Create & Manage Invoices

Invoices cannot be created from within the Invoicing System. The system's purpose is to manage existing invoices and customer accounts. Invoices are created from within the Fees tab of a record.

Invoicing is available within the following systems:

• Permitting and Inspections

• Project system (Planning and Zoning)

• Code Enforcement

• Business Licensing

• Fire Safety Inspections

Important Notes

• Before creating an invoice, fees or fines must exist within the record. If fees or fines do not exist, they must be added to the record first.

• Invoice creation is a 3-step process:

  1. Select the fees and surcharges to include in the invoice, and identify who is billed

  2. Create the invoice number and, if required, apply a payment, and save changes and adjustments to the invoice

  3. Print / Generate the Invoice as a PDF

Create & Send an Invoice

Generate the Invoice

1. Sign in to your site

2. Navigate to the applicable module and select List:

3. Search for and select a record from the list:

4. Click Edit (Permitting & Project Systems only):

5. Navigate to the Fees tab:

6. Click Create Invoice:

7. Select the Fee(s) you wish to associate with the invoice:

   Note:
   The system allows multiple invoices to be created for each record. At least one fee or fine has to be associated with an invoice, and there must be at least one fee or fine with a balance to create an invoice. If a fee does not have a checkbox, that fee is already assigned and linked to an invoice.

8. Apply Surcharges:

   1. If needed, select the checkboxes for the surcharges or tax that you want to include:

   2. Check the Tax Applicable box for each fee that should be charged the surcharge or tax. The system will automatically calculate the surcharge or tax:

      Note:
      If the surcharge contains a minimum fee, the system will automatically calculate that fee in the Amount column.

9. Select who to Bill the Invoice To:

   Note:
   The system will list the owner, applicant, contractor, or any other billing agent within the Contacts tab. The system creates a customer account with an automatically generated customer account number. This process requires the bill-to-person to have a unique name and phone number combination. The system will not let the user create and bill the invoice without the phone number. This extra step can be avoided by ensuring the contacts all have phone numbers associated with their record entry in the system:

10. Click Create Invoice:

11. Click Ok on the pop-up window:

    Note:
    If a warning displays "Please enter required billing details", the user will need to populate additional billing information. Since the system contains an extensive invoicing and shopping cart system, each billed person must have an account created that is unique in the system. This is like any customer account created for any online shopping website. To ensure the account is unique for each billed person, the agency must provide a unique name, phone number, and email address.

12. The invoice will open in a new tab. Adjust Invoice Details as needed:

    Note:
    The invoice has been created, but is not saved until you click Save Invoice.

13. Upload any supporting Documents:

    • Only JPG, PDF, PNG, GIF, TIF, DOC, DOCX, PPT, PPTX, XLS, XLSX, TXT, EML, MBOX, MSG, OGG, MP3, WMA, WAV, MP4, MKV, AVI, MPEG, WEBM, MOV are allowed.

14. If applicable, apply Payments to the invoice:

15. Click Save Invoice:

Create a PDF of the Invoice

1. Click Print Menu at the bottom of the invoice:

2. Select Customer Invoice from the Form/Letter dropdown:

3. Select the checkbox for Check this box if you want to save this form:

   Note:
   This is critical for sending the invoice using the system’s email process.

4. Click the Print Letter button to create a PDF of the invoice:

5. The PDF opens in a new browser tab. You can print a hard copy of the invoice if needed.

6. You can now close the PDF browser tab and the invoice tab and return to the tab containing the application record.

7. The invoice will now display on the Fees tab of the record:

Send the Invoice Using Email

1. Click the Status tab in the record and open the Routing Details section:

2. Open the Financial Review (or similar step) in the workflow:

3. Select the applicable parties in the Send Email To field:

   Note:
   The system allows the user to send emails internally to groups, departments, or employees. At the bottom of the list, the user can select contacts, contractors, the applicant, or the owner to send the email.

4. Scroll down and click the checkbox for the Customer Invoice file to attach the invoice to the email:

5. Add your email content to the Message box:

6. Click the Save Notes/Send Message button to send the email:

7. The system places a copy of the email in the workflow area for reference:

8. This completes the process of applying fees, creating, and sending invoices.

Modify an Invoice

Invoices can be adjusted prior to applying payments. If an invoice contains incorrect fee amounts or similar, the user must back out the payment, reverse the invoice, and then remove or edit the fees associated with the record. This section reviews adjusting invoices if discounts or similar need to be applied to the invoice before generating and sending the invoice.

1. Sign in to your site

2. Navigate to Invoicing System and select Invoices:

3. Search for and select an invoice:

   Note:
   You can also access the invoice on the Fees tab of the record.

4. If needed, edit the Status of the invoice or enter Notes:

5. Make any necessary adjustments to the invoice by choosing a Credit Type and applying a credit Amount to the fee:

   Note:
   Do not enter any dashes (-) in the Amount field.

6. Enter any applicable Comments/Notes:

7. Click Save Invoice:

8. To download a copy, click Print Menu and configure printing options:

Supporting Articles

• Add and Manage Fees/Fines

• Fee Reporting

• Void/Reverse Payments, Invoices, and Fees