How do I invoice with Focus AI?

 

Getting invoices out on time directly affects your cash flow, but finished work has a way of slipping through the cracks, like an accepted quotation that never got converted to an invoice, time tracking that was never billed, a retainer project that quietly went over budget. Focus AI helps you catch all of it, so you can get your invoices out without having to go through your account manually.
 

From quotation to invoice

Once a customer accepts your quotation, you can convert it to an invoice straight away via Focus AI. It takes the line items, quantities, prices and VAT directly from the quotation and turns it into a draft invoice for you to approve or reject.

Prompt examples:

  • "Convert the accepted quotation for Customer X to an invoice."
  • "This quotation has been accepted. Can you create an invoice from it?"
  • "Turn quotation 2024-05 into an invoice and book it."
     

If you're already on the deal or quotation page, you don't need to name it. Just say "convert this quotation to an invoice" and Focus AI knows what you mean.
 

Invoice unbilled time tracking

At the end of the month, it's possible that you have work that's been done but not yet billed, such as time tracking or completed projects or won deals with no invoice attached.

Focus AI can search through your account for everything that's finished but unbilled, group it by customer, and create draft invoices from the actual time tracking.
 

Prompt examples:

  • "What time tracking from last month hasn't been invoiced yet?"
  • "Create draft invoices for all unbilled hours on project X."
  • "Which customers have completed work that we haven't billed yet?"
     

Focus AI shows you what each draft will contain before creating anything. Once you approve, it creates the drafts. It never sends invoices without a separate confirmation from you.
 

Retainer and fixed price work

For retainer/fixed price projects, Focus AI can monitor how many hours have been tracked on the project against the agreed budget. When a project hits 90% of the budget or goes over budget, Focus AI can flag it and can draft an invoice for the extra hours.

Prompt examples:

  • "Which projects are close to or over budget this month?"
  • "How many hours have we tracked on project X versus what was agreed?"
  • "Draft an invoice for extra hours for project X - we've exceeded the budget by 5 hours."
     

If no budget is set on a project, Focus AI will let you know and explain how to add one in Teamleader Focus.
 

Shortcuts

Two Teamleader Skills are built for the billing workflows above:

Shortcut: use the Invoice the work Teamleader Skill

The Invoice the Work Teamleader Skill scans your account for everything finished in the last month but not yet billed, such as tracked time, completed projects or accepted quotations without an invoice. It groups the results by customer, and creates draft invoices on your approval.

Find it under Focus AI > Skills > /invoice-the-work. Click Use skill to start, or type /invoice-the-work in any Focus AI chat.
 

Shortcut: use the Retainer guard Teamleader Skill

The Retainer guard Teamleader Skill is built specifically for fixed-price/retainer projects. It checks budgeted hours against what's been tracked this month, marks projects that are close to or over budget, and drafts the invoice for the extra hours.

Find it under Focus AI > Skills > /retainer-guard. Click Use skill to start, or type /retainer-guard in any Focus AI chat.

 

What Focus AI can and cannot do with invoices

To end, it might be handy to know what Focus AI can and cannot do when it comes to invoices.

Focus AI can help you with the following invoice actions:

  • Create and edit draft invoices
  • Send invoices by email or via Peppol
  • Add a payment or mark an invoice as paid
  • Put an invoice on hold (this is a way to pause the automatic payment reminders that Teamleader Focus sends out)
  • Invoice accepted quotations and projects
     

There are also a few things Focus AI cannot do:

  • Send manual payment reminders:
    To work around this, you can always send reminders manually or let Focus AI draft a follow-up email for you to send yourself. Read more about the latter in this article.
  • Create or manage subscriptions:
    Subscriptions need to be set up manually in Teamleader Focus.
     

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