Invoicing in Tribe CRM allows you to manage your billing efficiently and accurately. You can create invoices directly from relations, activities, or projects, send them online, and track their status. Automating reminders and issuing credit invoices ensures that your financial records remain up to date. By following this guide, you will learn how to create, send, and manage invoices within Tribe CRM.
Table of Contents
Prerequisites for Creating an Invoice
How to Create an Invoice Template
How to Create a New Invoice
How to Add Product Lines to an Invoice
How to Preview and Send an Invoice
How to Track the Status of an Invoice
How to Automate Reminders
How to Credit an Invoice
Working with Sales Orders Instead of Invoices
Invoicing Policy
Prerequisites for Creating an Invoice
Before creating invoices, ensure that:
The invoicing module is activated in Tribe CRM.
Any necessary invoice templates and e-mail templates have been created.
Related modules, such as Projects, Work Orders, or Subscriptions, are active if you intend to create invoices from these activities.
How to Create an Invoice Template
Invoice templates determine the format and content of your invoices.
Navigate to the relevant knowledge base articles on creating and customising invoice and e-mail templates.
Create or adjust a template according to your organisation’s requirements.
Note: Changes to templates will apply to future invoices; you can make individual edits when creating a specific invoice.
How to Create a New Invoice
Invoices can be created directly from a relation or linked activities:
From a relation:
Open the relation you want to invoice.
Click the +Invoice button in the action bar (expand +More if necessary).
Enter the required details and select the appropriate invoice template.
Click Save.
From an activity:
Open the activity (e.g., project, sales opportunity, work order, time registration, subscription).
Click +Invoice. All relevant product rules and data from the activity will transfer automatically.
How to Add Product Lines to an Invoice
Open the newly created invoice.
Click +Product to add product lines.
Select products from the product book or create a new product.
All added lines are automatically saved.
How to Preview and Send an Invoice
Click the Preview tab to review the invoice before sending.
To make invoice-specific changes without altering the template, click the Edit tab.
Click Send.
Adjust the e-mail text if necessary, then click Send again. The invoice number and date are only generated when the invoice is sent.
Note: By default, the invoice is sent to the relation’s financial e-mail address. If this is empty, it uses the organisation’s e-mail address or the contact person’s e-mail. You can BCC accounting via Configuration > Invoicing, and set default payment terms in the same location.
How to Track the Status of an Invoice
Use the invoicing dashboard to monitor invoices:
Invoices by Phase: Shows all invoices organised by stage, such as Draft, Sent, or Reminder.
Invoiced: Displays a total overview of all invoices already sent.
You can also create custom widgets or views to monitor the data most relevant to your workflow.
How to Automate Reminders
Tribe CRM can automatically send first and second reminders for unpaid invoices:
Navigate to Configuration > Activities > Invoice.
Open the Automations tab.
Enable both automations using the slider.
Conditions for reminders:
1st Reminder: Invoice is Sent, not marked Do Not Remind, due date = current date - 1 day. Status updates automatically to 1st Reminder after sending.
2nd Reminder: Invoice is in 1st Reminder status, not marked Do Not Remind, due date = current date - 7 days. Status updates automatically to 2nd Reminder after sending.
Did you know? You can exclude specific relations from reminders using the Do Not Send Reminders slider on the customer card.
How to Credit an Invoice
Open the invoice to be credited.
Click the dot menu in the top-right corner and select Credit Invoice.
The credit invoice will appear as Draft in the timeline under Open Activities. The original invoice remains under Closed Activities with the status Credited.
Open the credit invoice and click Send to issue it.
Working with Sales Orders Instead of Invoices
If your organisation uses sales orders:
Navigate to Configuration > Invoicing.
Select Working with sales orders instead of invoices.
The system will adjust to manage sales orders while keeping the invoicing module active.
Invoicing Policy
Tribe CRM uses a default invoicing policy set to strict from 1 April 2024:
Once an invoice is sent, it is 'frozen' and cannot be edited.
Credits must be issued through the credit invoice function.
Phase changes, such as marking a reminder sent, are still possible.
All invoice changes are logged in the audit trail.
Organisations using Tribe before 1 April 2024 retain the accommodative policy by default. Administrators can adjust the policy at any time via Configuration > Billing > Billing Settings.
Quick Summary
Tribe CRM enables you to create, send, and manage invoices efficiently. You can add product lines, preview and send invoices, automate reminders, and issue credit invoices when necessary. The guide explains how to use all features while ensuring accurate tracking and adherence to your organisation’s invoicing policy.