In the ems order management it is possible to store a payment plan or recurring invoices.
To store a payment plan, click on the “Plus icon” in the “Billing” tab in the sales order.
In the following dialog you can make all settings for the payment plan.
General settings
In the upper area, select the type of invoices to be created and the repetition frequency.
If the Start Date (First Execution) is left blank, this will be set to Today. The end date to Today + 3 years.
The option “Delete existing entries” causes existing entries that have not yet been created to be deleted.
Options for the invoice to be created:
| Do not create an invoice | No invoice is created automatically by the system. The invoice must be created manually and then assigned to the payment plan. This function is used to create, for example, manual act account invoices. |
| Create invoice for further processing | The invoice is created automatically by the system. However, the invoice is not closed and can be changed by the user afterwards. Closing, printing or sending must be done manually as with normal invoices. |
| Create invoice and start approval workflow | The invoice is created automatically by the system but not closed. A release workflow is then automatically started to obtain approval from the relevant superiors. |
| Create and close invoice | The invoice is created and closed automatically by the system. The invoice cannot be changed afterwards. However, printing or sending the invoice must be done manually by the user. |
| Create invoice and send by email | The invoice is created and closed automatically by the system. The generated invoice is then automatically sent to the customer by email. The shipment will be made to the email address specified in the customer contract (does not necessarily have to be identical with the customer address). |
Settings for the creation of the invoice
There are several ways to generate the invoice.
If you already have an existing invoice, you can select the “Copy item from template” option and then enter an invoice number. The second option “Take over only items” determines that the header data is taken over from the order, even if the invoice would be for another customer, for example.
This is useful for payments on account, which can be used across customers.
As a further option you have the possibility to take over service positions, time recording as well as material. This can be limited to a period of time for example 3 months backwards. The time period is always taken into account from the execution date.
In the different order text and in all group names, you can use the following dynamic text marks.
| Bookmark | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|
| {Month_Year} | Month and year related to the invoice date | March 2022 |
| {Month_Year+1} | Month and year related to the invoice date added with one month. | April 2022 |
| {Month_Year-1} | Month and year related to the invoice date subtracted by one month. | February 2022 |
| {Month_Year+4} | Month and year related to the invoice date added with four months. | June 2022 |
| {Month_Year-3} | Month and year related to the calculation date subtracted with three months. | January 2022 |
| {Month_Year-4} | Month and year related to the calculation date subtracted with four months. | December 2021 |
Example 1 for quarterly invoicing of services:
Invoicing on April 5, 2022, with group text “Our services from {Month_Year-4} to {Month_Year-1} results in the following group text in the generated invoice “Our services from January 2022 to April 2022. (For this, the option “3 month(s) backwards” must still be selected).
Example 2 for monthly billing of subscriptions:
Billing on March 31, 2022, with group text “Subscriptions for {Month_Year+1}” results in the following group text in the generated invoice “Subscriptions for April 2022”. (This still requires selecting the “1 month(s) forward” option and inserting the subscriptions as service items).