Scheduled Invoices

It is especially useful for rental houses that manage long hires (bookings that last for months), and need to prepare a schedule in advance of the invoices to be generated per project. Or if you work on long-form projects where you have several instalments scheduled.

When an invoice from a scheduled plan is created, the fixed price will show as a pre-payment line. The list of Objects (equipment, services, etc) that have been booked/used in that period can also be displayed as a reference, but will not show quantity or prices.

Once the Project is finished and set to inactive/closed, you still need to create the "final invoice", which will deduct all these pre-payment invoices, and calculate for any extra amounts. Also, very importantly for reporting purposes, all Objects will be flagged as "invoiced".

How to enable Scheduled Invoices

To enable this feature, go to Toolbox > Settings > Server Setup > Enable Scheduled Invoices.

A new area gets added to the bottom of the Edit Project window to manage "Scheduled Invoices". 

The User must have permissions to generate invoices, and the Project option "Show Invoices / Credit Notes" (in the Project's Eye menu) needs to be enabled as well.

Preparing Scheduled Invoices

In the Edit Project window, click on the Scheduled Invoices menu and select New Scheduled Invoice. Then, you can fill in:

• Name: this Name will be displayed on the Invoice name next to the Project name. 
• Fixed Price: click on the wheel icon to enter the fixed price for the scheduled invoice.
• Scheduled Date: the date when it will be available for invoicing.
• Division: if licensed, it takes by default the Project's Division.
• Note: a note icon appears next to the scheduled invoice with the note entered here. This note can be populated in the Financial Reports, Rows section.

Use "Remove A Schedule Invoice" from the menu whenever you need to remove a scheduled invoice. 

If you remove a scheduled invoice after the invoice is done, what is already invoiced is not removed. 

Once invoiced, Scheduled Invoices in this list cannot be modified.

Creating Invoices from Scheduled

In Invoice Creator, you can search under the Active Projects pane for those that have Scheduled Invoices Ready to be invoiced.

The option "Show Only Project With Ready Scheduled Invoices" (in the menu icon) can be enabled if you want to search only for Projects with Scheduled Invoices Ready (that is, with date up to today).

There is also a new column "Scheduled Invoices Ready", with value "Yes" for Projects with pending Scheduled Invoices which Scheduled Dates were set to today or past date, or with value "No" will show for Projects that have Scheduled Invoices for a future date, or with no Scheduled Invoices at all.

As you select (highlight in yellow) a Project, the drop-down menu will show the name of the Scheduled Invoice ready to be invoiced in this format: "Create [Scheduled Invoice Name]  / [Project Name (Project Number)]".

When selecting more than one Project, you can use the option "Create Invoices For Scheduled", and confirm the dialog "Confirm Creating x Invoices From Scheduled". 

As a result, individual invoices will be created for each of the Scheduled Invoices.

As you open the Invoice, the Invoice Editor window shows all the Objects that were added to the Project up to that date, with Amount 1, Unit Name Fixed, and 0 prices. A Prepayment line shows at the very bottom with the Scheduled Invoice fixed price. 

Each Object keeps its original booked or used date, as usual. The Prepayment line has the Scheduled Date.

This list is only for reference as you might want to show it in the invoice print out, but shows no amount nor pricing per line.

Now those Scheduled Invoices that have been invoiced show a yellow triangle in the Project window. By clicking on the triangle you have the option to Find Invoice.

Invoice print-out

If you need to show the list of items that got invoiced in the period, the Invoice Print Designer can be configured to Draw a 0 Rate (in the Template Setup). Next, the Name element under Element Row can have a String Compare Operator to hide the Prepayment line. Finally, show invoice value from the Total area, instead of per line. 

You can contact Support to get a copy of this print design template.

Final invoice

Once the Project is finished and set to inactive / closed, you still need to create the "final invoice", which will deduct all these pre-payment invoices, and calculate for any extra amounts. Also, very importantly for reporting purposes, all Objects will be flagged as "invoiced".

Reports

If you need to send the invoice schedule for a particular project or for various projects to you client, you can design a Financial Report using the new Group "Scheduled Invoice Month", and enabling the option "Inc. Only Scheduled Invoices" in the General Settings (to leave out any other source type like Bookings.

In case you would like to run the report on more than one Project, you could design the report groping by 1. Projects and 2. Scheduled Invoice Month, like the example below (attached here)