Set Up Installments
You can set up installment schedules and invoices multiple ways. Before you can do installment invoicing, you must have at least one invoice template set up and add the invoice template as the installment template on a contract template. Then go to the Settings > System Configurations > Finance - Invoicing to set up how you want your installments to work.
The first configuration you should set is Round Installment Schedule Amounts. We recommend you round installments to keep things simple. The system will round all but the last installment to the nearest dollar. Any amount that is left over will go to the final installment, which will mean the final installment may be different from the rest. You can have the system not round your installment if you want each amount to be the same, but you may need to adjust your installment schedule manually to make the numbers match up.
When Round Installment Schedule Amount is set to yes, each installment is rounded to the nearest dollar, and the first six installments are the same. The final installment is for $3 less than the other installments.
When Round Installment Schedule Amount is set to no, for the same number of installments, it creates an even schedule. However, we need to add a penny to one of the installments to save the schedule.
Now you should choose if you want to enforce Installment Restrictions. You can prevent a user from creating an installment plan for any order that is below a set price threshold and prevents an installment amount that is below a threshold. For example, if you don’t want your team creating an installment invoice for an order below 1000, set the Installment Minimum Amount to 1000. If you can make an installment for an order below 1000, but each installment must be over 100, then set the Installment Schedule Minimum Amount to 100.
You need to enable Restrict Installments by going to the Settings > System Configurations > Finance - Invoices. and then set an order and line item minimum.
Note
You won’t be able to save an installment schedule on an order below your minimum amounts.
WIth your restrictions and rounding set, now you need to choose how you want the system to break up the line items on your installment. The system can either evenly distribute the line items over the installment period or can break up the line items by date. For example, let's say you have an order for an item in September, October, November, and December; each item is for $1,000. You create an 8-month installment plan for $500 each month. If you choose distributed, the first installment will pay off a little bit ($125) of each item on the order. If you choose date order, the first installment will pay off $500 from the earliest item, which in this case is in September. We recommend date order because it allows more flexibility if you need to change anything in the future and makes payments and commission easier to manage. You can choose to show all line items on your invoice template even if you use date order.
Date order shows an installment invoice with a single line item and the September item will be fully paid off first. You can update your invoice settings if you want to show all line items on an invoice even if it is date ordered.
Distributed shows an installment invoice with all of the line items and each invoice will pay off part of each line item. In this case, your September item won’t be fully paid off until April of next year.
The last item you will need to set up is Installment Invoice Generation Method. You can set them up manually or have the system automatically create your installments in one of two ways, when the order is finance approved, or based on the installment schedule. The system will create all of your installment invoices on the date the order is financed approved. If you choose the have the installments created based on the date, the system will create the installments on the schedule date.
When Automatically when Order Is Financed Approved setting is enabled, the system will create all installment invoices when the order is 100% confirmed.
When the Automatically on Schedule Invoice Date is enabled, the system will create the installment on the day of the invoice schedule. For example, if you schedule your installments for the first of each month, the system will create the invoices on the 1st. A user can manually create invoices before the date if he or she wants.
Manually requires a user to go to the quick add + button at the top of the page, then choose Add Installment Invoice to create each installment invoice manually. The system will use the invoice template you associated with the order contract template. You can also use this page to update the scheduled date and amount for any installment that hasn’t been invoiced.
Create Installment Invoices
You can create your scheduled installments by going to Billing > Invoices, the choosing Create Invoice, and Create Installment Invoice. You can also navigate to this page by using the + icon in the top menu and selecting Add Installment Invoice. The only items that will show up on the page are line items on an installment schedule that haven’t been automatically invoiced.
To use this page, you should have your installment invoice generation method set to Manually.
The dates you set as the invoice date on the installment will be the scheduled date. When you create installment invoices, you can look for orders by the company, rep, order number, or by the scheduled date range.
You can then select the invoices you wish to create. After you create the invoices you will be redirected to the invoice page to see a list of your new invoice(s).
Create Installments on 100% Orders
You can set up installment billing for orders after they are fully approved. You can’t create installments for the order if any line item has been invoiced. You must also have an installment invoice associated with the Contract Template.
You must have the permission to allow Post-Approval Installment Billing. The permission is under the Sales tab of the user configuration page.
Once you have the permission, you will see a new action icon in the next to your orders.
When you click on the Icon, you can setup your installment schedule. You must check ‘Create Installment Invoices’ when you save the schedule to create the invoices.
Your new invoices will now be on your order. If you don’t have an invoice template associated with your contract template, you will see a warning.
Change the Date of an Installment Schedule
You can change and update the date of a scheduled installment if you are using Manual Installment Creation.
On the Create Installment Invoice page, you can update the date of the schedule before you create any new invoices.
Go to the Create Installment Invoices page. Use the Pencil icon to edit the date. Click on Save Schedule at the bottom of the window.
Once created, the invoice will now have the new invoice date.