Introduction To The Invoices Module

From Dwayne Wright - Certified FileMaker 9 Developer
www.dwaynewright.com
info@dwaynewright.com
TWITTER: dwaynewright

The Invoices module is where you enter in sales transactions to clients. Actually, it is one of the more direct and easy to master modules within InBizness SOHO.

Although you can create invoices in the invoice module, most users will create them from a client record. This way you can be sure that the invoice is linked to a client for reporting and accurate client invoice history.

The shipping fields that you see on an invoice record and on a printed invoice are stored in the client module but you can add a drop ship address on the invoice. The billing information is copied over from the client record and is editable on the invoice.

The Line Entry or Text Entry tab can be where you add all the various products and services that were sold to a customer on one invoice transaction. This information is not stored in the invoice table but in another table called inventory sales. For all practical purposes, this is invoice information but using a link to this table allows us to have an almost unlimited number of products on an invoice (and if this is your situation ... good for you ) and it allows us to automatically deduct sold products from our inventory table. The key element in the product order portal is the product id field. When you click into this value list, you will see all the possible products that you can sell on an invoice. Again, to beat an already buried horse, this system was designed by me for me. So you might have way too may products to support this function. Again, this is something that can be modified by those that purchase this solution. It would not be hard to build filters and pop up windows for the quick and accurate entry of sold items.

When a product id is entered, the description, price and classification information is automatically brought in from the inventory table. The portal is setup to accept new records by navigating to the last empty row and then click within the Product ID field. There is a capability to have two level pricing for a client or on a line item and that pricing is pulled from the inventory module.

There is also an area that allows you to see and add to the overall totals of an invoice. The Sub Total field calculates automatically. You can manually enter in shipping and sales tax totals that will be combined with the sub total field to reach the calculated grand total. You can make the shipping and sales tax fields automated using FileMaker design for relationships and scripting.

There are a few buttons that are unique to the invoice screen and I’d like to cover them here. Three of these buttons are dedicated to the output of an invoice and the other allows you to jump to the client record of an invoice.


View Related Client - As I mentioned earlier, all invoices are designed to be linked to a client record. This is done when the client id information matches between a record in the client module and a record in the invoice module. This button allows you to go directly to that client record in the clients tab to see additional client information that you cannot see here.

Print Invoice - allows you to print an invoice of the record you are viewing. The printed invoice can allow you to specify payment and return instructions. I did not provide that by default because my business is primarily credit card internet based.

Email Invoice - this is how I deliver 90% of my invoices. Clicking this button allows me to quickly send a customer an invoice and allows you to include attachments. I deliver the majority of my products as email attachments, so this system is geared towards that process.

Email Invoice Multiple - this function allows you to generate multiple copies of an email invoice. You might want to do this for a number of reasons. One of the primary reasons I do it is if I need to send many enclosures. I will generate a number of invoices and attach one enclosure to each. It is also handy if you need to resend an invoice. This button only sends the email invoice and not the notification letter that the Email Invoice button sends.

Key Features Of The Invoices Module
- Ability to sell products and services
- Ability to email out invoices
- Ability to link invoices to staff time cards
- Ability to link invoices to media files
- Ability to apply multiple payments to an invoice
- Ability to duplicate an invoice with line items
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More info about the author and FileMaker in general, contact me at info@dwaynewright.com.

© 2008 - Dwayne Wright - dwaynewright.com

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