Sometimes I'll receive a partial or even full payment before I have a chance to invoice the client.
How can I set up my invoice so that payment is applied to the (future) invoice?
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10 comments
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Oranged Support You could set up a retainer for the client, and then apply the payment to the retainer. Then, when invoicing, Studiometry will automatically use the retainer amounts and also alert you that there are available retainer funds when editing an existing invoice on a client with a retainer.
Retainers can be added to a client in the Edit Client window's Retainer tab.
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Rob Sherrard - Imageer Studiometry will allow you to enter Payment(s) against a project which doesn't have an invoice. When an invoice is eventually created, Studiometry will pop up a notice that the client has extra funds available and give you the opportunity to apply the funds against the invoice. Your question is how to show those payments in the invoice.
I solved that by including a box at the bottom of my invoice with data rows to reflect payment information related to that invoice. The data row includes the variables <PaymentDate>, <PaymentMethod>, <PaymentOtherField1> and <PaymentAmount> and below that is a summary variable <InvoiceAmountReceived> which totals the payments which have been received. The <PaymentOtherField1> content changes by the kind of payment - if a check, it's the check number, If by credit card it's the card type (MC, Visa, etc.). In my implementation, the box is big enough to hold 4 payments. It could be as large as you want - I didn't want to give up any more invoice space than that and it works for my small shop.
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Mark Gerber So retainers can be used to list a deposit towards a project, is that right?
For instance, if a client is paying in thirds, upon receipt of the first third I would enter that amount in the Retainer tab and repeat for the second payment. If I create the invoice prior to receipt of the final payment, the total retainer amount would be applied to that invoice and the amount due would be the final third.
To show these retainer payments on the invoice, would I use the variable <
InvoiceAmountPaidFromRetainer>? Do I understand all that correctly?
What I've been doing until now is entering payments as I receive them. When the project was finished, I created the invoice (Rob: is this when you see a notice pop up that says the client has extra funds available? I've never seen that.). I close the invoice window, open the payment window, and check this newly created invoice to apply the payment there. It's always seemed like a roundabout way to do things.
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Rob Sherrard - Imageer There are some subtle differences between applying funds to a Retainer as suggested by Oranged or recording a payment against a project which does not yet have an Invoice as I suggested.
I use a Retainer for clients who come with lots of small tasks and don't want the hassle of writing frequent checks. We set up the retainer and when such a job is processed, Studiometry automatically pays the invoice (unless you specifically modify it not to). A Retainer is specific to a Client not to a Project so that any Invoice created for that Client will automatically be paid regardless of the project it is related to. There is a Retainer window in the Client Info scene which displays the cash flows related to the Retainer. By default, payments made into the Retainer are tagged with "Payment for Client Name" but can be defined differently when the Payment is created. A current limitation for the Retainer window is that there is no print or export feature for the information contained there so while you can see the information, you can't transmit it to a client. I don't use the <InvoiceAmountPaidFromRetainer> variable, because the <PaymentMethod> variable describes where funds came from as Cash, Check, Credit Card, Retainer etc, and the <PaymentAmount> variable declares the value of the payment. <InvoiceAmountPaidFromRetainer> would reflect the aggregate of all payments made to date without identifying how many payments or what dates.
Entering a payment against a Project without an Invoice specifically marks the payment as being made against the Project which automatically declares the intent of the payment. As with the Retainer, Studiometry holds any Overpayments as relating to the Client not to a Project even though the payment was identified as being made for a specific project. When an Invoice is created for any project related to that Client, Studiometry will notify you that extra funds are available for that Client and ask if you want to apply it to the Invoice being created. With this method you get to say yes or no up front, where with the Retainer payment is automatic and you would have to go into the Payment window to edit the payment to not be taken from Retainer. The positive side of making a payment against a project is that the default entry tag for the payment identifies the project for which it was taken. The negative side is that other than the popup notification that extra funds are available, the only place where you actually can see the accounting of the overpayment is in the Client Statement where the overpayment is listed as Payment for Project XXXX and the client would have a positive balance.
The way my mind works, for your scenario the preferred method would be entering the payments in advance against the project for which they are earmarked because by default they are identified with the project name/number for which they were intended. Placing them in Retainer you would have to remember to make a specific change to the default Retainer tag to identify the Project for which the payment was being made. Of course, if you only have one project going for a client then it doesn't matter how the entries are tagged.
Using the Data Row format at the bottom of the invoice as I mentioned in my first post, the Payment Record box would show each partial payment with the date it was posted along with the check number, credit card type or other method of payment, with the total value of payments made to date.
If this word picture isn't clear, I would be willing to share my Invoice format so you could better visualize how a combined Invoice/Receipt data format might look.
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Mark Gerber Rob said: "...Studiometry holds any Overpayments as relating to the Client not to a Project even though the payment was identified as being made for a specific project. When an Invoice is created for any project related to that Client, Studiometry will notify you that extra funds are available for that Client and ask if you want to apply it to the Invoice being created."
This is where I'm losing you. I've attached a screenshot showing a payment entered and credited to Test Project 01. When I click Add Invoices, I see the Edit Invoice window but no alert that there are extra funds nor is there a chance to apply those funds to this invoice.
At this point I click OK, then go to the Payments tab where this invoice will appear and check it off. Then I'm back to the invoice window to generate it again to show the applied payment. So I think I'm missing something in my process to make it work as it does for you.
And thanks for the detailed explanation. I like how you've added the data rows in your invoice to show more detail about the payments. I think I'll follow that example.
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Rob Sherrard - Imageer With respect to your screenshot, I see that no work item has been created for your test project. I think you may find that creating a work item with a value, will then allow the overpayment to be applied against that work item when starting the invoice.
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Rob Sherrard - Imageer What I see on starting to create an Invoice on a project which has overpayments…
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Mark Gerber Hm. I've never seen that dialog box (and, wow, that's a convoluted sentence!). Perhaps a Windows v Mac issue or I'm still not following the right process?
I added a work item based on a fee, rather than hourly work. Now, in the invoice window, the work item is listed and checked but still no notice that funds are available to apply to this invoice.
I use the following variables in the invoice: InvoiceTotalDue (to show the full amount due) and AmountReceived (where the payment is applied, but only going through the extended process listed above), though I don't know why that would make any difference here.
Is a puzzlement.
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Rob Sherrard - Imageer I suppose it could be Windows vs Mac but from what I've observed, for this kind of functionality the different OS play about the same. It's where calls to outside programs like calendars, or pdf generators, that the different OS issues seem to show up.
Whether the item is hourly or expense, as long as the item mode is Billable, it should work.
The screenshot with the convoluted explanation shows up as soon as I choose Add Invoice, before the Edit Invoice scene captured in your Payment not applied to new invoice-02 screenshot.
Maybe someone at Oranged can offer an interpretation of why your result is different from mine.
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Mark Gerber An aHa! moment:
In Preferences>Billing Settings>Advanced Billing Settings (button at the bottom of the window) there is an item that must be checked to see the alert Rob has been describing (Check for surplus payments when editing Invoices). Check that, problem solved, the world is spinning in greased grooves.
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