Create & Edit Templates

Create and Edit Invoice Templates to mitigate valuable admin time when billing for work. It is important to note that a lot of these settings will be consistent across different modules. 

Using this guide, you can understand each part of an Invoice Template:

• Title & Field Defaults
• Services
• Projects
• Tickets
• Retainers
• Materials & Expenses
• Work Detail
• Defaults & Email Template

Title, Term & Field Defaults

The first step in creating an Invoice Template is managing the overall details. Below is an image for a template with the title of "Demo Invoice Template". 

1. Template Title: The internal name of your Invoice Template.
   

2. Invoice Owner: This is to set a Default for who owns the Invoice. It can be set to be the Invoice Creator, the Manager of the Work, or Specific User Defined. For the first two options, you can also specify a User to fall back to, which is especially helpful for Automated or Bulk Invoices.

3. Custom Invoice Fields: You can have Custom Fields on an invoice automatically show up on the top of the Invoice (upon creation).

Services

When you create Invoice Templates, you can choose the different settings for each Billable Object (Projects, Tickets, Retainers). This allows you to have general Templates such as "Invoice for all Approved Work", "Invoice for Budget", "Invoice for Remaining Work". 

Projects

1. Line Item Settings - What are you invoicing for?
   A) - Work Done. Choose this option if you wish to invoice and provide detail on the activities/time logged against the Project.
   B) - Remaining/Percentage Budget. Choose one of these options if you have a set price that you invoice a Project for. Useful for Projects which are paid for with a deposit, and then the rest of the budget invoiced when completed.
2. Invoice Detail - What parts of the Project Plan would you like to have visible on the invoice?
   - Project: Only have one line item on the invoice for the entire Project.
   - Milestones: Only include Milestones and not Tasks.
   - Milestones & Tasks: Include all Milestones and Tasks.
   
3. A) - Work Status - Do you only want to invoice for Activities that have been Approved?
   - All: Invoice for All Activities.
   - Approved Only: Only invoice for Approved Work
   B) - Mark as Invoiced - How do you want to handle the Activities currently logged on the Project, if you're invoicing based on the budget only?
   - All: Invoice for All Activities.
   - Approved Only: Only invoice for Approved Work
   - None: Do not consider activities logged.
4. Logged Before - What is the timeline on the work you want to bill for?
   - First of month: Activities logged before the First of the Month.
   - Today: Activities logged before Today (the date the invoice is created).
   - All: All Activities.
5. Default Service Item - Search the Default Service Code or Title to add a Service Item to this Template.
6. A) - Itemize Line Items - Group your line items by Staff, Rate, or None.
   B) - This section isn't used because there are no line items included when you're billing for the Budget.
7. Customer Invoices - Do you want to include work detail?

Tickets

1. Line Item Settings - What are you invoicing for?
   A) - Work Done. Choose this option if you wish to invoice and provide detail on the activities/time logged against the Project.
   B) - Remaining/Percentage Budget. Choose one of these options if you have a set price that you invoice a Project for. Useful for Projects which are paid for with a deposit, and then the rest of the budget invoiced when completed.
2. A) - Work Status - Do you only want to invoice for Activities that have been Approved?
   - All: Invoice for All Activities.
   - Approved Only: Only invoice for Approved Work
   B) - Mark as Invoiced - How do you want to handle the Activities currently logged on the Project, if you're invoicing based on the budget only?
   - All: Invoice for All Activities.
   - Approved Only: Only invoice for Approved Work
   - None: Do not consider activities logged.
3. Logged Before - What is the timeline on the work you want to bill for?
   - First of month: Activities logged before the First of the Month.
   - Today: Activities logged before Today (the date the invoice is created).
   - All: All Activities.
4. Default Service Item - Search the Default Service Code or Title to add a Service Item to this Template.
5. Service Detail: You can choose to display between just your Ticket Subject/Title, or your Ticket Subject with your Resolution Notes & Description. 
6. A) - Itemize Line Items - Group your line items by Staff, Rate, or None.
   B) - This section isn't used because there are no line items included when you're billing for the Budget.
7. Customer Invoice - Do you want to include work detail?

Retainers

1. Logged Before - What is the timeline on the work you want to bill for?
   - First of month: Activities logged before the First of the Month.
   - Today: Activities logged before Today (the date the invoice is created).
   - All: All Activities.
2. Work Status (Post-paid Retainer Periods) - Do you only want to invoice for Activities that have been Approved? This applies only to post-paid periods.
   - All: Invoice for All Activities.
   - Approved Only: Only invoice for Approved Work.
   - None: Do not consider activities logged.
3. Include Excess (Pre-paid Retainer Periods) - Do you want to invoice for excess work logged against a pre-paid period?
4. Default Service Item - Search the Default Service Code or Title to add a Service Item to this Template.
5. Open Retainer Periods Only - Do you want to only invoice for open retainer periods?
6. Customer Invoices - Do you want to include work detail?

Materials & Expenses

Within the Billable Objects you are invoicing for, you have two types of additional costs that might be passed onto the client Materials and Expenses. Through the invoice template, you can choose whether or not to include them on your invoices.  

• Including Materials: You will be selecting the default item code for Materials added ad-hoc (ones that don't exist on your Material List). 
• Including Expenses: You can choose to include all expenses, or only those that have been approved.

Work Detail

In some industries, Clients request that you include how the time they are paying for was spent. Since you are invoicing out of where you manage your Client Work, you can easily set this up.

If invoicing for % of Budget:

1. Show: Which Activities to show based on date ranges: Last month, Last week, Before first of month, Before today, or All.
2. Status: Approved Activities, All Uninvoiced Activities, or All Activities.

Defaults & Email Template

Now that we're done defining how to invoice your work, it's time to define the Invoice for yourself. The Defaults & Email Template section of your Invoicing Template allows you to define what information you'll be presenting the Client, the information you'll be defining internally, and the length of time a Client has to pay their invoice. We'll break down each piece here:

1. Default Invoice Title: This will be the default name for your invoices being created. 
2. Default Term: This is the length of time they have to pay your invoice after it's created. So 14 days would give them 2 weeks to pay your invoice when you first create it.
3. Merge Fields: These are the available merge fields to use in the Title, Subject, & Body of your Email template. More details and breakdown into the merge fields here. 
4. Default Customer Notes: These are notes that display on the Invoice and to your Client. We will also push these into your accounting system if your integrations allow this field.
5. Default Internal Notes: These are notes that display on the Invoice only internally within Accelo. 
6. Email Subject & Body: This is the email which will automatically send out to your Clients for auto invoicing, and for your Create & Send confirmations when creating an Invoice. The rich text and html editing allows for more aesthetic creativity than what is allowed in regular activities sent from Accelo. 

Once you have completed the template, click Create if you're done, or Create & Configure PDF to customize the default template of your PDF.