Billing periods and invoices
The billing calendar the job runs on, and the subcontractor invoices billed inside it
A billing period is the month everything else is keyed to. Exactly one is open at a time, and closing it locks every invoice and pay application inside it. Subcontractor invoices are what your trades bill you for that month.
Open Billing Periods and Invoices in the LEDGER rail.
Both are gated by the Invoicing tool, which defaults to NONE on every seed role except Project Manager.
Billing periods
Open a period
Nothing opens a period for you. There is no scheduler, deliberately: a period that opens itself at midnight is a period nobody is accountable for.
- Open Billing Periods.
- Open a new period, either with dates you supply or from the project's billing settings.
A new period's start date must be after the previous period's end. Period numbers come from a counter that never reuses a number, so a gap in the sequence is correct rather than a missing record.
Opening a period needs Invoicing STANDARD.
Billing settings
| Setting | Options |
|---|---|
| Recurrence | Opened by hand or Monthly |
| Start day of month | 1 to 31 |
| End day of month | 1 to 31 |
| Due day of month | 1 to 31 |
| Due month offset | The same month, or the month following |
Days past the end of a short month are clamped to that month's last day, so a due day of 31 lands on 28 or 29 in February.
If the configured end day is not after the start day, the end rolls into the following month, which is how a 26th-to-25th cycle works.
On Opened by hand with no dates supplied, opening is refused rather than having dates invented for it.
Changing settings needs Invoicing ADMIN.
Close a period
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Open | Invoices in it can be entered and changed |
| Closed | Everything in it is locked |
Closing needs Invoicing ADMIN. The register counts both directions before it asks you to confirm, because closing locks the subcontractor invoices and the owner pay applications in that month, and reports the two kinds separately.
Reopen puts a period back to Open. It works only on the most recent period, and only when no other period holds the open cursor. The row says so rather than offering a control the server would refuse.
Neither status is terminal, so a period can be closed and reopened as often as the month needs.
If a period's row cannot be read at all, invoices in it are treated as locked rather than as unlocked. The refusal says so.
Subcontractor invoices
One row per invoice: what was billed, what is being held, and what is due. Every figure comes back computed by the server, so the register cannot disagree with the invoice it links to.
Create an invoice
- Open Invoices.
- Create one against a commitment, inside the open billing period.
- The lines come from the commitment's schedule of values. For each line, enter the work completed this period and any materials stored.
The previously-billed figures are carried forward from the last counted invoice on that commitment and are written by the system, not by you.
Creating and editing invoices needs Invoicing STANDARD plus the submit permission.
What each column means
| Column | What it holds |
|---|---|
| Scheduled value | The commitment line's value |
| Previous | Work completed on earlier invoices |
| This period | Work completed now |
| Materials stored | Material on hand and not yet installed |
| Total completed and stored | Previous plus this period plus materials |
| Balance to finish | Scheduled value less total completed and stored |
| Retainage | See Retainage |
| Total earned less retainage | Total completed and stored less retainage held |
| Current payment due | Total earned less retainage, less previous payments |
Percent complete is truncated, not rounded, so a line at 99.996% never reads 100% beside a non-zero balance.
Lifecycle
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Draft | Being entered |
| Under Review | Submitted for review |
| Revise and Resubmit | Sent back |
| Approved | Terminal |
| Approved as Noted | Approved at a different amount |
| Pending Owner Approval | Passed on for the owner's decision |
| Voided | Terminal |
| Action | From | To | Needs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Submit | Draft | Under Review | STANDARD |
| Request revision | Under Review | Revise and Resubmit | STANDARD |
| Return to draft | Revise and Resubmit | Draft | STANDARD |
| Approve | Under Review | Approved | ADMIN |
| Approve as noted | Under Review | Approved as Noted | ADMIN |
| Send for owner approval | Approved as Noted | Pending Owner Approval | ADMIN |
| Void draft | Draft | Voided | STANDARD |
When an invoice locks
Two separate locks, and only one of them ever unlocks.
Approval freezes the invoice. Approved, Approved as Noted and Pending Owner Approval are all frozen. The refusal says what to do:
This invoice has been approved and cannot be changed. Record a correction as a new invoice.
There is no un-approve and no delete route. A correction is a new invoice that points at the one it supersedes.
A closed billing period locks everything inside it. That one does unlock: reopen the period, which needs Invoicing ADMIN.
This invoice is in a closed billing period and cannot be changed. Reopen the period first.
Only a Draft can be voided. Once submitted, an invoice moves forward or comes back for revision, but it does not disappear.
A word about stored materials
On the subcontractor side, each period rolls forward as previous work plus this period plus the materials that were stored, and the new period starts with materials stored at zero. That means material still sitting in the yard has to be re-declared as new stored material, and if you do that, the line's total completed and stored counts the same physical material twice and accrues materials retainage on it a second time.
Bill material as installed work in the period it is installed. The owner side handles a standing stored-material balance differently, on purpose. See Pay applications.
Limits
| Limit | Value |
|---|---|
| Lines per invoice | 500 |
| Review note length | 2,000 characters |
| Invoice and period label length | 40 characters |
Troubleshooting
Opening a period is refused. Another period is already open, or the start date is not after the previous period's end. Close the open one first.
Reopen is not offered on a period. It is not the most recent one. Only the latest period can be reopened.
An invoice will not save. Either it is approved, in which case record a new invoice, or its billing period is closed, in which case reopen the period.
A commitment or period name shows as unreadable on the register. The join to that register failed, or you lack permission for it. The cell says so rather than rendering blank, which would read as "no commitment".