Invoice Module Improvement Requests

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avatar Marcus N Pro Oct 15. 2009. 12:34 am #1
First off, I want to say that I think the invoicing module is a great step for AC. However, I wanted to start a thread to provide a place for people to offer suggestions on how to improve the invoice module for future use.

Currently I use FreshBooks and would love to switch to AC for all my invoicing. If you haven't tried FreshBooks it is an excellent place to see a great invoicing system.

Here are a few things I think would be incredibly useful in AC:

- Payment Gateways

For use with online payments using a service like PayPal. Another thread about this same topic is here: http://www.activecollab.com/forums/topic/4751/

- Reoccurring Invoices

Used to automatically invoice clients for items such as hosting, domain names and etc. Ability to choose frequency - yearly, semi-annual, monthly, daily (probably will never be used).

- Estimates Workflow

Ability to create an estimate, for quotes, and when they are approved by the client turn them directly into invoices.
avatar Bliss Pro Oct 15. 2009. 3:08 am #2
+1 on Reoccurring Invoices

A time saver when charging for support, hosting, domains etc....
avatar Ilija Studen Staff Oct 15. 2009. 6:44 am #3
Hi Jason, Mattias,

Thanks for the feedback, we'll continue working on improvements to invoicing module.

In your experience, which payment gateways are popular with small businesses?
avatar Marcus N Pro Oct 15. 2009. 8:32 am #4
Paypal and Auhorize.net are the most common that clients are willing to use in my experience.
avatar Bliss Pro Oct 15. 2009. 9:30 am #5
I got limited experience, but Paypal seems to be most common.

I have encountered Payson.se as well. A swedish service with similar functions.
avatar tapastwain Pro Oct 16. 2009. 4:05 pm #6
The possibility to create quotes is a basic feature for us to be able to switch to the AC invoice module. Would be very helpfull, if we could directly transfer the time budgets from quotation to project planning. There should be a workflow from quotation over projection to invoicing.
avatar Ilija Studen Staff Oct 16. 2009. 5:16 pm #7
@tapastwain:

When invoice is still draft, and you generate PDF from it, it'll be Pro-Forma invoice so you can send it to the customer like you would send an estimate or a quote. It's just a different name, but essentially the same thing.
avatar tapastwain Pro Oct 25. 2009. 1:54 pm #8
@ ilja

seems more like a workaround ;-)

Anyway, a complete workflow would be fine. You should be able to plan the project on the budgeted time of the quote. What do you think about?
avatar Ilija Studen Staff Oct 25. 2009. 1:59 pm #9
tapastwain:
Anyway, a complete workflow would be fine. You should be able to plan the project on the budgeted time of the quote


What is your workflow?
avatar Christian F Pro Nov 16. 2009. 4:10 pm #10
We would like to use the Time Tracking + Invoice modules together to allow for hourly employees/contractors to bill (invoice) us directly. As in, it would be great if certain roles could be given the option to submit an invoice, but not be able to see any invoices, other than those they submitted.

It is GREAT when employees/contractors can manage this process themselves, and managers can simply review submitted invoices. Currently, it seems invoices are an all-or-nothing permission.
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