A plain-language overview of the online check & payment request system for EDOM and Claggett Center.
Beacon is actively being built and refined. New features are added and adjusted frequently based on real staff feedback, and the system currently runs in a development environment while it matures toward a full production release. This overview describes what Beacon does today; it will be updated as the system evolves.
Beacon is a web application that lets staff at the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland (EDOM) and Claggett Center submit, route, and pay check and payment requests entirely online — no paper forms, no routing an envelope from desk to desk, no separate spreadsheet to track where a request stands. It replaces the old manual check-request process with a single system that walks a request from the moment someone submits it all the way through to the bill being created in QuickBooks Online (QBO).
You may also hear this project referred to internally by its project number, 26-129, or its working name, “Check Request.” Beacon is the name staff see on the site itself.
Beacon is built around a handful of everyday roles. Most staff will only ever occupy one or two of these:
Anyone who needs a check or payment issued submits a request through Beacon. This is the starting point for every request.
Staff assigned to a Program Area (or designated as a Global Approver for larger amounts) review and approve or reject requests that fall in their area.
Review and approve requests to add a brand-new vendor before that vendor can be paid.
Give the final look at a fully-approved request and are the ones who actually post it to QuickBooks.
Has visibility into every request across both organizations, can impersonate another user for troubleshooting, and administers a few organization-wide settings.
Everyone signs in with their existing Cornerstone (cfmins.org) Microsoft 365 account — there is no separate Beacon password to remember. After signing in, a user picks which organization they are working in (EDOM or Claggett) using a switcher in the page header, and can change it at any time.
Every request in Beacon follows the same overall path, whether it is a routine utility bill or a one-time vendor payment. The steps below are the short version; the sections that follow go into more detail on each stage.
Fill out the request — vendor, amount, needed-by date, and a description — either by hand or by uploading an invoice/document that Beacon reads and pre-fills for you.
Assign the amount to the correct Program Area and GL (General Ledger) account(s), the same coding that will eventually appear on the QuickBooks entry.
The request routes automatically to the right approver(s) based on Program Area and dollar amount. Larger amounts add additional required approvers.
Once fully approved, an AP Reviewer gives it a final look — confirming any new vendor has cleared its own approval and, if required, that a W-9 has been received.
A single click creates the actual Bill (and, if needed, the new Vendor record) directly in QuickBooks Online — no re-keying.
Starting a new request is a single, guided form. A requester enters the vendor (searchable by name), the amount, when payment is needed, and a description of what it's for.
Rather than typing everything by hand, a requester can upload the invoice or supporting document first. Beacon reads the document and automatically fills in the vendor, amount, date, and description for review — the requester simply confirms or corrects the fields before submitting. GL coding is never guessed at this step; that stays a deliberate, human decision.
As the form is filled out, a preview of the actual check-request document updates in real time, so a requester can see exactly what will be produced and routed for approval before they submit anything.
Where a Program Area / GL account combination has a QuickBooks-maintained annual budget, Beacon shows the current spending against that budget right on the request form. If a submission would push spending over budget, Beacon either blocks it outright or — where the account is specifically flagged to allow it — lets it through but clearly flags it as an over-budget item for the approvers and AP Reviewer to see.
Most requests are for a vendor Beacon already knows about — the vendor list is kept in sync with QuickBooks automatically, so a requester simply searches and selects.
If the vendor doesn't exist yet, a requester can add it right from the request form — as an individual or a business — without leaving the page. That new-vendor request and the check request it's attached to move forward together, but the new vendor must clear its own separate approval from a designated Vendor Approver before AP can post anything to QuickBooks.
When a new vendor's W-9 is needed, Beacon emails the vendor a secure, one-time upload link — no sign-in required on their end. Beacon deliberately never collects a Social Security Number or EIN directly on any of its own forms; the W-9 itself is uploaded as a document and never processed by Beacon's automatic document-reading feature, precisely because it can contain sensitive tax ID information.
Beacon works out who needs to approve a request automatically, based on the Program Area it's coded to and its dollar amount — no one has to know or remember the routing rules.
Approvers don't have to log in to act. Whenever a request reaches them, Beacon sends an email with one-click Approve and Reject buttons right in the message — along with a plain sign-in link for anyone who wants to see the full request first. A daily digest email also summarizes everything currently waiting on a given approver's action across both organizations, so nothing needed sits unnoticed.
Once a request has cleared its entire approval chain, it lands on the AP Reviewer's queue for one final check — confirming a new vendor (if any) has been separately approved and, where required, that its W-9 has actually been received.
From there, a single “Post to QBO” action does the rest: if it's a brand-new vendor, Beacon creates that Vendor record in QuickBooks first, then creates the Bill itself — with the correct vendor, GL coding, amount, due date, description, and even the supporting documents attached — automatically. Nothing about the request needs to be re-typed into QuickBooks by hand.
If a request is instead sent back at this stage, the submitter is notified by email and can revise and resubmit it, which sends it through the approval chain again.
Every submitted request automatically generates its own check-voucher document, and any invoice or supporting file a requester uploads is kept right alongside it. These are archived permanently to the organization's SharePoint files (not just left sitting in Beacon), so there is always a durable, findable copy outside the application itself.
From the “Requests” page, anyone can look back at every request they've submitted — its current status, its full approval history with timestamps, and its attachments — at any time.
The CFO has an organization-wide Administrative view showing every request across both EDOM and Claggett, regardless of status — useful for audits, spot-checks, or simply seeing the whole picture at once. A small set of other administrative tools exist as well: a way to temporarily view Beacon as another user for troubleshooting, and a simple in-app Feedback form staff can use to report problems or suggest improvements directly, which the CFO can review in one place.
Beacon includes a built-in Feedback link in the navigation menu of every page — the fastest way to flag something confusing, report a problem, or suggest an improvement. For anything more urgent, or for questions this overview doesn't answer, contact the CFM Business Office.