17. Billing. Invoices

Background

The lab issues invoices per Batch and the functionality specified here must not be confused with Invoicing per individual Samples, a Bika 2 feature, which may later inherit the Batch Invoice functionality

Installation

To us this functionality, you must install the Senaite Batch Invoices add-on

Use Case

In this uses case, Clients have to pay for sample processing and analysis before it is performed

The Invoicing function can be configure on the Setup's Accounting tab to email Invoices to both or any of the Client and Lab Accounts department

The Invoice can be compiled as soon as all the Batch information and that of its Samples and Analyses requested have been captured. It is then forwarded to the lab's accounts department, optionally directly to the Client as well

Invoicing for Samples only after publication can be enabled and it won't be possible to invoice for batches before all their samples are published

In this case the lab invoice for a single Batch or group of Batches of the same Client. The Invoice totals all Analysis Profiles and Analysis Services across the batches per Invoice line

If the number of tests on the samples in a batch changes, a second invoice can be issued. All invoice for a Batch are all listed on the Batch's Invoices tab 

In future

Other types of workflow and layouts will be added as sponsorship can be obtained

In this use case an extra workflow step, say To be Paid is needed but for now labs work around it by registering Samples as Due and only promote them to Received when they are paid for and testing may start

Invoicing Samples

Sure to come must be invoicing for individual Samples instead of per Batch - the foundation is in place now and Samples already have an Invoice tab with a proforma invoice displayed

Samples also get Invoicing states complimentary to their standard workflow states of Due, Received, Verified etc.

Samples inherit Invoicing state changes from the Batches in which they reside and there is currently no manual invoicing of Samples

Invoice Workflow. Use Case...

Invoice-and-pay-before-any-work-is-done

Invoice Content...

Per Batch Profiles and Analyses count

Configuration items

Batch Invoicing enabled on the Accounting tab in the Setup

The Client billing email address is used for emailing Invoices

The lab’s Accounts department billing email address

Email body for Invoice posts can be edited and formatted by lab managers in the LIMS Setup's Accounting page

Ditto the Invoice footer:

The Batch Invoice IDs remain configurable in the ID server in the LIMS setup. By default, they are made up of ‘Inv’, the year and a sequence number, e.g. Inv23-0001

Authorisations

Only lab managers see the Batch and Client Invoice tabs and it is only displayed to them, not to analysts or samplers

Only lab managers may use the Invoice action button and it is not displayed to anybody else

Clients may view these tabs on their own Batches but have no other authorisations there

Batch Invoicing States

Apart from their standard workflow states of Open and Closed, Batches can also have states of To be Invoiced or Invoiced

And Batch lists can filtered on these states from the corresponding buttons