Create an Invoice Batch

Invoice Batches are a group of financial units (in this case invoices) that are actioned at the same time, rather than immediately. It is a detailed listing of services rendered and payments owed by customers within a specified billing period.

Once an invoice batch is created, you can generate invoices, which can be edited, exported, saved, printed, created as a PDF, or emailed to your customer for near-instant customer billing.
Notes:

• Emailing an invoice is available to Atera subscribers only. 
• The billing currency is based on the region from which you initially register your Atera account. The address can be added/updated from Admin > Settings. If the currency is not displayed correctly according to your region, please contact our support team

For help creating flexible (ad hoc) invoices, see Create a Flexible Invoice

The Create Invoice Batch Page Explained

Columns

Customer Name: The name of the customer.
Contract Name: The name of the contract specific to the customer.
Contract Type: The type of contract (this will affect billing behavior).
Total Balance: The total amount currently due from the customer contract.
Selected Balance: The balance that you will bill the customer for in this batch.

Batch Details

Bills To Create: Auto-updates based on selected contracts.
Unbilled Tickets: Auto-updates. The number of customer tickets in the current batch that are yet to be billed.
Hours Worked: Auto-updates. The total number of Ticket Hours worked in this billing batch.
Billable Amount: Auto-updates. The total amount to be billed in this batch.
Tax: Auto-updates. The total tax amount on all selected contracts in the billing batch. If the 'Taxable' checkbox is enabled at the contract level, the tax will be automatically added to the billed amount for THAT CONTRACT ONLY.
Total: The total amount of the current billing batch (billable amount + tax).

Form Elements

A checkmarked white box indicates that the contract can be selected for inclusion in the billing batch. 
A black box indicates that some of the contract's components/usage cannot currently be selected for inclusion as it is still in an open contract period (it is not 'ready for billing').
A lock indicates that the contract cannot currently be selected for inclusion as it is still in an open contract period i.e. it is not 'ready for billing' .
The blue lines expand the details of the contract and allow you to include or exclude specific items from the billing batch.

You can filter the list of contracts based on:

• Contract Type (for a full list of contract types, click here)
• Taxable Contracts
• Customer
• Periods
• Balance

Check out our billing video tutorials!

To create an invoice batch:

1. Click Billing, on the left-hand panel. The Billing page appears. 

2. Click New invoice batch.

The Create Invoice Batch page appears

Note: The first time you use the billing module, it may take a few moments to build your initial contract list. 

2. Select contracts for inclusion by clicking the white boxes. Batch Details will update automatically.

3. Click the expand icon next to a contract to view details.

4. Review each selected contract. You can also deselect items if you wish.

Note: All currently-due items are auto-selected based on the contract; this includes any overdue and currently-due items that are ready to be billed.

5. Review the Batch Details. Then give your invoice batch a name and click Run. The invoices appear. 

• Click Delete alongside an invoice to remove it from the batch.
• Check One invoice per customer if you would like a consolidated invoice.
• Decide how to group invoice lines (by contract, ticket, or time entry).
  Note: Time entries are based on the timezone selected in the account settings, which can be found in Admin > Settings > General.

6. Click Generate Invoices. The generated invoices appear.

7. Click Edit next to an invoice to view it. The selected invoice opens.

The invoices are completely flexible and can be fully edited, turned into PDFs, saved, exported, printed or emailed to customers, by clicking on the dropdown menu buttons, at the bottom of the invoice.

Note: Emailing an invoice is not available to trial users. 

8. When you're done reviewing the invoice, click Save and close. The Invoice Batch page appears.

9. Click Export Invoices to export all the invoices.
Note: If you've set up a billing integration with QuickBooks Online or Xero, then your invoice batch automatically exports to your integrated accounting software. 

10. Select the export destination: QuickBooks (Online/Desktop), Xero, or CSV.

Invoice Statuses

We've added statuses to invoices to simplify invoice management and tracking! Statuses include Draft, Exported, Sent, Paid, and Refunded. You can see the invoice status under the Status column on the Billing page and on the invoice itself — from where you can manually change the invoice status.

• Draft: The invoice is in progress and has not been sent nor exported. 
• Exported: The invoice has been exported to your integrated accounting software.
• Sent: The invoice has been sent (emailed) to the recipient.
• Paid: The invoice was emailed and payment has been made. 
• Refunded: The full invoice amount has been refunded.

Note: The invoice status will automatically change whenever you send or export an invoice.

Video Tutorials

• Billing Part 1: Create Ticket, Add Time Entries, Add Products and Expenses
• Billing Part 2: Resolve Ticket, Create Invoice Batch, Generate and Export Invoice