Automatic Invoicing

Invoicing of timesheets can be carried out via an automated process, known as the invoice batch process. The invoice batch process allows you to select a group of timesheets and process them together resulting in the automatic generation of invoices or credit notes based on the timesheets you choose to include in the invoice batch.

The invoice batch process automatically creates timesheet-based invoices/credit notes, where the timesheets belong to a job order to which all of the following conditions apply:

• the status of the job order is Filled

• the position type on the job order is Contact or Temp.

A timesheet can be invoiced when it has been flagged as Reviewed via the Interpreter Results module. To get to that point, the timesheet must have been through the following processes:

• the timesheet must have been submitted for approval

• the timesheet must have been approved by the relevant client and/or agency approvers and must has been released for processing the timesheet must have undergone pay and bill interpretation.

The invoice batch process involves the following main steps:

Selecting the time group date

The time group date defines the cut-off point for including timesheets in the invoice batch.
Depending on the time group date you select, the system will list invoice batch groups that include timesheets belonging to a debtor's last complete billing cycle, where the billing cycle ends on or before the time group date.
For example, consider the following scenarios:

Scenario 1
The terms of a client's agreement with the agency stipulate the client is to be billed on a monthly basis.
If an invoice batch is created with a time group date of 09/09/2010, the invoice batch will include any of the client's released timesheets that have a week ending date falling within the previous calendar month (from 01/08/2010 until 31/08/2010).
The invoice batch will also include any of the client's released timesheets with a week ending date predating 01/08/2010 but that were not invoiced in the previous billing cycle due to late submission or late approval.
The invoice batch will not include any of the client's released timesheets that have a week ending date that falls within the period from 01/09/2010 until 31/08/2010, as that period falls within the next billing cycle.

Scenario 2
The terms of a client's agreement with the agency stipulate the client is to be billed on a weekly basis, with each billing week ending on a Sunday.
As in the previous scenario, the invoice batch is created for the time group date of 09/09/2010, which falls on a Thursday.
In this case, the invoice batch will include any of the client's released timesheets with a week ending date falling within the week ending on the Sunday preceding the time group date. That is, any released timesheet that has a week ending date from 30/08/2010 until 05/09/2010.
The invoice batch will also include any of the client's released timesheets with a week ending date predating 30/08/2010 but that were not included in the previous billing cycle due to late submission or late approval.
The invoice batch will not include any of the client's released timesheets that have a week ending date falling within the period from 06/09/2010 until 09/09/2010, as those timesheets fall within the next billing cycle.

Selecting the invoice batch groups to be included in the invoice batch

An invoice batch group is a collection of timesheets that are expected to be invoiced to one or more debtors by a specific billing company within a specific billing cycle.

The timesheets that are expected to be invoiced to a debtor include the following:

• timesheets corresponding to the last full billing cycle ending on or before the selected time group date adjustment timesheets

• late timesheets, which belong to previous billing cycles, that are yet to be invoiced.

By default, all debtors that belong to any of the invoice batch groups you select and that have one or more timesheets ready for invoicing will be included in the invoice batch. However, you can exclude certain debtors from an invoice batch group if you do not want to generate invoices/credit notes for those debtors as part of the current invoice batch. Any timesheets that are to be invoiced to the excluded debtors for the billing cycle can be invoiced as part of another invoice batch at a later stage.

Invoking the creation of the invoice batch

This results in the creation of invoices based on the timesheets that are included in the invoice batch.

Where an adjustment timesheet is included in the invoice batch, and the corresponding original timesheet has already been invoiced, a credit note is created to credit the debtor or an invoice is created to invoice the debtor for any additional bill amount arising from the adjustment. If the original invoice had not been invoiced prior to creating the invoice batch, the original invoice is ignored and only the adjustment timesheet is invoiced.

The following conditions apply to invoices/credit notes created by the invoice batch process:

• their status is set to Closed, thereby preventing any changes to the invoice items without performing an adjustment they can be listed and viewed in the Invoice Search List screen

• they are ready for delivery to debtors.

When creating an invoice batch, you can create invoices/credit notes for multiple invoice batch groups simultaneously. This will create invoices/credit notes for all timesheets that are ready to be invoiced within each invoice batch group you choose to include in the invoice batch.
Alternatively, you can create an invoice batch that includes one invoice batch group only. This method allows you to exclude some debtors from being invoiced, even if there are timesheets that are ready to be invoiced to those debtors. For example, if you want to invoice all timesheets for a given debtor in the same invoice batch but some of the timesheets to be invoiced to the debtor are yet to be released, you can exclude that debtor from the invoice batch. All of the debtor's timesheets can then be invoiced together in another invoice batch at a later time.