Having trouble getting started making invoices
Lets boil this down. I run a small company. All I need to do is track invoices and payments; no need to deal with inventory right now as most bills are nothing but labor,and when they are parts, it's not stocked parts.
So, As I see it, I have to do this:
1) create a contact
2) then an account.
3) create a product called labor (which is a 1-time thing).
4) create a sales order and add items
5) create an invoice
6) receive payment
First and formost, I do not need to create any sales orders. I do the work and then invoice for it; sales orders are never needed.
Second, after creating my inventory item of labor, it doesn't appear as a sales order item, but I can see that it's saved in the database.
It seems this system is setup more for an inventory sales business or manufacturing business rather than a labor based contractor type business...
Some guidance would be appreciated.
Sounds to me like you should just start at step 5. Create customers and invoices and forget the rest (Note you can create a customer from the invoice screen). Use sales categories instead of item numbers.
I don't see how to skip to step 5 because creating an Invoice requires there to be a Sales Order, and a sales order requires there to be a product to add as a line item and it requires an account to be selected. Then an account requires there to be a contact selected.... So I'm still confounded...
You can navigate to invoicing via the top level Menus:
Accounting->Account Receivable->Invoice->New
You can also navigate via the Desktop on the Sales Desktop:
-Click Post Invoices
-Click New
As John mentioned you can create Customers on the fly. When you click the magnifying glass in the customer number window, one of the options is "New" You will need to add in customer information, including contact. But you can do it all form the invoice form.
John also mentioned using Sales Categories vs. Item Numbers. When you get to Line Items, skip the first section, and select Miscellaneous. You can add in your own number there, and description you want. But it has to tie to a Sales Category in order to post properly to the General Ledger. You can create new Sales Categories on the fly.
This system can be both powerful and easy to use, but it does take some effort to set it up. It will not work without doing some of that set up ahead of time, before you start invoicing and posting to the general ledger.
Thank you! I had been clicking on Sales on the left menu and then clicking the Create Invoices button. When you do that it's WAY more complicated. I don't understand why it would bring up a completely different invoice screen; it is confusing is it not?
I created my first invoice :) and I figured out how to modify the Invoice template and my logo :) Making good progress!
One more question for now: what exactly does it mean to post the invoice? Does that translate to "I've billed them for this, it's official now" or "I've received payment"?
Thanks!
Posting means recording the the General Ledger. In a system like this you create a document, and then have the opportunity to review/edit before it get's recorded to the General Ledger.
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I can't record the cost of an item I sold using the Miscellaneous Item. I'd like to record it somewhere for tax write-off purposes, not inventory tracking... Is that possible using the Miscellaneous item, or will I have to make use of the inventory system for that?
You have to set up at least 1 item. Services are set as a "Reference" type item. Make sure to set up an item site, and also make sure that you mark it as "sellable"....
You can then attach standard costs to that item that will get picked up when you bill it.
I created a new item, called MISC. I set Item Type=Purchased, Class Code=Purchased Items (a code I created), Inventory UOM=EA, Product category=Standard, Item is sold is Checked.
I created a new Item site for item MISC and checked Sold from this Site. Control Method=Regular. Planner Code=PU (purchased item code I created) and Cost Category=Category1.
I still cannot set the item's cost when I select this item to add to the invoice.
Edit: I tried changing the item type to Reference as suggested. No change in the ability to assign a cost to it when adding it to the invoice. Sigh.
I have been trying off and on for nearly a year (since I joined these forums) to figure out xTuple Postbooks enough so I can use it. I've almost figured out enough to use it, and if I can figure out the cost tracking then I will finally be able to start using xTuple!
Please help me get past this!
Nearly a year? My goodness, have you ever contacted xTuple about commercial support?
Postbooks / Xtuple is a standard cost system, so you must set up the cost element / cost $. There's a cost button on the product definition screen to set this up.
On purchased items, standard cost for "material cost" is pre-defined. On reference items, you have to create user defined costing elements (like "Labor" or whatever)...and the costs. On manufactured items, material cost is handled by rolling up that item's bill of materials.
There's a big button for Costs or you can get it off the inventory cost menu.
Of course, when setting up an ERP system, many people struggle because they're not trained in cost / management accounting - it's the service aspect I get paid for, and of course the other partners here, as well as Xtuple's professional services as Ned points out.
Hope that gets you pointed in the right direction.
Ned: No I haven't... I looked at it once and remember thinking it was too expensive; so I'm working this out in what little spare time I have... Usually I'll get stuck on something and then leave it for a few weeks and come back to it, but I'm so close I'm getting antsy ;)
dkmeans: Yes, that does help. I'll dig into the costing menu and see what jumps out at me.
I understand needing to get paid for your services; and believe me, I would have loved having one of you lay it out real neat and simple for me...
At least I'm learning more this way.
Thank you!
See image. I have the costing set for the Misc part, but cannot override the cost when adding it to an invoice.
I also tried changing the part cost in the costing editor screen, but that also changes the part cost in already created invoices; it's not what I want.
So is there no way to have a Miscellaneous part with a cost that can be varied any time it's put in an Invoice without affecting any other invoice?
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The screen shot is of an invoice line item...not the cost screen. I think first off terminology is a problems ....cost is what you pay a vendor...in some systems I've seen that referred to as cost price.
Changing the standard cost does not change existing invoices.
Yes, I understand that cost is the money I paid my supplier for a part and that my screen shot was of adding an invoice line item... I think you are misunderstanding what I want to do... I created a part named MISC., which would stand for ANY part I buy from a supplier but DO NOT regularly use and may NEVER use again. So that MISC part's cost (the money I paid) will need to change EVERY time I use that part in an invoice. I can't find a way to do that...
Notice in the screenshot the unit cost of the item is listed 17.95. Also notice that the cost fields in that screen shot are greyed out so I cannot change them here for just this once, on this invoice's item, which is what I REALLY want to do.
Make sense what I'm trying to do now and why I'm trying to do it?
Here's one method I tried: I had a part that cost me 17.95 which I resold, and another that cost me 5.00 and I resold it too. So I set the MISC part's cost to 17.95 in the costing screen. I then added the part to an invoice. I then altered the MISC part cost in the costing screen to a new cost of 5.00. I then added the MISC part to the invoice. I then went back to the first MISC item I added, and it showed the newly entered part cost of 5.00. :(
