In Xentral, you can create collective invoices that are not strictly tied to a single sales order or partial sales order, but instead include individual positions from various sales orders. The Collective bill module contains a list of customers for whom there are currently sales order positions to be billed.
A collective invoice (also known as a summarized invoice) is a document that consolidates several individual transactions, deliveries, or delivery note positions of a customer into a single invoice. This is done to simplify and streamline the billing process, especially in situations where a customer makes many smaller orders or deliveries within a certain period. This facilitates billing and reduces administrative effort.
The following functions are available to you in the Collective bill module:
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Data consolidation: Consolidation of several delivery notes or orders of a customer into a single invoice, as well as the possibility to combine positions from different sales orders and partial sales orders of a customer.
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Filter and selection options: Selection criteria for the delivery notes or sales orders to be included (e.g., period, customer, project).
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Price adjustment: Adjustment of prices of the positions to be billed for the invoice to be created.
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Detailed position overview: Display of product number, description, quantity, delivery date, price, and discount for each position, as well as marking and editing of positions (e.g., marking as free of charge, removing).
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Integration and linking options: Linking the collective invoice with the associated delivery notes and sales orders, as well as the possibility to include customer purchase order numbers and sales order numbers in the invoice.
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Permission and user management: Access control so that only authorized users can create and edit collective invoices.
Important
Note the following important notes before starting to create collective invoices:
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A collective invoice only refers to (partial) sales orders of a single customer.
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The corresponding delivery notes must already have been generated for the customer’s sales orders.
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Mixed taxation types cannot be transferred to a collective invoice.
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Differing delivery addresses are not supported in collective invoices, since collective invoices are based on delivery notes with different delivery addresses. As a workaround, you can enter the delivery address in the free text field of the collective invoice or create individual invoices.
To create a collective invoice, a sales order must first exist and be released in Xentral. Once the sales order has been continued to a delivery note, it appears in the overview of the Collective bill module. There you can select the positions you want to include in the collective invoice and create the invoice with the selected positions.
Proceed as follows for creating a sales order and then a collective invoice.
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Open the menu Sell > Sales order.
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Click on + NEW in the top right corner to create a new sales order.
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Add the sales order positions.
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Release the sales order.
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Continue the sales order to a delivery note. Alternatively, you can also process a sales order via a logistics process without creating an invoice.
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After releasing the document, the delivery note appears in the Collective bill module in the list of the corresponding customer.
Note
The following prerequisites must be met so that your open positions to be billed are displayed in the Collective bill module:
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The sales order has a released and non-canceled delivery note.
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Delivery notes can be linked to a sales order, but do not have to be.
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In the delivery notes, the option no invoice must not be activated.
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Delivery note positions must not be marked as free of charge or already have been billed.
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Only delivery note positions for which you have a valid right for the associated project are visible to you. Administrators see all projects and thus all delivery note positions.
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Use the Smart Search to open the Collective bill module.
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Select the desired customer and click on the pencil icon on the right.
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Alternatively: If there are many entries, you can also find the customer by entering the customer number in the search field.
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In the view for this customer, all open positions from delivery notes that have not yet been billed are displayed.
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Select the position(s) to be billed by activating the check box in front of the position line.
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Optional: If required, you can also change the position amount.
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Use the Bulk processing settings that are important to you, e.g., display of the sales order number.
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Click on Take marked items in a collective invoice.
The collective invoice is created with the selected positions and released directly. An invoice number is assigned to the collective invoice.
Tip
The associated sales orders and delivery notes of the billed positions are displayed in the protocol of the collective invoice.
The bulk processing in the customer view of the Collective bill module offers you various options to adapt the creation of the collective invoice to your needs. For example, you can select which information is displayed on the invoice, how the delivery date is determined, or which positions are included in the invoice.
The following table explains the bulk processing functions.
Option |
Description |
|---|---|
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Mark all |
With this selection, you can select or deselect all positions listed above. |
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Delivery date from delivery note |
The delivery date from the delivery note is used for the collective invoice. |
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Delivery date from delivery note items |
The delivery date from the delivery note position is used for the collective invoice. If a position has no date entered, the date of the delivery note is entered. |
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Including your order number |
The purchase order number of the customer is transferred to the collective invoice. |
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including sales order number |
The sales order number of the position is transferred to the collective invoice. |
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including all open postage items from the sales order |
All open positions including postage are transferred to the invoice, e.g., shipping costs from several sales orders. |
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Remove original description from position |
The description of the product position is not transferred to the collective invoice. |
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Take marked items in a collective invoice |
The collective invoice is created with the selected positions and released directly. It receives an invoice number. |
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Set marked items to not settle |
The positions are removed from the list and can no longer be billed. |
In the Collective bill module, you can find an overview of existing collective invoices. There you can view the details of individual invoices, e.g., the positions included, the associated sales orders and delivery notes, and the invoice status. You also have the possibility to edit or cancel the invoice if necessary. The Collective bill module only serves for the overview and creation of collective invoices and contains no separate setting options.
The search options in the Collective bill module allow you to filter by Customer no., Customer name, or a full-text search (in the Search field at the top left). By clicking on Tools, you can download the customer list as a CSV, Excel, or PDF file.
A collective invoice is an independent invoice. It does not summarize already existing invoices, but instead creates a new invoice from the delivery notes that contains positions from several sales orders. The collective invoice takes the positions directly from the delivery notes, not from existing invoices (even if these were created from the delivery notes). If you change a position or quantity in an invoice, it reappears in the collective invoice because the delivery notes are not automatically updated by changes in the invoice. In this case, you must also adjust the position you want to change or delete in the delivery note (remove write protection and then edit), not just in the invoice. After that, you can transfer the sales order back into a new collective invoice with the updated positions.