Quotes, purchase orders and invoices

The Billing tab on a project or job is where you record the commercial side of the work: the quote the client accepted, the purchase order they raised against it, and the invoices you have drawn down from that PO. It is entirely separate from your echoMike subscription, which lives in billing, seats and storage.

Before you start

Needs the Manage finance permission. Without it the Billing tab does not render on either projects or jobs — you will not see a disabled tab, you will see no tab at all.

Purchase orders are held at project level and drawn down by the jobs underneath, so create the project and its jobs first.

Steps

1. Open the project and select Billing

   Go to the project and choose the Billing tab. This is the authority view for the whole project.

2. Upload the accepted quote

   Quotes are a record of what you issued, not a live calculation, so you upload the PDF you actually sent. Each one needs a reference — the dialog refuses with Each quote needs a reference, and with Add at least one quote PDF if you have not attached a file. A quote carries a status of Draft, Sent, Accepted, Declined or Invoiced.

3. Create the purchase order

   Choose Create Purchase Order and enter the client’s PO number and its PO Value. The value is the ceiling for everything invoiced against it. Leaving the number blank fails with PO number is required.

4. Allocate the order across jobs

   Where several jobs bill against one purchase order, give each a share. The allocation view shows what is Committed, what is still Available, and flags anything Over Allocated so you catch it before invoicing.

5. Raise invoices as work completes

   On the job’s Billing tab choose Raise invoice, enter the invoice reference — the placeholder shows the INV-0001 shape — and the value, then attach the invoice document. Each invoice draws down the remaining balance on the order.

Options

Splitting work across clients

Where one project is shared between clients, the client split records who is responsible for which proportion, so invoices are raised against the right party. The project Billing tab keeps this alongside the quote, order and invoice registers.

Attaching documents

Quotes, purchase orders and invoices each accept file attachments. Attaching the issued PDF is what makes the record useful at audit time — the figures alone do not evidence what the client agreed.

What happens next

Once a purchase order is recorded, every job billing against it shows its remaining balance, and the project Billing tab totals quoted, ordered and invoiced value. Raising an invoice for more than the PO’s remaining balance is refused, which is usually the first sign that a variation was never recorded.

Troubleshooting

If the Billing tab is missing, you lack Manage finance — see Every permission. If an invoice will not save, check the invoice reference is filled in and that the value fits inside what remains on the purchase order.