Lachlan Cox:

Hi Lachlan

Thanks for your reply, did we speak on the phone about this a few months ago?

Thanks also for taking this issue seriously. I realised the other day that actually the "Combine Invoices" template does actually have the words "Tax Invoice" on it, so please ignore that point, it's just the other 2 points that are needed

I understand that CorePlus has a development schedule, and no doubt has many competing needs.

My problem is that more & more Plan Management companies are implementing automatic payment systems, and they can't accept the current "Combine Invoices" format, so I do them manually in Word

I'm a bit daunted by the prospect of doing manual invoices for the next 12 months!

Is it possible to install a workaround or Add On until the permanent fix can be installed?

For example, a tick box for "Hide Invoice Column" + a txt field that lets me enter an invoice number, or even automatically increments the invoice numbers?

I'd appreciate any assistance you can provide

Thanks

Clive Bourne:

Hi Clive,

No worries at all and I don't believe we did - It must have been a member of our support team!

Yes, I was thinking the same thing around a check box to hide invoice numbers.

The complex part is how best to manage the invoice numbers for these combined invoices, either manually or automated and incremental.

We need to ensure that there is an easy way to reconcile and record the payment against the included invoices.

I think we may look at some automated invoice number for this eg. INV-XXXXX and perhaps add this invoice reference into the invoice notes fields for the given client.

Do you think that would be an acceptable solution?

Lachlan Cox: Hi Lachlan

Yes that sounds good to me, but actually I think it can be simpler than that

The "Combine Invoices" invoices could be regarded purely as an external document, an "outward facing" form.

Whilst it does need it's own Invoice number, I don't think that has to have any knock on effect on the internal CorePlus invoices, they can all just remain as they are.

When the client pays, it would be as if they are paying a statement, so the CorePlus user would apply the payments to the invoices that are on that statement, same as you would in any accounting program

I agree the automated invoice number would be the best way to go, with a format that is easy to distinguish from the current CorePlus invoices, so INV-XXXXX is fine. The letters "INV" on a client remittance tells the CorePlus user that it's the external invoice being paid

Perhaps the more complex solution that makes it easy to reconcile the payment is more of a long term thing, but I think a simpler process right now would make it quicker to implement

Thanks Lachlan

Lachlan Cox:

Hi Lachlan

Is there any update available on this issue?

As more Plan Management companies implement automatic payment software, CorePlus is becoming less & less feasible for invoicing

I'd appreciate a realistic timeline to solve this problem

Thanks

Clive

Clive Bourne:

Hi Clive,

Thanks for your comment.

We have had a look into this and believed the proposed changes should be fairly straight forward to implement, but we have also discovered a potential workflow that may meet all your requirements straight away.

Rather than Combine Invoice, try the Print Outstanding option instead.

This option still allows you to combine invoices together, but importantly has an option to hide invoice number, states Tax invoice/receipt at the top and allows adds a unique batch reference number. It also adds this to a batch history for client for easy management in the future.

Could you please take a look and let me know if that suits the plan management companies requirements?

Thank you

Lachlan Cox: Hi Lachlan

Many thanks for your reply, and for the creative solution.

It's close, but unfortunately the auto payment systems do require an Invoice number, they won't accept a Batch Reference number instead. Pedantic, I know, but that's how it is

The other problem with this option is that it separates each day onto a separate invoice with one invoice per page (into one document), so the auto payment system will read this as a number of separate invoices

If we send them the invoices like this instead of as a single document with a single total, the clients will get an SMS approval request for every single invoice.

Our clients have very very low energy resources, and to do 10 x SMS approvals would likely take them a few days, and then they wouldn't be able to do anything else on those days.

So to avoid eroding their health, we need to send them a single invoice with a list of dates and a single final total, rather than a separate invoice for each day

Thanks for the innovative idea, but unfortunately it's not a workable solution.

I'm encouraged to hear that the changes are fairly straightforward to implement.

What do you think is a realistic time frame for these changes to be installed?

Thanks

Clive

Clive Bourne:

Hey Clive,

I've reached out to you via email to schedule a time to catch up and discuss further.

Thanks!