The billing schedule allows you to manage the invoicing of a project, by creating an invoice for each phase of the project (Down Payment, Intermediate, Balance). It also applies in all cases where an opportunity / quotation must be invoiced (and not paid) in several occurrences.
After setting up a schedule template, let's now look at how to generate a billing schedule from an opportunity and from a quotation.
Generate a billing schedule from an opportunity
To generate a billing schedule, you must have prepared a schedule template with milestones beforehand. Please read the other articles in this module to take into account all the prerequisites.
Steps
1. Go to the Opportunity tab.
2. Open the concerned opportunity.
3. Click on the Billing milestones button.
4. Then select a schedule template that you have previously created > Schedules - Use cases & set up of schedule templates .
5. The invoice dates are calculated. You have the possibility to modify the percentages and the invoice subtypes.
Note:
(1) You can use the Calculate Dates button, if you want to modify the date of the initial milestone, in order to recalculate the other dates according to the calculation you have set up when creating the milestones.
(2) The Reset button allows you to return to the basic calculation.
6. Click the Confirm button when you have completed your changes.
7. Then you can see your invoices in the related list Invoices.
Warning: If they do not appear right away, it is a cache problem. Please open the related list in this case to ensure that the invoices are created.
Generating a billing schedule from a quotation
From a quotation, you can also use the schedule template with its milestones to generate a schedule. Please read these articles first:
Here are the steps to generate a schedule from the quotation.
Steps
1. Go to the Quotations tab.
2. Open the concerned quotation.
3. Click on the Billing milestones button.
4. Then select a schedule template that you have previously created ( > Schedules - Use cases & set up of schedule templates ).
5. The invoice dates are calculated. You have the possibility to modify the percentages and the invoice subtypes.
Note:
(1) You can use the Calculate Dates button, if you want to modify the date of the initial milestone, in order to recalculate the other dates according to the calculation you have set up when creating the milestones.
(2) The Reset button allows you to return to the basic calculation.
6. Click the Confirm button when you have completed your changes.
7. Then you can see your invoices in the related list Invoices.
Warning: If they do not appear right away, it is a cache problem. Please open the related list in this case to ensure that the invoices are created.
Beware of false friends!
The Detailed Invoice also allows you to create multiple invoices from one quotation/ opportunity. Contrary to a billing schedule,
the detailed invoice is not standardized,
there are no milestones indicating the distribution of the amount of the quotation/ opportunity.
You can use the detailed invoice when you need to adapt to the specific needs of a single customer on an invoice.