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AUTOMATION
Creating instalment invoices automatically: how does it work?
Instalment invoices are easy to automate. In the quote you set the instalments you invoice in, and each instalment gets its own trigger.
What a partial invoice is.
A partial invoice is an invoice for part of a job that isn’t finished yet. You may also know it as an instalment invoice, deposit or advance invoice. The set-up is always the same: one job, several invoices, together one hundred percent of the agreed amount.
There are two reasons to invoice this way. On an eight-week project, you don’t want to wait eight weeks for your money. And with a deposit, you don’t start work that nothing has been paid for yet.
Where it goes wrong by hand.
- It doesn’t add up. Three instalments of 33 percent make 99 percent. With rounding per line it drifts further apart, and then a remaining amount is left that nobody sees.
- An instalment gets skipped. The second instalment belongs to the start of the work. If the work starts two weeks later, that invoice shifts along in someone’s head. Sometimes it slips out.
- The customer can’t follow it. Separate invoices without a reference to the job raise questions. Every question delays payment.
How to automate it.
The principle: the instalment schedule belongs to the quote, not the invoice. As soon as the customer agrees, what gets invoiced when is fixed.
1. The schedule is in the quote. Fixed percentages, fixed amounts or per phase: it doesn’t matter, as long as it’s recorded with the job and not in a separate file.
2. Every instalment has a trigger. An instalment belongs to an event: the approval, the start of the work, a completed phase or final delivery. That’s the difference from a subscription, where the calendar decides.
3. Each trigger has a draft invoice ready. With the instalment amount, the VAT rate of the original lines and a reference to the quote. Someone checks it and sends it.
4. The last instalment balances to the cent. Don’t calculate the last instalment as a percentage, but as the difference between the agreed total and what has already been invoiced. Then it always adds up to one hundred percent, even after rounding.
And extra work? Extra work doesn’t belong in the existing schedule. Put it on its own line or its own invoice. That keeps visible what was agreed and what was added along the way, and you want to be able to show that if a customer asks.
Does the schedule belong in your accounting package?
Usually not, and it doesn’t need to be. An accounting package knows what has been invoiced, not when the work starts or a phase is done. The schedule belongs with your quotes and projects; the accounts get the invoices that come out of it.
When it doesn’t pay off.
If you invoice in instalments a few times a year, a reminder in your calendar is enough. Automating becomes interesting when you have several ongoing jobs with instalments, or if you’ve forgotten an instalment before.
What TrompTech does here.
We build an instalment schedule that belongs to the quote and prepares an invoice by itself for each trigger as custom work, connected to wherever your planning or projects live. Custom work usually costs between €3,500 and €12,000, then €249 a month for management.
TrompTech Layer doesn’t have a schedule like that. There you create each instalment invoice yourself, and an invoice only goes to the customer once someone in your team has approved it. After that, Layer keeps track of the due date and proposes reminders. That’s in the Finance module, from the Core step: €895 a month. All amounts exclude VAT.
Custom software usually costs between €3,500 and €12,000, then €249 per month for maintenance, excluding VAT.