*********NOTE* - Due to changes in terminology, all references to Bills have been changed to Invoices, and all references to Billings have been changed to Time Entries in the Guide below. At some point, the Video above may also be updated. *************

In a previous guide, we’ve seen how we can create Time Entries in both Flat Fee and Hourly Billing Matters. For a refresher on either of those, as well as how to Submit them for approval, click here for Flat Fee and here for Billings (Time Entries). Once those Invoices have been submitted for approval, someone needs to approve them! This guide will show you how to find the Invoices, generate a Pre-Invoice, Approve the Pre-Invoice, Generate the PDF and then Email or Print for Sending!

In the power bar on the left side, under the Accounting subheading, you’ll see the Invoices Entity. Click that to begin.

This next page will usually default to Pre Invoices, but in case it doesn’t, click the dropdown carrot at the top and go to Pre Invoices now.

Next, we'll need to Generate the Pre-Invoices. Click +Generate Invoices at the top of the screen.

Here, a new window will pop out asking for which Invoices you’d like to Generate. By default, this will be set to the last day of the previous month, but you can change the date by clicking the Calendar icon shown below. Further, you can specify a range date for the Invoices that you’d like to pull by clicking the Dropdown and choosing the other option.

We’ll go ahead and Generate all ungenerated Invoices up to this date, and as you can see, I initially wrote this guide on 4/23/2020!

One other option you'll see in this window is the

The next small window will tell you how many Invoices were processed and if there were any errors. If there are any errors, get with one of your System Admins to ensure that the Invoices were entered correctly. In our example here, everything is fine!

Exit out of this window and refresh the browser to see the Invoices that you created in the Pre Invoices view.

Now, let’s get to our Pre-Bills or Pre-Invoices (depending on what your Firm calls them). Click the Invoices Entity on the left side of the screen and make sure that you’re in the Pre-Bills View.

From here, you can Approve, shown in a later step, but you also have the option to Print these in a large batch. Some firms still prefer to do their Approvals on pen and paper, so if that description fits you, then choose the Invoices that you want to include in the Print and find the button at the top for Print Draft Invoices.

Once you click Yes here, it will generate a PDF of all the included Invoices and Download them into a Zip File on your machine.

Once this finishes:

Go to your Downloads Folder and find the new Zip File.

And now that you have the files on your machine, you can Print or Email or whatever your approvers would have you do in order to get them to the right people!

Regardless of whether or not you need to print them, both of the Invoices below are now Ready for Approval

Here, you can click each Invoice and double-check them before you approve them. You can also preview the PDF and ensure that it’s set the way that you want it to be by clicking the top, left button, Preview PDF.

If you’d like to change the information displayed on the PDF, you’ll want to speak with your System Admin.

Once completed, click Approve at top

And click OK in the window that pops out

***NOTE*** As of 11/15/2021, Approving an Invoice requires the Curo365 Approver Role. For more information on adding Roles to Users, click here.

If you go back to the Invoices Entity and back to the Pre Invoices view, you now see one less Invoice waiting for Approval.

You can continue approving your Invoices one at a time like this, or you can select multiple Invoices by clicking in the checkmark area on the left of each Invoice, selecting the ones that you want, and then clicking Approve on top.

*BONUS FEATURE* - If you were to click the Invoice Name (number, 10015 from our picture above) and go into the actual settings of the Invoice, you'd find a lot of information, but noteworthy for this example, you'd find Period End Date. If you set that date to a day in the future, this Invoice would continue to receive Generated Timed Entries and Flat Fee Services until either the date hits or the Invoice is approved (described below. Set a future date and continue to addon to the Invoice!

After you’ve approved all of the Invoices, they’ll need to be sent out. Click the dropdown on the top and go to the All Invoices Created view.

Here, you can Generate individual PDF's, or put a checkmark next to each Invoice requiring a PDF and Generate en masse.

And clicking OK

*NOTE* - The View showing your Invoices will contain anywhere from 50-250 Records on the same screen, depending on your settings. This means that you may not be able to select every Invoice that you want in the first pass, and may instead need to select multiple sets of Invoices for whatever you're trying to accomplish.

*ADDITIONAL NOTE* - If, for some reason, an Invoice is Deleted, all Entries on that Invoice will be released back into the pool of Ungenerated Invoices. Those Timed Entries or Flat Fee Services will then need to be Generated again onto a new Invoice.

Finally, you’ll be able to Print or Email the PDF that you created depending on how the recipient wants to receive their Invoice (saved within the Client/Billing Contact information). In the dropdown above, you can choose Invoices Ready to Email or Invoices Ready to Print (download and Print) and see which of the recently-Approved Invoices are in each view.

Here, you can check multiple Invoices intended for the same Recipient and consolidate them into one Email, as shown below.

IMPORTANT NOTE - The below screenshot is simply showing our ability to select multiple Invoices and then click Email - these are *not* all for the same client and would, therefore, *not* all be grouped together in the same Email.

Or you can click a single Invoice and choose Email from within that Invoice.

Regardless of which method you use, you’ll get the following box. Here, you can have the system automatically consolidate Invoices for Clients/Matters of the same name, or you can leave it as it is and simply do the one, single Invoice. Once set, click OK.

Once these have been sent, the System will automatically Mark the Invoice as Emailed to help you keep track of what's already been sent through your Firm's Process and what hasn't.

For Printing PDF’s that need to be physically mailed, find the Invoices Ready to Print dropdown.

When you click an Invoice in Invoices Ready to Print, you’ll have the option to Download it to your computer as a PDF for later printing. Additionally, these can be done en masse, so select the ones that you want to Download and choose Download at the top of the screen to bring them all into your computer in one file.

Now these Invoices are ready to be printed and mailed out.

In the case of Printed Invoices, you'll want to manually mark them as Printed for the purposes of record-keeping. Unlike Emailing, however, the system can't mark these Automatically because it won't actually know when it's been Printed. Choose the Invoices you've Printed and then click Mark As Printed, as shown below.

***NOTE*** - As of an Update on 11/15/2021, both Marking as Emailed and Marking as Printed require the Curo365 Approver Role.

And that’s it! You can now Generate and send out your submitted and approved Invoices!