Invoicing: by phase or percentage? - D-Tools Forum

Dingo Dog · 05-20-2007, 03:05 AM

I know that D-tools allows you to create a sales order by phase filtering- this seems straightforward enough. What I can't figure out is how to do do the invoicing based on a percentage (like is spelled out in the contract). Is this possible (or smart?).

05-20-2007, 02:25 PM

You can create the sales order for the entire phase or project, and then in QuickLinks send over an estimate for the entire project. Once you are in QB, then you can use their progress invoicing (which is only available from an estimate) feature to break down the invoice by percentage rates.

That way you have what you need transferred over to QB for the entire project, and then you are using your accounting program to manage the receivables portion of your company.

Dingo Dog · 05-20-2007, 03:15 PM

I have never used that feature of QB before. Is it as foolproof as creating sales orders by phase? I know that D-tools keeps you from goofing and putting the same item into two different sales orders-does QB? I have a colleague in business in the same market as I. He invoices straight out of QB and I have seen him make huge mistakes where he has billed twice for the same item- is that easy to do when using the method you describe? I suppose I just need to play with it and see.

05-21-2007, 05:02 AM

When you create a sales order and then use that to push over a po/estimate/invoice, dtools will not let you push over the same info twice. Therefore, it makes it pretty difficult for you to invoice for the same item twice. For example, if you create a sales order for the rough-in phase, and then go into quicklinks and push over a po for only some items in that sales order, the next time you go into dtools and go to generate a po for the remaining items, you will only be able to push over a po for the remaining items in the sales order. You will only be able to see the items that haven't been pushed over. A nice safeguard so that you don't double order/bill.

On the other hand, if it's a large project, pushing over the entire sales order can create extra work for you if the project changes during its lifecycle.

Another option is to create the sales order for the necessary phase of the project as needed and use your contract percentages as guidelines. And begin submitting a 'Request for Payment'. This can be a document that you create in word that has your logo and other company information on it along with any other necessary information. The project that you have created provides you with a nice proposal report that can essentially replace an invoice (*only for the customer does this happen, in the sense that everything is spelled out for the customer in a detailed format and in a way that they can visualize the entire project from the proposal report). And if you go and create an invoice that you show to the customer that comes from QB from D-Tools, this can often be used as a shopping list since it has the model number and description and price nicely grouped together (depending on how you have your QB file set up of course).

Once you receive payment from the customer, then you can create an invoice/estimate in Quicklinks, transfer it over, and use that to receive the payment, monitor your inventory, etc. The customer doesn't ever see the invoice that is generated in QB, but they don't really need to if your proposal report is solid.

Reed Phillips · 05-21-2007, 12:37 PM

Originally Posted by Dingo Dog

I have never used that feature of QB before. Is it as foolproof as creating sales orders by phase? I know that D-tools keeps you from goofing and putting the same item into two different sales orders-does QB? I have a colleague in business in the same market as I. He invoices straight out of QB and I have seen him make huge mistakes where he has billed twice for the same item- is that easy to do when using the method you describe? I suppose I just need to play with it and see.

You are correct. QB will NOT protect you from yourself. It does not keep up with what parts of an estimate or sales order have been ordered or invoiced. You have to be extreemly careful unless you have a process that is more granular as described by Heather. I also doubt that you really want to send a percentage invoice to a client for 20% of a receiver, which is what happens when you create an extimate by pushing data from SI. My guess is that you would prefer to invoice based on a % of the project summary and track the details separately. Send me a private message including your email address and I will forward you a flowchart that may be useful. It is a work in progress or otherwise I would post it to the forum.

-reed

avzone · 05-21-2007, 01:09 PM

Originally Posted by Reed Phillips

You are correct. QB will NOT protect you from yourself. It does not keep up with what parts of an estimate or sales order have been ordered or invoiced. You have to be extreemly careful unless you have a process that is more granular as described by Heather. I also doubt that you really want to send a percentage invoice to a client for 20% of a receiver, which is what happens when you create an extimate by pushing data from SI. My guess is that you would prefer to invoice based on a % of the project summary and track the details separately. Send me a private message including your email address and I will forward you a flowchart that may be useful. It is a work in progress or otherwise I would post it to the forum.

-reed

Reed, is this the one Kevin is working on or one DT created?

Reed Phillips · 05-21-2007, 07:04 PM

I created this one... It was given the thumbs up by a couple of accountants and is designed to take advantage of SI5's improved change management features. It is a work in progress, so it may not be as complete as Kevin's.

-reed

05-24-2007, 10:36 PM

Hi Reed, I've been reading the post and wondered if you might forward me a copy of the chart you have mentioned as well. We've been going back and forth on our proposal, purchasing, invoicing, and fulfillment processes. Also, we've trying to decide between using Quicklinks or Tigerpaw. I'd love to see the flowchart that you've put together. Maybe it will shed some light for us.

Thanks.

Ryan

Enhanced Living Systems, LLC
info@enhancedlivingsystems.com

**Dave Kirn** · 05-25-2007, 03:41 PM

Same here. I am working on our processes and would love to see your flow chart.

dkirn@matronex.com

05-25-2007, 04:02 PM

Here's a link to a flowchart that is related to SI4 that some of you may find helpful.

http://www.processdsg.com/forum/showthread.php?t=34