Cloud can automate the process of sending recurring invoices for a service contract via the Invoice Creation automation. The Invoice Creation automation does the following:
Create the invoices for the payments.
Sending the invoice emails on the billing dates to the recipients you add when setting up the automation.
Setting up automation for sending invoices helps eliminate the hassle of creating and sharing invoices manually.
Cloud will only send invoices. Customers are not charged automatically because Cloud does not store the details of the credit card used to make payments previously through Cloud.
Enable Invoice Creation automation
Go to “Service > Contracts” and open the Details view of the contract. Then, click the “Payments” tab to view all payment-related details of the contract.
Click “Enable automation” in the “Automate invoices” tile, which will open a modal to configure the automation.
The modal has three steps: Payment Schedule, Invoice Details, and Email Details. To navigate back and forth, use the “Next” or “Previous” buttons at the bottom of the modal.
Payment schedule
Here, you will see the payments and dates that Cloud has set based on the plan length, billing frequency, and payable amounts.
For example, you will see 24 rows for a 24-month contract with monthly billing and 2 rows if it is billed annually.
By default, the duration between the billing date and due date is dependent on the default term set under "Settings > Payment > Payment Terms." To change this, select a new term in the "Terms" dropdown. This will change the due dates for all payments.
If you select a date that is either in the past or matches today's date for a payment term, you will see a workflow asking whether you want to send the back-dated invoices.
In the workflow, you will see a table with the terms, billing dates, due dates, and amounts.
If you click "Cancel," you will need to send the back-dated invoices manually.
Payment details
Here, you can do the following:
Add a custom message that will be displayed on the invoice.
Select the payment integration and payment method.
Specify if you would like to display the full payment schedule on the invoice.
Email details
You will see options to customize the subject, body, and recipients of the invoice email.
Once you have set up the automation for the contract, click “Done” in the modal. Cloud will now send invoices for the contract on the billing dates.
You can enable Invoice Creation automation for contracts for which you have already collected some payments manually.
Editing Automation settings
If you want to change the dates, email text, or recipient list at any time, click “Edit automation settings” in the “Automate invoices” tile. This will open the modal with the current settings, and you can make the changes and save them.
Disable Automation
If you want to revert to collecting payments manually, click “Edit automation settings” in the “Automate invoices” tile and click the “Disable automation” icon located at the top-right corner of the modal.
