Overview
Invoices are the lifeblood of any business, create invoices using the tools in Fergus to get the right amount charged
This article will walk you through:
Different Ways to Create an Invoice
Invoice Margins and Discounts
Formatting an Invoice
Invoice Approval
When to use it
Invoices can be created at any stage in Fergus, you can create these when the Job is finished or if you want to take a deposit or progress payment.
How to use it
On the Job Card there is a section specifically for Invoicing, opening this area will allow you to begin creating Invoices.
1. Different ways to Create an Invoice
Click the "Create Invoice" button on the top right to open a list of the types of Invoices that can be created. You can create a quick invoice, blank invoice, add costs from job(s) or invoice from Quote.
Creating a New Invoice
Click "Create New Invoice" and a pop-up will open in Fergus prompting you to select costs that were added to the Job Phase against the Job.
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Use the tick box to select the job phase to invoice. Switch between variations of the job on the left-hand side if there was additional work required outside of the scope of the original Job.
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Expand "Importing Options" to control how costs are pulled through to the Invoice.
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Click "Add $X.XX to Invoice" when you are ready. You will be directed to a draft version of your Invoice.
In the draft version of your Invoice, you are able to review and make final adjustments to your invoice before sending it off.
Creating a Quick Invoice
A Quick Invoice is the fastest way to Invoice in Fergus, this pulls all the uninvoiced Labour and Materials recorded against the Job Phase.
Please note: When you create a Quick Invoice for a job with an invoice to come, the materials listed on the invoice to come will be imported into the Draft Invoice. This is useful because some suppliers send their invoices close to the due date, and the time between purchase and invoice receipt can vary. Therefore, materials marked as "Invoice To Come" can be invoiced before reconciliation, enabling users to charge customers promptly.
Creating a Blank Invoice
Blank Invoices are a clean slate to work from. You can still add costs from "Job Phase" however, or you can add whatever makes sense to you and your customer.
Create Invoice from Quote/Estimate
To create an invoice from your quote/estimate, click "Create Invoice" from and you'll be shown the Add Costs screen with the Quote/Estimate tab selected.
Next, choose how you would like to invoice out your quote/estimate. There are three main options: Invoice out a percentage, Invoice remainder of the quote/estimate, or invoice out sections.
Invoice out a percentage of the currently accepted quote or estimate on the job. This will add a single combined line item to the invoice for the amount specified.
Select the first row and input the percentage of the quote you want to invoice.
The invoice draft will then include a combined line item containing a percentage of the quoted material price and the quoted labour price.
Invoice the remainder of the quote if you've already sent out invoices and want to invoice out any outstanding costs.
In the Add Costs page select the second row to invoice the remainder of the quote.
Invoice out sections of the currently accepted quote/estimate. Select the last row and select the sections you want to invoice out. To invoice out the quote exactly like it was written, use the last option and tick Select All.
2. Invoice Margins and Discounts
Now that your costs are on the invoice, you can adjust markups, apply discounts, and choose what is visible to the customer.
Click the "Margins" button to adjust markups and discounts.
You can easily see the progress of your invoice: charge-up jobs will show you the progress toward your customer's budget, and quote and estimate jobs will show you progress toward the total quoted amount.
Another option to apply markup and discount is to use "Bulk Actions".
Tick the checkbox on each section you would like to apply the markup and/or discount then click on the cog button for Bulk Actions. You may also untick the individual items that you do not want to change the markup/discount.
From there, you can select the action you would like to take:
From there, you can apply the percentage you would like to apply then hit "Apply markup" or "Apply discount":
3. Formatting an Invoice
Click the pencil icon to adjust formatting options to view the different formatting options for your invoice.
Default Formatting Options: control what is visible on the final invoice to the customer. You can set a global setting here and override it in individual sections on the invoice.
Display labour descriptions on labour line items show the time entry description below the labour time and employee name line. If this is unticked, each time the entry description is combined and displayed in the job phase section description.
4. Invoice Approval
To approve an invoice click the "Approve" button and you will be presented with a dropdown.
On the left, you'll see the job phases on this job card and be asked which to mark as invoiced. If you imported your job phases onto the invoice they will be ticked automatically.
If your job is finished make sure these are ticked as this will update the job's status in Fergus.
Once you've clicked Approve, Fergus will confirm what to do with the job:
Put on hold to send the job to the Pending column of the status board if you're planning to come back to it later.
Create new job phase if the job hasn't been fully completed just yet and you need to return.
Mark as complete if you know the job is 100% finished and your customer is happy!