Accounting Advanced Features - How to

Owned by Scott Ward
Aug 23, 2023
7 min read

Here you will find the details of how to use the Advanced Accounting feature and descriptions of how they function.

With these 4 functions, you will be able to handle a lot of scenarios we regularly experience. All features complement each other in very flexible ways. For example:

  • Accidentally delete an invoice? To resolve, link the Xero invoice back.

  • Need to change an existing invoices price? “Delete” the Invoice, change the Price in VMS and click “Send”

  • Manual invoices only recorded in Xero? Link them back to the VMS using the “Link” function.

 Important Information

Only Visual Domain staff with the VMS Role of “Accounts” will have access to perform these actions. These actions are exclusive to these users as they do provide substantial functionality that can directly communicate with Visual Domain clients and directly modify our Xero invoicing/accounting numbers.

Feature List

  1. Send / Re-Send Invoice

  2. Link Xero Invoice

  3. Delete Invoice

  4. Cancel “Active” Project (Not yet released)

 Instructions

1. Send / Re-Send Invoice

Two slightly different functionalities here, this provides the ability to generate in Xero the Projects invoice on-demand and immediately send it to the client. Regardless of the Invoicing Terms and ignoring the weekly invoice runs.
Once the invoice is generated, it can be then re-sent on demand at any time. (Even once paid)

Suggest this to be the single method of delivering all invoices moving forward - It will provide full logging capabilities for troubleshooting and possible disputes and date tracking

  1. Open an existing project that has yet to be invoiced. Ensuring some Production Costs have been added to create a Total Price.

  2. Ensure an Invoicing Contact has been selected, as this will be the recipient of the invoice email.

  3. Click on the “Invoice” page on the left-hand side. Here you will see the automatic schedule of invoicing.

  4. Find the scheduled invoice, and click the 3 dot menu. The option to “Send” will show.

  5. Clicking “Send” will immediately generate the invoice in Xero for the Project's total outstanding price and deliver it to the assigned Invoice Contact.

  6. For Projects that have already been invoiced, you will also have the “Send” functionality. In this case, it will just re-send the existing invoice.

It is possible to now add more Production Costs to the already invoiced Project, allowing you to once again send a new invoice. You can do this as many times as you like. Great for the rare scenerios of when a client requires numerous at specific values

This feature cannot be used for “Fortnightly” Invoicing Terms. If it is required to be sent for a Project using Fortnightly, simple change the Invoicing Terms.

 

2. Link Xero Invoice

This feature makes use of the VMS’s already existing webhook & API connection with Xero and will allow users with Xero access to manually link up existing invoices in Xero to a Project in the VMS. This feature will be very helpful with Manual Invoice scenarios.

  1. Open an existing project that has yet to be invoiced. Ensuring some Production Costs have been added to create a Total Price.

  2. Open up Xero and locate the Invoice related to this Project. This invoice can be in any status, sent, pending, voided, or paid. Whichever it is will be copied across to the VMS automatically.

  3. When viewing the Xero invoice, you will need to locate the Xero Invoice Unique ID in the web pages address bar. It will appear after the equals symbol in the URL. ( = ). Copy this Unique ID.

  4. Now in the VMS, Click on the “Invoice” page on the left-hand side. Here you will see the automatic schedule of invoicing.

  5. Find the scheduled invoice, and click the 3 dot menu. The option to “Link” will show.

  6. Clicking “Link” will provide a popup window with a single field, requesting a Xero ID. Paste the ID you previously copied here.

  7. The system will run a check to ensure the ID is used to correct and not used on any other existing Project. Once successful, it will then sync up the

    1. Date invoiced

    2. Invoice Status (Paid or Sent)

    3. Invoice Price

    4. Invoice Number

  8. This will now function just like any other invoice that the VMS would have automatically generated.

 

3. Delete invoice

This feature will allow users to delete any existing invoices in the VMS, regardless of its status. Once deleted, it will be reverted back to its un-invoiced state and follow the automatic invoice process as if it was never invoiced.

  1. Open an existing project that has been invoiced.

  2. Click on the “Invoice” page on the left-hand side. Here you will see any existing invoices, their value and status.

  3. Determine which invoice you wish to delete, and click the 3 dot menu. The option to “Delete” will appear.

  4. Clicking “Delete” will prompt you with a summary of what will occur and instructions to ensure the Invoice is also deleted in Xero.

  5. Once deleted, it will return to the standard Scheduled Invoice state and “To be Invoiced” status.

 

4. Cancel Active Project (Not yet released)

This feature will quite simply allow users with the Accounts permission to cancel any Project, regardless of the Project Status.

  1. Open an existing project that has been invoiced.

  2. Visit the Invoices tab and ensure no Credits or Invoices have been applied to this Project. If they have, remove them all. Either by clearing the credit applied or by using the “Delete” invoice function.

  3. At the top right of the page, you can now press the Cancel Icon

  4. This will then cancel the Project