Set up billing settings

You don't decide invoice by invoice. A set of billing settings answers one question once: when something is sold, what should Qcom invoice for it, and on what terms? Then your Catalog points at it.

Two places write a set, and they produce the same thing:

• Where you use it. On a Catalog type, category or item, Set up new billing settings writes a set, publishes it and uses it in one Save.
• Where you manage them. Open Invoices, then Settings, then the Billing settings tab. This is where versions live and where a published set gets replaced.

What a set carries

When it applies — tick every moment that should raise an invoice:

• When someone raises one by hand
• When an order is completed
• When an appointment is booked
• Every renewal
• When an application is approved

Two more are greyed out, *When a quote is accepted* and *When a job is finished*. Those parts of the product aren't built yet, and the screen says so rather than offering a moment that would never fire.

Days to pay — the terms on invoices this set raises. Empty means your invoice defaults.

Deposit — a share of the invoice asked for up front, as a percentage. 25 for a quarter.

Tax rate — a percentage, added to each line unless the line says otherwise.

Notes on the invoice — text for this kind of work, instead of the note that goes on everything.

Three switches:

• Let people raise one by hand — turn off when only automation should invoice these items.
• Let an item use different settings — turn off to hold every item of a type to this set. Categories and items under that type then can't choose another set or turn invoicing off.
• Send for approval before issuing — someone other than the writer has to agree.

Versions

A set has versions, and only a published version is in force. On the Catalog, Save and use publishes the first version for you. On the Invoices page, a set starts as a draft and Publish is a separate step.

A published version can't be edited. Every invoice records the version it was raised under, so an invoice can always be traced back to the settings in force at the time. To change something, Start a new version, edit the draft, and publish it.

Invoices already raised keep the version they were raised under. The new version applies to what is invoiced from then on.

Where a set is used

Settings do nothing until something uses them. Three places, and the most specific one wins:

• A Catalog type — Catalog settings, the type, Billing and invoicing. Every item of that type follows it.
• A category — the category's settings, Billing and invoicing. Items in the category follow the category instead of the type.
• One item — the item's Billing tab. It can follow its type or category, use different settings, or not be invoiced at all.

See Choose billing settings for an item.

When something isn't invoiced

The first two account for most of it.

Nothing uses the set. It exists, and no type, category or item points at it.

The moment wasn't ticked. A set that invoices when an order completes raises nothing when an appointment is booked.

The set is switched off. Switching a set off stops every type, category and item using it, and nothing tells you which ones stopped. Check what points at a set before you switch it off.

The item is set to not be invoiced. An item can opt out, and that beats its category and its type.

Related

• Choose billing settings for an item
• Set up Catalog type settings
• About invoices
• Write and send an invoice