Using an Invoice Batch

Overview

Invoice batches are a holding area between creating your invoices and sending them to your customers. They give you a chance to review invoices for accuracy before delivery. Use invoice batches to group, review, edit, and send invoices in bulk from the Invoicing module. Watch the following video or keep reading to learn more!

Video

Things to know

Create Invoice batches from the Invoicing Assistant using invoices in a Ready status. For more details on preparing invoices, visit the Invoicing Assistant article.
Do not make price adjustments at the invoice batch level, except for T&M invoices. All other invoice types should be adjusted through change orders.
Important
Changing prices manually at this stage will impact your end-of-month numbers.
Deleting a batch or removing an invoice from a batch doesn't delete the invoices themselves. They return to the Invoicing Assistant to be invoiced later.
When you print invoices from pending batches marked “Not Complete”, the reports include a Draft watermark.

Requirements

To access the invoicing assistant, you need View Invoice added to your user role.
To generate invoices, you’ll need Create Invoice added to your user role.
To completed invoice batches, you’ll need Edit Invoice added to your user role.
To delete invoices you’ll need Delete Invoice added to your user role. This also requires both View and Edit Invoice permissions.

Steps

Creating an invoice batch

Go to Invoicing > Invoicing Assistant.
Identify the invoices in Ready status that you want to batch. For more information on how to structure lists in modules, read the Organizing your Lists article.
Select Bulk Actions in the upper right corner of the screen.
Select Generate Invoice.
In the window that opens, confirm the invoice date.
Select Save, and one invoice will generate per property for all items you selected. For example, if you selected five items across two properties, the invoice batch will have two invoices in it.
Note:
If a property has the Separate Invoices box checked, an invoice is created for each of the items you selected in the Invoicing Assistant for that property.

Now, you can visit the Invoice Batches tab. The new batch displays with the date it was created, who created it, and a completion status of Not Complete.

Reviewing and editing invoices in a batch

Go to Invoicing > Invoice Batches.
Select a batch to open it.

Tip
Use the search, filter, display, sort, and group list tools to find specific invoices.

Select an invoice to open it.
Make any needed changes, such as updating the billing contact, invoice notes, or payment terms.
Select Save in the upper right area of the screen.
Select the browser's back button to return to the batch.

Important
Don't adjust prices at this stage unless the invoice is T&M. For all other invoice types, use change orders to adjust pricing. Manually changing prices here will impact your end-of-month numbers.

Removing invoices from a batch

Follow these steps to remove one or more invoices from a batch without deleting the entire batch:

Go to Invoicing > Invoice Batches and select the batch.
Select the checkbox next to each invoice you want to remove.
Select Bulk Actions.
Select Delete Selected Invoices.

The removed invoices return to the Invoicing Assistant and can be invoiced later.

Invoice batch overview showing selected items and bulk action options to delete the selected invoices.

Deleting an entire batch

Go to Invoicing > Invoice Batches and select the batch.
Select the three-dot icon to open the action menu.
Select the Delete Batch option.

All invoices in the batch return to the Invoicing Assistant. The batch number refreshes to the next available number.

Invoice batch screen showing the option to delete the entire batch.

Printing invoices from a batch

You can print invoices before completing a batch to review them. Follow these steps:

Go to Invoicing > Invoice Batches and select the batch.
Select the three-dot icon to open the action menu.
Select one of the following options:
1. Print All Invoices Include Paperless — prints all invoices in the batch, including those marked as paperless.
2. Print All Invoices Exclude Paperless — prints only invoices that aren't marked as paperless.

Note
Invoices printed from pending batches marked “Not Complete”, batch display a Draft watermark.

Invoice batch screen showing the print invoice options.

Completing a batch and sending invoices

Go to Invoicing > Invoice Batches and select the batch you want to complete.
Select the three dot icon, and then Complete Batch.
Select Confirm in the window that displays.

Invoice batch management interface showing confirmation dialog for completing a batch.

If any invoices in the batch have contacts set as “Invoice Email” contacts on the property, the email invoice screen displays. From this screen you can configure the following delivery options:

Email message — This displays the invoice email message configured in your company or branch administration settings. You can edit the message before sending.
Attach Layout — Select the invoice layout that applies to this batch from the dropdown.
Include Proposal — This option is only available when emailing a single invoice. Selecting this checkbox attaches the original proposal from the Opportunity so your customer can compare what was bid with what was invoiced.
Add Attachment — Use this to attach additional files to the email. Attachments are sent with all selected invoices.
Invoice section — The section at the bottom shows all invoices and their assigned delivery contacts. Clear the checkbox next to any invoice you don't want to email at this time. You can still complete the batch without emailing every invoice.

Select Send.

Invoices are emailed to the assigned contacts. A print window opens for any invoices that don't have the Paperless Invoice option selected in property setup.

Tips

Review every invoice in a batch before completing it. Once a batch is completed, the invoices are delivered to your customers.
If you realize an invoice is missing from a batch, you can delete the entire batch, add the missing invoice to the Invoicing Assistant, and create a new batch that includes it.
Use the print options from the action menu to do a final review of your invoices before completing the batch.

Expected results

After completing a batch, the batch status changes to Complete and displays in the Invoice Batches tab with all other completed and pending batches. Emailed invoices are delivered to the contacts configured on each property. Invoices without the paperless option open in a print window for manual delivery.

Follow these steps to find completed or pending invoice batches:

Go to Invoicing > Invoice Batches.
Use the list tools at the top of the screen to search, filter, and sort batches by status (completed or pending), date, or creator.

Troubleshooting

I batched an invoice by mistake. What do I do?

This is an easy mistake to make when batching invoices in Ready status. Open the batch, select the checkbox next to the invoice, select Bulk Actions, and then select Delete Selected Invoices. The invoice will return to the Invoicing Assistant.

I have invoice prices that I need to correct after I’ve created a batch. How do I fix them?

This could happen if you don’t catch the pricing error before the invoice was generated into a batch. Don't adjust prices directly on the invoice in the batch (except for T&M). Instead, delete the batch, make the correction through a change order, and create a new batch. To learn more about this, read our Creating a Change Order article.