How to use the Set up billing wizard
The Set up billing wizard sets the rules your first invoice is built with: its number prefix, its starting number, how many days a client has to pay, and whether partial months are charged. Do it before the first billing run, because numbering and terms are hard to change after invoices go out.
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How to do it
Open Settings, then System, then Setup Wizards, and click Set up billing.
The page is called Guided setup. Wizards are grouped by area, and Set up billing is under Billing. It has 6 lessons. Only a Super Admin or an Admin can open it.
Read the introduction and click Start the lessons.
If you have started before, the button reads "Continue: lesson" with the next lesson number, and "Review the lessons" once every lesson is done. Back and Next let you read ahead without acting.
Lesson 1, Invoice Number Prefix: click Customize and type a prefix such as INV-, or click Skip.
The prefix is optional. Most shops leave it blank and use plain numbers. It helps mainly when you are carrying over a numbering style from a previous system. After you type it, click Apply custom. There is no recommended value, so Apply recommended is switched off.
Lesson 2, Invoice Starting Number: click Apply recommended for 1000, or click Customize and type your own.
This is the floor for new invoice numbers. Each new invoice goes up from the higher of this number or the last invoice number that already exists. If you are moving from another system, type your last invoice number plus one, so the numbers carry on with no gaps and no clashes in your books.
Lesson 3, Default Net Terms: pick a term and apply it.
The choices are Due on Receipt, Net 15, Net 30 (recommended), Net 45 and Net 60. Net 30 is the usual choice between businesses. Pick Due on Receipt if you want to collect at once. Click Apply recommended for Net 30, or click Customize, choose another and click Apply custom. The choice becomes the due date on every generated invoice, and one invoice can still be changed by hand.
Lesson 4, Prorate Onboarding: click Apply recommended to turn it on.
With this on, a client who starts a plan part-way through a cycle is charged for a partial first month. A client who joins on the 15th does not pay for the days before they signed on. The amount is worked out from the subscription start date.
Lesson 5, Prorate Mid-Cycle Changes: click Apply recommended to turn it on.
With this on, when a client's user or device count goes up between invoices, the part-month difference is added to the next invoice. Without it, seats added mid-month would ride free until the next cycle. The catch-up line appears on its own on the next generated invoice.
Lesson 6, How this runs day to day: read it and click Got it.
Subscription invoices are made at 7 AM on each client's cycle day. At 8 AM, invoices past their due date are marked Overdue. At 9 AM, service plans whose end date has passed, with auto-renew off, expire. Set these rules once. Come back to terms only if your payment expectation really changes, and to numbering only if you move from another system.
When the last lesson is done, check the banner and click See what's next.
The page says "All steps reviewed" and counts how many lessons you applied and skipped. See what's next returns to the wizard list, where Set up billing shows Done. Next in the order is Bill your first client.
What you will have
- Choose an invoice number prefix and a starting number that carry on from your old books.
- Pick the default payment terms stamped on every generated invoice.
- Turn on charging for a partial first month and for mid-cycle changes.
Why it works this way: How to use the Set up billing wizard
Clients and accountants notice numbering and terms. Both are painful to fix once invoices have gone out, so the wizard comes before the first billing run.
The wizard has two safe habits built in. Each lesson shows Current next to Recommended before you apply anything, and Skip leaves a setting alone.
These rules are read when an invoice is made. They shape the next invoice and never rewrite one that has already been issued.
Other ways to do this: How to use the Set up billing wizard
Change a rule later on its own page
Open Settings, then Billing & Pricing. Invoice Settings holds invoice numbering and terms, Sales Tax holds the default tax rate, and Plans & Pricing holds proration behavior.
If it did not work: How to use the Set up billing wizard
- Apply recommended is greyed out on a lesson: it has no recommended value. Click Customize, type your own and click Apply custom, or click Skip.
- Your invoice numbers started too low: the starting number is only a floor. New invoices count up from the higher of that number and the last invoice already issued.
- You changed a rule and an old invoice did not change: these rules shape the next invoice, never one already issued.
- You do not see Set up billing in the list: only a Super Admin or an Admin can run it.
Questions this page answers
What does the Set up billing wizard do?
It sets the invoice number prefix and starting number, the default payment terms, and whether partial first months and mid-cycle changes are charged, before your first invoice is made.
What starting invoice number should I use when I move from another system?
Your last invoice number there plus one. New invoices go up from the higher of that number or the last invoice already issued, so there are no gaps or clashes.
What does Net 30 do on an invoice?
It becomes the due date on every generated invoice: the client has 30 days to pay. Due on Receipt, Net 15, Net 45 and Net 60 are the other choices, and one invoice can still be changed by hand.
Does the Set up billing wizard change invoices I already sent?
No. These rules are read when an invoice is made, so they shape the next invoice and never rewrite one already issued.
Where do I find the Set up billing wizard again?
Open Settings, then System, then Setup Wizards, and click Set up billing under Billing.
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