spend less time firefighting issues and more time on strategic work. In the high-pressure world of construction accounting, such an assistant is a game-changer – turning painful invoicing tasks into a seamless, guided workflow.

Sources & Further Reading

The above insights and examples draw on common challenges documented in construction financial management research and user feedback. Issues like manual cost coding, approval bottlenecks, data entry errors, and retainage complexities are widely recognized in industry discussions. Modern AP automation studies highlight these pain points and the efficiency gains of intelligent solutions. All mock UI examples are conceptual demonstrations for illustration purposes. For more information on Viewpoint solutions, visit their official website.