Creating and Managing Invoices 

Using the Admin Portal's Invoicing functions to invoice customers

This article is a guide for Admin Portal users responsible for creating and sending customer Invoices. To understand the requirements and processes involved to prepare for customer Invoicing, see Rating Consignments.

In this article:

Invoicing Models

Understanding Invoices

Creating Invoices and Adding Consignments

Editing Invoices

Sending Invoices

Some Organisation setup is required to allow consignments to be rated. Ensure all the steps in this process have been completed before attempting to create Invoices. 

Invoicing Models

Hitrak supports a number of methods for invoicing customers, depending on your preferences and which Finance System you use. The chosen Invoicing model for your Hitrak system is set up during onboarding, and can be changed if required, with support from the Hitrak team. 

With each model, Hitrak supports the following to assist with reconciliation in your Finance System:

-> Different GL Code usage for Freight, individual Delivery Extras and Surcharges, to enable accurate pricing allocation in Hitrak for consignment charge components .

-> Data Extracts of Invoice data, with varying levels of detail to suit your needs.

In addition to Rates and Pricing Setup, some additional steps are required within customer Organisations to enable Direct Invoicing or integration with Xero. If using neither of these models, skip to the next section.

Direct Invoicing

Hitrak Direct Invoicing allows you to manage and send customer Invoices and Schedules from Hitrak, instead of managing with an external system. Payment allocation must still be handled separately, however this feature enables Invoices and their Schedules to be confirmed and emailed directly from the Admin Portal, as soon as they are ready. 

This model requires an email address to be stored for each customer Invoice Account in Hitrak. Ensure there is a valid email address for each Account entered during the Organisation Account Setup. 

Xero Integration

If you are a Xero user, Hitrak's integration allows you to manage invoicing between the two systems. Using this model, Hitrak data is automatically sent to Xero. Invoices can then be emailed from Xero, with their Hitrak Invoice Schedules attached.

When an Invoice is emailed to the customer from Xero, the information is provided back to Hitrak, where the status is updated to Confirmed, and a Hitrak Invoice number is generated.

Once the integration with your Xero account has been configured, some additional setup is required in the Organisation page. Invoice Accounts must be matched to the correct Contacts in Xero as follows.

To set up Hitrak Account links to Xero: 

• In the Organisation's Finance System page, select the Hitrak Account(s) to link to the relevant Xero contact. If more than one Account should link to the same Xero contact, you can select multiple accounts from this list. 
• Click Set Invoicee.
  
  
• Scroll or use the search filter on the list of Xero contacts to find the correct one.
• Select the Xero contact and click Save to confirm.

• To remove a link completely, select the relevant Accounts from the list, and click Remove Invoicee, then click Yes to confirm.

Other Finance System 

Invoices can be managed manually within your chosen Finance System, using Hitrak's detailed file extracts to support as required.

Find out more on data extracts and sending Invoices below, in Sending Invoices.

Understanding Invoices 

Whichever model you choose for invoicing customers, all Invoices created in Hitrak can be viewed and managed from the Invoices page.

In this section:

Viewing the Invoices Page

Invoice Status Definitions

Viewing Invoice Details

Invoices Page

This provides a list of Invoices created within a selected date range, with columns summarising their data.

Invoices can be further filtered here by Customer, Invoice Account, Invoice Number and Status. The Invoices page also enables:

-> Bulk actions, such as Invoice Date changes, Reference changes and Status updates.
-> Invoice data export options, with varying levels of detail.

To view an Invoice, simply click its entry in the list to open the details page. 

Invoice Status Definitions

Viewing Invoice Details

In the Invoice details page, users have access to:

-> Basic Invoice data, such as the Customer, Account, Description, relevant dates and reference numbers.

-> Invoice lines, i.e. the charges for each component in the Invoice. Each Invoice displays the charges for each line and its corresponding GL code.

-> The Invoice Status History

-> A list of the Consignment details, including the quantity and types of the freight items, their total weight and volume, and a breakdown of charges by for Freight, Delivery Extras and Surcharges. Hyperlinks in this section allow any consignment's full details to be viewed in a separate browser tab. 

-> Annotations. These are internal notes related to the Invoice, which behave similarly to Consignment Endorsements. Some Annotations are automatically generated by the system when an action is performed, but these can also be added manually.

Creating Invoices and Adding Consignments (Rating Page)

Once a consignment has been rated, it can be added to an Invoice.

Invoices are created either automatically or manually in the Rating page. 

In this section:

Automatic Invoicing

Manual Invoicing

Adding to an existing Invoice

Automatic Invoicing

The automatic creation and updating of Invoices is dependent on the accuracy of Invoice Account configuration and consignment settings. When automatic Invoicing is triggered, the system will attempt to create new Invoices or add the selected consignments to existing ones, by matching the consignments delivered during the selected date range to Customers and their Invoice Accounts.

Invoices for multiple customers can be created simultaneously in this way.

To generate Invoices automatically:

• Use the checkboxes to select the consignments to be added to Invoices. If none are selected, the action will run on all consignments in the tab.
• A dialog will appear with a summary of the Invoices to be created or updated. Where consignments are being added to an existing Invoice, a hyperlink to the Invoice is provided.

• Click Accept to confirm the action. 
• Enter the Invoice Date for any newly created Invoices, and click Accept to confirm. 
  
• The consignments will move to the Invoiced tab, and Invoices will be available to view in the Invoices page.

Manual Invoicing

If consignments could not be added during Automatic Invoicing, or you prefer to handle Invoicing manually, this can also be actioned in the Rating page.

To create a new Invoice manually:

• Select the consignments to be added to the Invoice. All selected consignments must be for the same Organisation and Invoice Account. 
• Click Manual Invoicing>Add to new invoice.
• The newly created Invoice will open as a Draft.
• Enter the Invoice Date.
• Other fields are automatically generated by default, but can be edited if required. 

• When all details have been entered for the Invoice, use the X button to exit and Save it as a draft, or click the Actions menu button to move the Invoice to the next stage. The option presented here depends on the Invoicing Model in use:
  1. Direct Invoicing: Send Invoice Email
  2. Xero integrated: Send to Finance System 
  3. Externally handled invoices: Mark as Pending
     

To add consignments to an existing Invoice manually:

• Select the consignments to be added to the Invoice. As with new Invoices, all  consignments selected must have the same Organisation and Invoice Account settings. 
• Click Manual Invoicing>Add to existing invoice to produce a list of Invoices matching the consignment settings.
• Select the appropriate Invoice or the consignments, and click Accept to confirm.
  
• The Invoice details page will open.
• Check the correct consignments have been added, and click Save Changes to confirm. 

Editing Invoices

Individual Invoice editing is available in the Invoice details page Actions menu, Consignments section and Annotations section. The Invoice lines and Status sections are read-only; these cannot be edited.

Some actions can also be performed in bulk from the Invoices page.

In this section:

Editing Invoice Details

Editing Invoice Status

Editing Consignments and Annotations

Bulk Invoice Actions

Editing Invoice Details

From the Action button to the top right of the Invoice, users can:

->  Edit the data section fields, i.e. Description, Invoice Number (if the field is editable), the Reference, Date and Due Date. The Customer and Account fields in an Invoice can never be changed. 

-> Update the status to move the Invoice forward or back in the process. 

-> Export a pdf or csv file of the Invoice Schedule, which includes details of its consignments and other charges. Schedules can be attached when an Invoice is sent to a customer. 

-> Cancel the Invoice. This may be required in the case of consignments being invoiced to the wrong Account, or some other issue. 

To make changes to Invoice data fields:

• Click Actions>Edit to open the top section. 

• Edit the data fields as required. 
• Click Save Changes to confirm. 

Editing Invoice Status

The Invoicing model determines the Action menu buttons available for changing a consignment's status. Actions can always be undone, but caution is recommended when making manual changes, where the Hitrak Direct Invoicing or Xero Integration model is in use. 

To update an Invoice status from Draft:

• Click Actions.
• Select the status update to perform. Options available here depend on the Invoicing model, i.e.
  • Direct Invoicing: Draft Invoices show a Send Invoice Email button
  • Xero Integration: Draft Invoices show a Send to Finance System button
  • External Invoice management: Draft Invoices show a Mark as Pending button
• Click Save to confirm the change. 
  
  

To undo an Invoice status change:

• Click Actions.
• Click Undo Pending/Undo Confirm/Undo Paid
  
  
  
• Click Save to confirm the change.
   

To cancel an Invoice:

• Click Actions>Cancel.
• In the following dialog, click Yes to confirm.
• The Invoice status will update to Cancelled, and all consignments will be removed. 

Schedule Document Downloads

Invoice Schedules can also be downloaded via the Actions menu. 

• Click Actions>Export Schedule.
• Choose the file format.
  
• The file will be available in your device Downloads folder.

Editing Consignments and Annotations

Consignments can be removed from an Invoice in the Consignments section. This may be required in the case of consignments being added to an Invoice in error, or a consignment being created with the wrong Invoice Account which needs to be corrected.

Annotations can be added manually if an Invoice requires additional notes. Existing Annotations cannot be removed or edited. 

To remove one or more consignments from an Invoice:

• Select the consignments to remove.
• Click Remove.
• Selections can be cleared if needed, using the Clear Selection button.
  
• In the next dialog, click Yes to confirm the action. 
• The Invoice page will reload, with the selected consignments removed. 
  
  

To add an Annotation:

• In the Annotations section, click Add.
• Enter a note into the text box, and click Accept.
  
• The Annotation will be visible in the Annotations section.
  

Bulk Actions

Bulk actions in the Invoices page enable more efficient management of Invoices.

Here, it is possible to change Invoice dates and references, and perform bulk status updates. Users with the Direct Invoicing model can email Invoices in bulk.

Changing Invoice date

This action allows the date for all selected Invoices to be changed and references to be updated automatically (using data from certain fields), or manually (by typing into a free text box). 

To update the date for all selected Invoices:

• Check the Change Invoices date box, and enter a date into the date field:

• Click Start to update the date on the selected Invoices.

Changing Invoices reference

Updated references can be auto-generated, or entered manually.

To update references using auto-generate:

• Check the Change invoices reference box.
• Select Auto-generated.
• Check the boxes for the preferred fields to include in the references.
• The Preview sample below will provide an example of how the reference will appear on each invoice:
  
• Click Start to update the Invoices. 
  
  

To update with the same manual reference:

• Check the Change invoices reference box.
• Select Manual.
• Enter a custom reference into the text box provided. The same reference will apply to all selected invoices:
  
• Click Start to update the Invoices.

For any changes made, the Progress and Details tabs in the same dialog provide:

-> The status for each Invoice being updated

-> Details of the changes completed, and any errors or warnings.

Email Invoices (Direct Invoicing)

If Direct Invoicing is enabled, the third Bulk Action button available is Send Invoice Email.

When Direct Invoicing is enabled, the Invoice Number, Reference and Due Date are all automatically set by Hitrak when an Invoice is created. 

To email Invoices in bulk:

• Filter by Draft Status, and select the Invoices to be emailed.
• Click Send Invoice Email, then click Start to confirm the action.
• This triggers the following actions:
  • Emails the Invoices to the Invoice Account email addresses.
  • Updates the status to Pending, then Confirmed.
  • Automatic generation of the Invoice Number, Reference and Due Date

Send Invoices to Xero (Xero Integration)

If the Xero Integration is in use, the third Bulk Action button available is Send to Finance System.

• Select all Draft Invoices to be updated.
• Click Send to Finance System.

This updates the status to Pending and sends the Invoice information to Xero.

When the Invoice has been sent to the customer from Xero, the Invoice Status in Hitrak update to Confirmed.

Mark as Pending (External Invoice management)

If multiple Draft Invoices are ready to be updated to Pending, this can be done in bulk.

• Select all Draft Invoices to be updated.
• Click Mark as Pending.

• Click Start to confirm the action.
• The Progress and Details tabs provide feedback on the success of the action for each Invoice, and details of any errors or warnings.
  

Data Extracts 

The Export button on the Invoices page provides several options, available with all Invoicing Models:

-> Invoices Summary: A csv file with only the data visible in the Invoices page list.

-> Invoices: A csv file with full details for each Invoice, as per Invoice details page. 

-> Schedules: A folder containing the csv and pdf version of each Invoice's Schedule.

-> Invoices and Schedules: A folder containing the csv of all Invoice details, plus the csv and pdf version of each Invoice's Schedule.

To export Invoice data in bulk:

• Use the checkboxes to select the Invoices to be exported. 
• Click Export.
• Select the preferred download option from the dropdown menu: