Invoice Autopilot Add-On

The Invoice Autopilot Add-On allows you to set up a schedule that will generate invoices automatically.

Enabling the Invoice Autopilot Add-On

1. Click on "Account & Settings" and then click on "Integrations & Add-ons".
2. Using the "Search" field on the right-hand side, enter in “Invoice Autopilot”.
3. Click on "Enable" under the add-on's section.

Creating an Invoice Autopilot Schedule

You can follow the steps below to create an invoice autopilot schedule:

1. Click on "Billing" and then click on “Add Invoice Schedule".
2. Click on the “Add New Schedule” option in the sidebar.
3. Complete the "Schedule Settings" and "Invoice Settings" steps using the details below.
4. Submit the form to save your changes.

As mentioned in Step 3 above, there are two steps involved when setting up a new Autopilot Schedule:

Step 1: Schedule Settings

This step allows you to customize when and how often invoices are generated. You can customize the following settings:

• Title - Enter a title that will help you identify the schedule in case you need to make changes
• Start/End - Enter the start and end dates for the period of time that the invoices will be generated.  The start date will be the beginning of the first invoice period and the end date should include the end of invoice period for the very last invoices that you want to generate with the schedule.
• Frequency - Choose how frequently the schedule will generate invoices. You can repeat daily, weekly, monthly plus several variations for each of these periods.
• Timing - You can choose to generate the invoices at the beginning of each invoice period if you invoice clients in advance, or at the end of each period if you invoice clients after their lessons.
• Offset - You can choose to generate invoices a number of days before or after the invoice date. 
  
  • Set Invoice Date to - This option will be displayed if the "Offset" is not set to Zero.  You have two choices to set the Invoice date:
    • Date Created - Use this if you'd like to set the Invoice Date to the date when the Invoice is generated and created.
    • Period Date - This will set the Invoice Date as the period start date if the invoice is generated at the beginning of the period and the period end if it's created at the end of the period.

Step 2: Invoice Settings

This step is very similar to creating an actual invoice, but it's important to keep in mind that you're not creating an invoice - you're selecting settings and these settings will be used to generate invoices automatically in the future. There are a few things to keep in mind:

• Due Date Offset - You can set the due date relative to the invoice date.
• Invoice Number - Invoice numbers will be set automatically, continuing from the previous invoice number.
• Including Lessons - In order to add any lessons that are scheduled during the invoice period, check the "Include Lessons" check box.
• Include Uninvoiced Lessons from Previous Period- If you add lessons to your calendar after an invoice is generated, enable this setting so the next invoice will pick up the new lessons from the previous invoice period.
  
  NOTE: In order for the "Include Uninvoiced Lessons from Previous Period" setting to appear on the Invoice Settings form, the following conditions are required:

  • The "Invoices Repeat" setting needs to be set to either "Weekly" or "Monthly"
  • The "Timing" is set to the "Beginning" of the invoice period
  • On the invoice settings step, you need to check the "Include Lessons" box

• Invoice Instructions- The instructions field will not be updated if you update the "Default Invoice Instructions" field in the Account Settings page.  This field is unique to the invoice autopilot and will need to be updated manually if you would like to change them.
• Skip Blank - If you are only including lessons on the invoice, it's a good idea to check the box to skip blank invoices in case a client doesn't have any lessons for any of the invoice periods.
• Status - If you want to review invoices before they're available to clients, you can set the status to "Saved". After reviewing you can change the status to "Approved".
• Send Invoice - If you set the status to "Approved" you can have the invoices sent immediately by checking this box.

Step 3: Verifying Invoice Dates

After you've setup the Schedule and Invoice Settings, you should verify the dates that the invoices are going to be created on.  This will ensure that the invoices are going to be generated on the dates your company is expecting.

You can view the invoice dates by viewing the Invoice Autopilot Schedule and scrolling down to the "Upcoming Invoice Dates" section.

Invoice Generation

The code for processing Invoice Autopilot Schedules is run every 6 hours. Generally invoices will be generated in the first six hours of the day, depending on your time zone.

If you want to generate invoices after a day has been completed, you should set the "Offset" to 1 day after the invoice date in the "Schedule Settings".  This will cause the invoice for the previous day to be generated in the first 6 hours of the following day.

Viewing Scheduled Invoices

If you'd like to view the dates that the invoices are scheduled to be created on, you can click the "View" icon next to the Schedule you created on the "Invoice Schedules" table and refer to the "Upcoming Invoice Dates" section. You can use this section to confirm that the scheduled invoice dates match the dates that you intended.

You can also view invoices that have already been generated by the Invoice Autopilot in the Invoices table by viewing the invoice and then looking at the sidebar on the right-hand side.  It will display the name of the Invoice Autopilot Schedule that created it.

Adding Customers to a Schedule

You can add additional customers to a schedule by following the steps below:

1. Click on "Billing" and then click on "Invoice Autopilot Schedules".
2. Click on the "Invoice Settings" button on the schedule you'd like to add customers to.
3. In the "Customers" field, add the customers
4. Submit the form to save your changes.

You can also add customers to an Invoice Schedule directly from their Teachworks profile.  You can follow the steps below to do this:

1. Click on "Students" and then click on "Families" or "Students" (for independent students).
2. Click on the "Edit" button to edit their profile.
3. Scroll down to the "Invoicing" section.
4. Click on the "Invoice Autopilot Schedules" field to select a preexisting schedule.
5. Submit the form to save your changes. 

 

NOTE: If you change a customer’s profile status to “Inactive” and then edit an Invoice Autopilot Schedule's “Invoice Settings” they have been added to, the customer will be removed from the Invoice Autopilot Schedule automatically and this will be reflected on their profile. 

An Example of Creating an Invoice Autopilot Schedule

Below you can find an example for creating an Invoice Autopilot Schedule that would generate invoices monthly, at the start of the month for upcoming individual lessons.

Step 1: Schedule Settings

1. Schedule Title: If you’re planning to add a number of schedules, select a title that will make it easy to spot this schedule if you want to make any adjustments in the future.
2. Schedule Begins/Ends: Select the date range you'd like this schedule to run for. This can be set far into the future, but it defaults to a year.
3. Invoices Repeat: Monthly, every 1 month, each 1st day of the month.
4. Timing: Generate Invoices at the beginning of invoice period (this allows you to add upcoming lessons and bill in advance)
   

Step 2: Choose Invoice Settings

1. Customers: Add all the customers that you want to include in the schedule here. If you’d like to select all customers, click the “Select All” option.
   
   
   NOTE: If you add more customers to Teachworks, remember to go back and add them to the schedule.
2. Due Date Offset: Set as required.
   
3. Choose the “Add Lessons” option: This allows you to include individual lessons on the invoice. Since this autopilot schedule will generate invoices that occur in future, choose the option to include “All” lesson statuses (lessons will only be marked as attended after they’ve occurred).
   
4. Skip if Blank: Choose this option to ensure that the autopilot doesn’t generate invoices with no lessons on them.
5. Skip if Total Zero: Choose this option to ensure that lessons with a 0 invoice total are not created.
6. Invoice Status: If you’d like to review invoices before sending them to your clients, set the status to “Saved”. If you don’t have to review them, you can choose the “Approved” Option.
7. Send Invoice Emails: This option will appear if you select the “Approved” option. Tick the box if you’d like to email invoices to your clients as soon as they’ve been created.
   
   

Step 3: Review Schedule

Once you’ve created your Invoice Autopilot Schedule, you can view the dates on which invoices will be generated and sent. You can follow the steps below to do this:

1. Click on "Billing" and then click on "Invoice Autopilot Schedules".
2. Click the "View" icon next to the schedule you'd like to review.

This will display a page that displays a summary of your settings as well as the following:

1. Invoice Date: The date that will display on the invoice.
2. Create Date: The date on which invoices will be generated.
3. Invoice Period: The date range that will be used to pull lessons from the calendar on to each invoice.
4. Status: Once invoices have been created, the status will update to “Completed”.