Bill Projects Based on Task Completion
You can set up a billing structure for your customer to bill them parts of the line items based on the completion percentage of the project or milestones. Milestone billing will create an invoice based on the hours assigned to tasks and the completion percentage of those tasks. Project percent billing will allow you to create a billable item for each line item on the project up to the total completion percentage of the project; these billable items can be added to an invoice with fixed price or time and materials items.
Milestone % Complete 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, and the milestone must be tied to a service item.
You also need to make sure that you have a Service Product that can be on an order, and has your % Complete Billing Group set as its default. You can add or edit Service Products by navigating to Settings > Products > Service Products. Now, when adding that service product to an order, it will be set to be billed as % Complete as its default. You have the option to change the billing group on the line item if you do not want that particular line item to be billed as % Complete.
The next step is to create an order with your service product. Once you have a completed order, you will need to create a project to be associated with that order or add a milestone to a current project and assign the service ticket. Make sure there is at least one task with hours assigned to the Milestone.
Important
When creating the order, if a service line item is set to use a Project Completion or Time and Materials Service Billing Group, the item will have to be billed that way. The Billing Group takes precedence over the line item setting.
As your project progresses and you update the task completion percentage on any tasks tied to the milestones, you can start billing the service item. For example, The % complete of the milestone (which is the Invoice Split %) 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 for the Invoice Split %.
When you are ready to invoice the item, the best place to go is the Billing Tab of the project. You can click on the line item and you will see the percentage available to bill, invoice template option, and dates. You can create the invoice right from the project. The invoice can't be combined with any other invoice.
Important
You can't edit the % complete. You would have to change the hours on the task or completion percentage of the task to change the % to bill.
You can also create the invoice by going to the quick add action > Add Partial Invoice. Click on the invoice action for the line item, select the template and invoice date.
Project % Complete Billing is a method of partially billing your projects based on the percentage complete of your project. The percent you can bill will depend the completion percentage of the project. You must set the completion percentage manually. The system will not use the estimated completion for billing.
To set up a line item to be billed by Project % Complete, you first need to create a Project % Complete Billing Service Group by navigating to Settings > Billing > Service Billing Groups.
Important
Make sure the service product is set to use some form of Partial Billing. The product cannot be set to No Partial Invoicing’ or it will not be able to be invoiced.
The next step is to create an order with your service product. On the order creation product page, add or edit a service line item, and make sure the Service Billing Group is one that uses % Complete Billing.
Once you have a completed order, you will need to create a project to be associated with that order. This allows you to track the project completion and bill the line items accordingly. When you create a new project and select an order to associate with it, it creates a ‘skeleton’ project with milestones and tasks based on its service line items.
When the project manager set the completion percentage of a project, all milestones/line items can be billed based on the percentage. For example, if the project manager sets the project to 50% complete, a user can bill each line up to 50% of its value.
You can use the Invoice Split % to partially bill your projects without using a % Complete Service Billing Group. You would bill the item in a similar manner, but the main difference is that the Invoice Split % in this case is not automatically set based on your project tasks and can be edited.
To set up a line item for this type of billing, you will need at least one Service Billing Group that does not use any Special Billing Instructions. Navigate to Settings > Billing > Service Billing Groups.
Edit an existing, or create a new Service Billing Group, and choose 'None' for ‘Special Billing Instructions’.
You also need to make sure that you have a Service Product that can be on an order and is set to use Partial Invoicing. You can add or edit Service Products by navigating to Settings > Products > Service Products.
Important
Make sure the service product is set to use some form of Partial Billing. The product cannot be set to ‘No Partial Invoicing,’ or it will not be able to be invoiced.
The next step is to create an order with your service product. On the order creation product page, add or edit a service line item, and make sure the Service Billing Group is one that does not have any special billing, or leave the item Unassigned to a Service Billing Group.
Once you have completed an order, you will need to create a project to be associated with that order. This allows you to track the project completion and bill the line items accordingly. When you create a new project and select an order to associate with it, it creates a ‘skeleton’ project with milestones and tasks based on its service line items.
As your project progresses, depending on how you configured your project, the Percent Complete on each task will either update automatically, or you can manually change the percent.
To create a partial invoice using Invoice Split %, click on the + icon in your top menu, then select Add Partial Invoice. Use the search fields to find the items from your project. This will bring up all of the service items that can be invoiced partially.
Click on the Create Invoice action icon for your line item, and you will see an Invoice Split % field in the pop-up. Because your service line item is not tied to a % Complete Service Billing Group, this percent is not automatically set based on the associated task. You can edit this field as you see fit, then choose an invoice template and generate the invoice to be billed.