Creating Draft Invoices

Draft invoices are created from the Tools... Invoice, Create Drafts screen. Here, you'll see a list of projects for which draft invoices could be created. That list will look similar to the one shown below.

To create a draft invoice for any of the project(s) on this list, just check them off and then click the SUBMIT button. BigTime will queue up each draft request and let you know when it is completed.

• Projects are listed in the sort order you specify in the information box. In this screen, we're looking a projects grouped by CLIENT.
• Within each section, projects are sorted by total unbilled time/expenses, so projects that have unbilled time/expenses "float to the top" of your listing.
• Time is split into several columns. The system shows you unbilled time for the date range you specify in the information box, as well as time that falls outside of this date range. You could, for example, create invoices for ONLY time that falls into a specific period.
• Time/Expenses show both "approved" and "unapproved" data. If your system is setup to bill only approved time/expenses, this screen shows you what unbilled time/expenses are still awaiting approval.
• Contract Notes show up in the "Contract Type/Notes" field. So, if you have special invoicing instructions, date ranges, etc., then you can place that information in the Contract Notes field (Dashboard:Contract... Invoice Format) and it will show up on this page.

Unbilled Time/Expense Pool

The Create Drafts screen is, essentially, your unbilled time/expense pool.

When you create a new draft invoice, time/expenses are pulled out of that pool. When you delete an invoice, the time/expenses are dropped right back into the unbilled time pool. So, this one screen gives you the data you would normally get from several different reports in QuickBooks.

It's also important to note that the "unbilled" flag in BigTime doesn't work the same way it does in QuickBooks. Once you delete an invoice, all of the time/expense data will just drop right back into the unbilled pool, so you can bill it again by re-creating the invoice.

Because of this, you can create, delete and re-create draft invoices as often as you'd like. There's no penalty, and the time/expense data isn't permanently modified.