Create a One-Time Invoice

Docket supports two billing workflows:

1. In Advance (via Invoices).
2. In Arrears (via Charges).

Which one you use depends on when you collect payment from your clients.

If you bill clients before or at the time of service, you'll create an invoice directly from the task.

If you bill clients after a service is complete, Docket tracks the costs as charges and you compile those charges into an invoice when you're ready to bill.

Before You Start

Here are a few things to know before you continue:

• Depending on your permissions, you may not be able to perform all of the actions in this article. Please reach out to your Admin if you need additional access.
• The client you're invoicing must already exist in your Docket account.
• A task must already exist so the invoice can be associated with it.
• If order entry and billing are handled by different people/teams, set up a process for who creates invoices and when that happens before anyone starts creating tasks or invoices.

Create an Invoice for In-Advance Billing

Billing in advance means sending the client an invoice before or at the time of service and collecting payment ahead of time.

You can create a one-time invoice in 4 places in your Docket account:

1. From a task (recommended).
2. From a client's profile.
3. From the Summary page.
4. From the Billing Issues section of the Assets page.

As a best practice, we strongly recommend creating invoices directly from a task. This connects the rental and billing information in one place which makes reporting, auditing, and tracking down missed payments much easier.

Create an Invoice from a Task

Generating an invoice during task creation keeps your rental and billing information connected which makes it easier to track payments and find tasks with missing invoices later.

TIP: Depending on how you've configured your account settings, the invoice editor may or may not appear whenever a task is created in your account. 

To create a one-time invoice from a task, just follow the instructions below:

1. If the invoice editor appears immediately after creating a task, skip to Step 2.
   
   If the invoice editor doesn't appear immediately after creating a task, you'll need to find the task first. You can do this by looking at the client's profile, the Schedule page, the Dispatch page, or the Summary page.
   
   Once you've found and opened the task, click the "+ Invoice" button in the Billing section.
   
   
2. Review the details at the top of the invoice and adjust them if needed. You may see different options than in the screenshot below depending on your account settings.
   
   TIP: If you use billing templates, Docket will automatically select the template that most closely matches the associated task's details. If you use a pricing matrix, you can ignore the Invoice Template field.
   
   
3. The invoice's different sections will be auto-filled by the associated task's details and your account settings so you'll want to review all the information in each section to confirm it's appearing correctly. 
   
   For example, the Taxes section will automatically display the Tax Group and Tax Rate that apply to this invoice based on the task details, client profile, and account settings.
   
   You can adjust any of these details as needed.
   
   
4. We recommend always reviewing the Line Items section. You can add, edit, delete, and reorder line items as needed.
   
   TIP: If you need to lower the price on a line item, use the Discounts option instead of changing the default rate. This keeps your pricing consistent and makes it easier to see why a client was charged less than normal. To charge more than the default, add a new line item with the additional amount and a brief description.
   
   
5. If this invoice includes extra charges for things like damages or overages, add the relevant details and/or images in the Additional Notes section for your client to see.
   
   
6. You'll also want to check the Automations section at the bottom to confirm whether this invoice will be automatically shared with the client when you save it.
7. Click one of the "Create" buttons at the bottom.
   
   

You'll immediately see the new invoice at the top of the Invoices page in your Docket account and you can manage it however needed.

Create an Invoice from the Summary Page

If you need to find a task in order to create an invoice for it or simply want to do an audit of tasks without invoices, the Summary page is the best place to look.

To find a task on the Summary page and create an invoice, just follow the instructions below:

1. Click on "Summary" from the left-hand menu.
2. Use the Date Range filter to narrow down the time period.
3. Confirm that Invoices is included in the Fields section so the Invoices column appears in your results.
4. Click "Run Review".
   
   
5. Find the task you're looking for in the results. Tasks without an invoice will have a blank Invoices column.
   
   
6. Click on the task to open it.
7. Click to expand the Billing section.
8. Click "+ Invoice" to open the invoice editor.
   
   
9. Create and send the invoice like usual.

We recommend checking the Summary page at least once a day to catch tasks that are missing invoices.

Create an Invoice from a Client's Profile

If you need to find a task in order to create an invoice for it and know which client it was for, you can go straight to their profile and create the invoice there.

To create an invoice from a client's profile, just follow the instructions below:

1. Click on "Clients" in the left-hand menu.
2. Click on the client to open their profile.
   
   
3. Click into the "Tasks" tab at the top of the profile.
4. Find the task you need and click "+ Create Invoice."
   
   
5. Create and send the invoice like usual.

Create an Invoice for In-Arrears Billing

Billing in arrears means collecting payment after a service is complete. 

Instead of generating an invoice at task creation, Docket tracks the individual costs accrued on the Charges page so that when you're ready to bill you can quickly compile them together into a single invoice.

TIP: Think of the Charges page like an open tab: charges accumulate as services are completed and you close the tab when it's time to send the invoice.

As a best practice, we don't recommend manually creating charges outside of a task. Allowing Docket to auto-create charges associated with a task connects the rental and billing information in one place which makes reporting, auditing, and tracking down missed payments much easier.

Compile Charges into an Invoice

When a client's rental tasks have been fully completed (or it's time to send them their monthly invoice for a long-term rental), it's time to compile the charges into an invoice.,

To do that, just follow the instructions below:

1. Click into the Charges section in your Docket account.
2. Search for the client's name in the search bar to filter the list to their charges only. You don't have to do this if you want to create invoices for multiple clients at once.
3. Click on "Actions".
   
   
4. Choose one of the options that appears in the drop-down menu.
   
   If you click "Create Invoice", checkboxes will appear next to each charge for you to select specific charges to compile into an invoice.
   
   Please Note: Charges for different service addresses cannot be compiled together in the same invoice.
   
   
   
   If you click "Bulk Create Invoices", Docket will automatically group all of the charges by client and service address before asking you to approve the invoice(s) to create. 
   
   
5. If you chose "Create Invoice", click "Create Invoice" at the top so Docket can create an invoice with your selected charges.
   
   
   
   If you chose "Bulk Create Invoices", click "Confirm" at the bottom so Docket can create a separate invoice for each client or service address listed.
   
   

The charges will disappear from the Charges page and the newly generated invoice will appear on the Invoices page instead. The Invoice Editor will appear onscreen too where you can edit and send it like usual.

TIP: If you accidentally added a charge that shouldn't have been included or need to start over for another reason, you can delete the invoice and unapply the charges to it so they reappear on the Charges page.

If you have any questions, please reach out to our Support team through the chat widget on the bottom of this page or by sending an email to support@yourdocket.com!