This page is where most work is done in Billy: projects are created and contract (vendor) requirements are tracked and managed.
Let's dive into the various sections within this page and how to track compliance across projects and contracts (vendors).
Filter and Sort Project List
When viewing your list of projects, you can filter based on project status. These filters will remember your selections even when you return to the project page later on.
All
Active
Draft
Frozen
You can also sort your project list by project number or project name.
Add a New Project
Procore Project: First, a project must be added in Procore. Then it can be synced with Billy through the following steps:
Click the Blue “+” Button in top right of Project Page
Select “Import Procore Project”
Choose Import Method (see next section for more details)
Click "Import Selection"
Non-Procore (Manual) Project: Creating a “New Project” will create a “manual” project in Billy, and updates to Procore will not be made.
Click the Blue “+” Button in top right of Project Page
Select “New Project”
Enter project details
Click "Save"
Procore Import Methods
There are 4 ways to import Procore vendors:
Project Directory
Purchase Order
Subcontract
Subcontract or Purchase Order
If you import by Subcontract and/or Purchase Order, you can then select all of the contract statuses you want Billy to import. Select all that apply:
All
Draft
Out For Bid
Out For Signature
AND MORE (see screenshot below)
PRO TIP:
You will now be able to see contract information from Procore in Billy. This lays the groundwork for Requirement Groups aka supporting vendor-specific insurance. With this change, you might find a few vendors that appear to be duplicates, but are actually the separate subcontracts / purchase orders from Procore: note the "SC-004" or "PO-009" by the vendor name now. If you don't need to track insurance separately, use the 3 dot menu by their name and click "Mark Inactive".
Project Statuses
All New Projects (Procore and Manual) automatically begin in Draft mode so adjustments to requirements and vendors can be made before requesting documents.
When Projects are in Draft mode, no emails are sent by Billy.
Add Sample Documents in Project Requirements
Sample documents provide a visual of your requirements to vendors.
Vendors are able to download Sample Docs in the Vendor Submission Portal.
PRO TIP:
Sample documents are often used for Sample COIs, providing a visual representation of your requirements to vendors that is accessible in the Vendor Submission Portal (see screenshot below).
Vendor Submission Portal: Sample documents can be viewed or downloaded.
Add Required Documents in Project Requirements
PRO TIP:
Required Documents should only be used for insurance-related documents that do not have an expiration date.
Use “Other” for insurance-related required documents within your projects.
Why? This impacts compliance. See the "Document Review" section later in this guide for more details.
Examples: Additional Insured Endorsements, Waiver of Subrogation Endorsements, Umbrella Follow Form
Non-insurance-related Required Documents (W9s, MSAs, Business Licenses, etc) should be tracked on a separate project so as not to affect the insurance compliance status on your projects.
Example: W9 project, Compliance Docs project (W9, Contractor’s License)
Contracts Tab For Procore Partners
In your Billy-synced Procore Project, this is where the vendors who have contracts on your project live.
PRO TIP:
You must add vendors to your projects in Procore for them to appear in your Procore-synced Billy projects.
Vendor Syncing Tips:
For Subcontract and/or Purchase Order Import Method: Invoice contact must be added to commitment/PO for the vendor to import into Billy.
For Project Directory Import Method: Primary Contact or Email Address must be added to Company in Project Directory for the vendor to import into Billy.
The Procore Sync Log within each project will record vendor syncing issues. Visit the log, then reach out to Customer Success if you still can't resolve the issue.
Inside the Procore-synced Billy project, click the 3 dots at the top of the project page
Click "Procore Sync Log" (see screenshot below)
Contracts Tab For Non-Procore Partners / Standard Projects
In your Billy Project, this is where the vendors who have contracts on your project live.
How to add new/existing vendors:
Project Page > Contracts tab > Add Contract
Choose an existing vendor from the dropdown, or
Add a new vendor by typing in the name of the vendor and adding contact information.
Project Compliance Bar
Each project has a compliance bar that tracks the percentage of vendors in compliance on this project.
Note: Inactive vendors are not included in this compliance calculation.
PRO TIP:
Hover over the compliance bar to see the number of compliant vendors.
Procore Links
Easily move between Billy and Procore with links to your Procore account throughout Billy. These links exist in 3 places:
Project List Page - Links take you to the project in Procore
Project Page - Link at the top of the page takes you to the project in Procore.
Contract (aka Vendor) Profile Page - Link next to the vendor's name takes you to the
Company in the Project Directory if you are importing via All Companies in Project Directory
Commitment and/or Purchase Order if you are importing via Subcontract and/or Purchase Order
Excluded Officers
If excluded officers were added during document review, you can see a running list of all excluded officers for a given project by following these steps:
On main project page, click the 3 dots in the top right corner.
Click “Excluded Officers”
Filter the Contracts (Vendors) List
In the Contracts tab in a project, you can sort vendors in 2 ways:
By Activity
Needs Certificate - no documents on file for this project
Needs Review - vendors have submitted documents for your review or were manually uploaded by a user
By Statuses
All Statuses
Compliant Vendors - documents have been submitted and approved
Non-compliant Vendors - either no certificate has been submitted, requirements are missing (missing a policy), or submission did not meet your requirements (ie you rejected a policy)
Inactive Vendors - manually marked inactive in Billy by a user, no emails are being sent from Billy, and you can mark as active any time
Non-responsive - These vendors have not responded to Billy's reminder emails to submit documents (initial request, rejection emails, expiration emails). Learn more about how this filter works and how to re-trigger requests here, including a quick 3-minute video!
Three Dots to the Right of Each Vendor
On the contracts tab within a project, there are 3 dots to the right of each vendor. Here is what you'll find in this dropdown:
View Details - view vendor profile (coverages, certificates)
Edit - make changes to the vendor contact’s email and name
Copy Request Link - paste this link into a new browser window to view what the vendor upload portal looks like.
PRO TIP: The vendor submission portal now includes the project number, name and address, eliminating the need to add this information to project-specific requirement groups! This article goes into detail about about the Vendor Submission Portal.
Request Documents - request for documents to this specific vendor
Mark Inactive - stop Billy’s emails from being delivered. See next slide for more details.
Remove From Project - this is viewable on standard projects only, aka non-Procore synced projects. Contracts can only be removed from a project if no documents have been submitted and reviewed.
Vendor 3 dots
Vendor Submission Portal
Mark Vendors Inactive
There are times when a vendor is imported into Billy, and you decide you don't need to, or no longer need to track compliance for that vendor. That is when marking a vendor inactive comes in handy.
Here is what to expect when a vendor is marked inactive:
Stop Billy’s automated emails from being delivered
Available on Procore and non-Procore projects
All previously uploaded documents will continue to be stored in Billy despite marking inactive
Users can view or download previously uploaded documents after marking inactive through the “View” button in Coverages and Certificates tab
Mark as Active at any time
How to Go Live with Projects
Step 1: Add New Project to Billy
Add New Project. See this article for more details on how to do this.
OR
[Procore Partners Only] Import Procore Project. See this article for more details on how to do this.
Step 2: Confirm project requirements.
Step 3: [Procore Partners Only] Check the Procore sync log.
The Procore Sync Log within each project will contain a historical record of all sync issues that occur. Use it to uncover missing vendors and correct the missing data (most of the time email contacts in Procore) to correctly sync all desired vendors. Read more here.
Step 4: Set Up and Verify Contract List
Non-Procore Partners and Manual Billy Projects: Add vendors and update contacts as needed.
Procore Partners: Verify contact information that came over from Procore is the accurate compliance contact, and mark vendors inactive as needed.
Step 5: Change project status from Draft to Active
Step 6: Bulk-send initial requests
This article goes into detail about Billy’s Automated Correspondences (reminders after initial request, renewal reminders, etc)
Uploading Documents
There are 2 ways to upload documents to Billy:
Manually upload a document. This article goes into more detail about how to do this.
QUICK TIP: This is useful when you have a document on your shared drive or get an email from a vendor with a COI
Vendor submits a document through vendor submission portal. You can see this submission portal by:
Click the 3 dots next to vendor name in “Contracts” tab.
Click “Copy Request Link”
Paste the copied link into new browser window.
Contract Coverages Tab
Contract (Vendor) Coverages list the requirements specific to that contract on the project. All statuses start in an "unreviewed" state and update as reviews of documents are made. Over time, this is where you will see the continuity of coverage for this contract (vendor).
Coverages Statuses
Unreviewed (grey) - no document has been reviewed against this policy
Active (green) - compliant, approved requirement
Inactive (red) - either the requirement is expired or has been rejected. Click the dropdown arrow button to investigate further
Waive (orange) - the requirement has been indicated as not required for this particular vendor
In addition to this requirement status, you can also Waive a requirement prior to documents being, which will remove it from the vendor submission portal. This is yet another way (besides a vendor-specific requirement group) where you can customize your vendor requirement needs!
QUICK TIP: You can unwaive at any time, as well.
Other things to note about the Coverages Tab:
Renewal Certificates will not replace previous documents but will sit on top of previous documents.
View Policy Information
Click “Down Arrow” to view the documents under each policy.
Notes to Vendor entered during the review process can be viewed here.
Contract Notes
Centralize contract (vendor) compliance communication by utilizing Contract Notes, allowing Admin and Standard users to document contract specifics on a project, such as an override authorization. Save your note or Save & Send Email to send an email notification to a Billy user to draw attention to your note, ensuring efficient communication.
Admin and Standard users can create a Contract Note, send email notifications, and/or delete a note they created. Read-Only users have viewing access without the ability to add notes or send notifications.
Managed Plan Partners
Contract Notes are used to facilitate the override/approval process, keeping these communications centralized in Billy. Override requests must be approved by the designated person on your team. Ask the Admin of your account who this person is. If you send the Billy Team a request for an override, we will log the request in Contract Notes to be approved by this designated person on your team.
"Save & Send Email" will save your note automatically. Then you must select a recipient to send an email notification.
Managed Plan Partners
Use Contract Notes to direct an override request to the designated user on your team, or if you are authorized to override/approve, leave the Billy Team a note here. Email notifications are not necessary for the Billy Team if there is a document waiting to be reviewed. We review all Contract Notes before reviewing documents.
If you leave a note about an override authorization and want the Billy Team to review the last document submission, use the in-app chat and send us a link (URL) to the page you are on. We are happy to re-review considering your approval authorization.
REVIEWING DOCUMENTS
The “Needs Review” status means there are documents that require your attention to review.
Steps to Review Documents
When a vendor submits a document, or you upload one manually, here are the steps to review these documents:
On the Project page, in Contracts tab, sort by Activity: Needs Review
Click vendor name to enter vendor profile
Click “Certificates” tab
Click “Review Certificate”
Insurance requirements are listed on the right, followed by your required documents.
Send rejection notifications after reviewing all documents received.
OCR Technology Tips:
This technology is not proprietary and it is correct 95-99% of the time.
OCR will not pick up poorly scanned documents, blue ink, handwriting, etc.
OCR only reads Commercial General Liability, Auto, Umbrella, Workers Compensation, W9s.
Please let us know if OCR is not working. We are constantly working with our provider to improve this technology!
Reviewing Insurance Policies
Requirement statuses tell you what is Active, Rejected, Expired, Waived to facilitate document reviews.
During document review, Billy provides the limit requirements underneath each text field so you can verify submitted limits against project requirements.
Select a status and click save. This article goes into policy statuses in more detail.
After completing your review you have 2 options
Clicking “Done” will change the “Needs Review” to compliant/non-compliant
Clicking Cancel will save all of your work, but will not change the vendor’s compliance status
Send Email Notification - double-check this is selected when rejecting policies to ensure vendor email is sent
PRO TIP:
Use the Save and Next during review to move to the next document that “Needs Review” within this project
Workers Compensation Insurance
Under Policy Options, you must select Yes or No
If a vendor selects Yes on the COI but does not list the excluded officers, you have 2 choices
Reject and request the excluded officers in “Notes to Vendor”
You can override in Billy to “No” if you decide internally you do not need the name of the excluded officer.
Excluded Officers list can be seen on the Project Page in Project Details.
Non-Compliant Vendors
After reviewing documents, if you believe they should be compliant, but they still show non-compliant, consider these steps:
Review the Vendor Coverages against Project Requirements
QUICK TIP: Red policies under the Certificates tab do not indicate what is causing non-compliance.
Once you find which requirement is still missing (Exs: Required Document, Insurance Policy), return to the Documents tab within the Vendor Profile.
View the document and reject the missing requirement.
Send email notification to the vendor.
Edit Documents
After reviewing a document, you can edit a document any time by following these steps:
“Certificates” Tab > View
Click into the policy
Click “Edit”
Save changes
PRO TIP:
There are times when we see partners want to change the status of a policy after their initial review, ie from Approved Non-compliant to Reject. Editing a document allows you to do this at any time.
Download Documents
After reviewing a document, you can return to download the file at any time by following these steps:
“Certificates” tab > View
Click the download button or print button in the top right of the COI viewer.
PROCORE INTEGRATION
Procore projects always originate in Procore, then are synced to Billy. The below chart shows how information flows from Billy to Procore and vice versa.
Insurance Information Syncing to Procore
For Procore Partners, insurance information syncs to the Insurance tab in the Project Directory.
Project Directory > Company > Edit > Insurance
Insurance information is updated in real-time after documents are reviewed in Billy so your project team has the most relevant information at their finger tips. For example, if the first document a vendor submitted included a General Liability policy that was not compliant, Billy would push this non-compliant status to Procore's Insurance tab. After the vendor submits a new document with a compliant GL policy and this is reviewed in Billy as compliant, the same record in Procore's Insurance tab would update in real-time to show the compliant GL policy.
In the Procore Insurance Tab, copy and paste the link in “Notes” to see the certificate in Billy. This list will grow over the years, showing your team continuity of coverage.