Create Invoices for a Project without Orders
The No Contract Billable project type allows for project billing within the system, without order details being specified. There are two methods of billing the project for this project type: Percent % Milestone, and T&M Task. Percent % Milestone billing lets you bill your project based on how complete your milestone is, whereas T&M Task billing determines invoice amounts based on the billing rate of the task, and how many hours have been recorded for that task. You can feel free to use a combination of both methods on a single project. The following document will outline how to set up your milestones and tasks for the different types of billing, as well as going through the process of creating invoices for the different billing types.
Note
When creating a new project that uses this project type, you are still able to associate an order with the project. However, you will still be required to use the Percent % Milestone and T&M Task billing methods, you will be unable to use other project billing methods such as Project % Complete. For more information about other methods of project billing, click here.
Set Up and Project Billing Tab
Set Up and Project Billing Tab Setting up Percent % Milestone Billing
Percent % Milestone Billing is a method of partially billing your projects based on the percentage complete your project milestones are at. The percent you can bill will depend on the tasks associated with that milestone. In order for a project milestone to be billed in this manner, the milestone must have a value entered in its ‘Billing Amount’ field.
You can enter a ‘Billing Amount’ for a milestone when adding or editing the milestone. If a value is entered in this field, the milestone and all associated tasks will be billed based on the milestone’s completion percentage. If there is no value entered, the tasks will be considered T&M items.
When a value is entered in the ‘Billing Amount’ field, then the milestone will be billed based on the percentage completion of the milestone. The Billing Amount will be a set amount for the milestone and all of its associated tasks.
For example, if your milestone’s Billing Amount is $1000, and you have one task tied to the milestone that is at 50% complete, then an invoice can be created for the milestone that is worth $500.
On all project tasks, there is the field ‘Billing Rate’. For any tasks associated with a milestone that has a Billing Amount entered, the Billing Rate on the task will be ignored. It is the Billing Amount on the task’s milestone that is relevant for its billing information.
If a value is not entered in the ‘Billing Amount’ field, any tasks associated with the milestone will be billed on a Time & Materials basis.
Note
Any tasks not tied to a milestone will also be considered T&M tasks.
Setting up Task T&M Billing
Any tasks that are either not associated with a milestone, or that are tied to a milestone that does not have a ‘Billing Amount’, are billed on a Time & Materials basis.
Task T&M Billing allows you to bill your project based on how many hours your team has worked on a task. The amount you can bill your client for is dependent on the Billing Rate of the task, and how many hours have been recorded by your users for that task.
When adding or editing the task, enter a value in the ‘Billing Rate’ field. The number entered here will be the hourly rate of the task.
Note
Tasks and their sub-tasks can have different billing rates.
Important
If a user with a position that has an hourly rate records hours for the task, the hourly rate set on the user position will override the rate set on the task level. Click here for more information about user positions.
Project Billing Tab
The Billing tab of the project displays data regarding all of the billable items on the project. The information shown in this table varies from a typical Billable Project, as there are no orders, companies, or services associated with the billable items.
Billing Type: For No Contract Billable projects, the billing type will either be Percent % Milestone, or T&M Task. The type is dependent on whether you added a Billing Amount to your project milestones.
Name: Your project’s milestone and task names are what will show up in this column. Each name is a quick link which will redirect you to the milestone or task within the project.
Item Hours: This column is determined by the Hours entered when adding or editing a task, and are the number of hours the task is expected to take. For Percent % Complete Milestone items, these hours are the total of all of the task hours associated with the milestone.
Entered Hours: The entered hours are the total number of hours users have recorded to their timesheets for the specified task.
Billing Rate: This field is only relevant for T&M Task items, and is the number entered in the Billing Rate field on the task.
Original Net: The net amounts are calculated differently based on the billing type.
Percent % Milestone items' original net amounts are the values entered into the milestone’s Billing Amount field.
T&M Task original net amounts are calculated by multiplying the Item Hours by the Billing Rate, to show an expected net amount. For example, if you have a T&M Task which has a billing rate of $15, and an expected 4 item hours, then the original net for that item would be $60.
Net Remaining: For both billing types, the net remaining field is determined by subtracting any invoiced amount of the item from the original net amount.
Processed %: The processed percent is the amount of the item that has been invoiced. For Percent % Milestone items, this is determined by the percent of the milestone that has been billed. For T&M Task items, this is based on the number of hours that have been billed for the task, compared to the number of Item Hours. For example, if you have a task that has 5 item hours, and you have billed 2 of the hours for the task, then the processed % would be 40%.
Remaining %: The remaining percent is simply 100% minus the processed percent of the item, to show the amount that is still unprocessed.
% Complete: The percent complete field is only relevant for Percent % Milestone items, and has to do with the milestone’s completion, not how much of the milestone has been invoiced. This field allows you to easily see if there is an amount that can be billed on your milestone, by comparing the % complete of the milestone, to the processed %.
Note
For more information about how a milestone’s completion percentage is calculated, read through the How to Bill Percent % Milestone Items section below.
Last Billed: This column shows the most recent date an invoice was created for the item. The last billed dates will be helpful when billing your project, if you choose to bill your T&M Task items in a group, rather than individually.
Invoicing
Unlike other Billable projects, No Contract Billable projects must be invoiced from the project’s Billing tab. As none of the milestones or tasks are tied to an order or line item, the normal channels of invoicing cannot be used. The Billing tab should be your go-to location for all things project billing.
Note
When the No Contract Billable project type is used, all of the invoices generated for the project will be Special invoices.
How to Bill Percent % Milestone Items
Percent % Milestone Billing is a method of partially billing your projects based on the percentage complete your project milestones are at. The percent you can bill will depend on the tasks associated with that milestone.
As your project progresses and you update the task completion percentage on any tasks tied to the milestones, you can start billing the milestone. The % complete of the milestone is calculated based on the number of hours set on the milestone’s tasks, and the % complete of those tasks. For example, if your milestone only has a single task associated with it, and that task is set at 50% complete, then your milestone will also be 50% complete. However, if you have multiple tasks on the milestone, the calculation gets more complex. Let’s say Task 1 is expected to take 10 hours, and it is at 50% complete. Task 2 is expected to take 20 hours and is at 10% complete. The milestone completion would be calculated by adding together 50% of 10 hours (= 5 hours), plus 10% of 20 hours (=2 hours), divided by the total hours (30). This would mean your milestone is at roughly 23.33% complete, which is what you would see in the % Complete column on the project’s Billing tab.
When you are ready to invoice the item, go to the Billing Tab of the project, and click on the Create Invoices icon on the milestone to bill the item. In the Create Invoices popup, you will see the processed % and remaining %, the milestone name, and the % complete of the milestone.
The popup will show an Incremental % field which is the percent of the milestone that can currently be invoiced. The Incremental % is automatically calculated based on the milestone’s % completion, and how much of the milestone has already been billed. For instance, if you created an invoice for the milestone when it was at 10% complete, and it is now at 30% complete, then your Incremental % field would show 20%.
Note
The Incremental % field cannot be edited from the popup. You would need to edit the hours on a task or the task’s completion percentage to change the % of the milestone that can be billed.
You can edit the invoice date, choose the invoice template and GL class, and enter any relevant notes or memos. Once all of the information has been entered, click Create Invoice.
Once a milestone has at least one invoice created, rather than just having a Create Invoices action, there will instead be an ellipsis, which contains actions to both Create Invoices, and View Invoices for the milestone. The View Invoices popup displays information for every invoice created for the milestone, including invoice number, due date, and cash billed. There are also actions within the popup that allow you to view the invoice PDF, send an email of the invoice, and make a payment.
How to Bill T&M Task Items
Task T&M Billing allows you to bill your project based on how many hours your team has worked on a task. The idea behind T&M Billing is that the item is billed based on how much work was actually put into the task, not how much work was expected. If your team puts in less work on the task than was expected, your customer doesn’t need to pay the full predicted cost. On the other hand, if your team ends up working more hours on the task than was expected, you are able to bill your customers for that time and effort.
When you are ready to invoice the item, go to the Billing Tab of the project. Any T&M Task that has a Billing Rate assigned will have a check mark to the left of the task.
T&M Tasks can either be billed individually, or as a group. The method of creating the invoices is the same either way: check the boxes of the task(s) you want to bill, then use the Create Invoices button.
Note
If you will be creating invoices for more than one task, then you do need to take into account the Last Billed date of each task. Only tasks that have the same Last Billed date can be invoiced as a group.
In the Create Invoices popup, there will be information about each task that you are invoicing, including the task name, last billed date, total unbilled hours, and net amounts. You will be required to enter a period start and end date, as well as an invoice date and template. There is also the option to select a GL class and enter any relevant invoice notes or memos
Note
The Period Start date cannot be edited, as it is based on the Last Billed date of the tasks. This is to ensure all recorded hours are properly billed.
Once a task has at least one invoice created, there will be a View Invoices action available for the item. The View Invoices popup displays information for every invoice created for the task, including invoice number, due date, and cash billed. There are also actions within the popup that allow you to view the invoice PDF, send an email of the invoice, and make a payment.
Note
Any T&M Task that has gone over in hours will show up highlighted in yellow on the project Billing tab.
Invoice Search Page
Once the invoices for your project have been created, they can be found by going to the Billing > Invoices search page. In the Advanced Search section, use the Project search field to find your project’s invoices
Any T&M Task invoices will have Invoice Notes automatically generated, which show the Period Hours date range, each task that was invoiced, as well as the billing rate and the hours recorded per invoiced task. The notes can be removed by using the edit invoice action.
Once the invoices are created, they act like any other invoice in the system, and can be emailed to clients and can have payments made against them.