Invoices

For: People using the software to create and manage invoices

Purpose: Understand what the Invoice module does and how it helps your business

What This Module Does

An invoice is a bill you send to a customer for goods or services. It lists the items, quantities, rates, taxes, and total amount due. You can create an invoice from a quotation, from one or more delivery challans, from one or more sales orders (without a delivery challan), or directly (manual entry). Once an invoice is Sent, the customer can pay against it. The system tracks balance amount, links payments and credit notes, and can deduct stock from your warehouse when the invoice is created (and reverse that deduction when you cancel or delete it).

The Invoice module lets you:

• Create and edit invoices (when the status allows).
• Create invoices from quotes, delivery challans, or sales orders, or create them directly.
• Attach documents.
• See which quote, delivery challan(s), or sales order(s) an invoice came from.
• Change invoice status (e.g. Draft → Sent; Sent → Paid / Partially Paid / Overdue; or Cancel).
• Record payments and credit notes against invoices (handled in other modules; this module shows payment history).
• Export invoice lists to Excel.
• Generate E-Invoice and E-Way Bill (when your plan and configuration allow), and cancel them when needed.

Main Features (What You Can Do)

1. Create a New Invoice

When you create an invoice you typically enter:

• Customer: who the invoice is for.
• Branch, division, and warehouse: where the invoice is raised and (if stock is deducted) from which warehouse stock is taken.
• Shipping address: the customer's main shipping address or one of their additional addresses. The system checks that this address belongs to the selected customer.
• Items: products or services, quantities, rates, amounts, and optional discounts (percentage or amount) per item.
• Invoice date, due date, order number, reference, payment terms, subject, customer notes, terms and conditions, and total amount.
• Attachments: you can upload files. These are stored securely and shown with the invoice.

Creating from a quotation

• You can create an invoice from an accepted quotation. You select the quote and the system uses its customer, address, and items. Only quotes in the allowed statuses (e.g. Accepted) can be converted. Once the invoice is saved, the quote status is set to Completed and the quote is linked to this invoice in its "Converted to" list.

Creating from delivery challans

• You can create an invoice from one or more delivery challans. You select the challan(s) and the system uses their items and totals. Only challans in Sent (or other allowed) status can be converted. Once the invoice is saved, each selected challan's status is set to Delivered and each is linked to this invoice. The system also updates the sales order invoice status (e.g. to Invoiced) for the sales orders linked to those challans.

Creating from sales orders (without delivery challan)

• You can create an invoice directly from one or more sales orders (without creating a delivery challan first). You select the order(s) and the items/quantities to bill. The system checks that no delivery challan already exists for those sales orders; if one does, you must create the invoice from the delivery challan instead. The system also checks that the quantities you are invoicing do not exceed what is still available to invoice from those orders. Once saved, each sales order is linked to this invoice and its "Converted to" and invoice status are updated.

Stock check and stock deduction

• If your company has stock check enabled for invoices, the system checks that enough stock is available in the selected warehouse for the items. You cannot save the invoice if stock is insufficient (unless the rule is changed).
• If your company has stock deduction enabled, the system deducts the invoiced quantity from the warehouse stock when you save the invoice. Batch or lot details (if used) may be stored with each item. This keeps your inventory in sync with what you have billed.

Credit limit

• If the customer has a credit limit and invoices are included in that limit, the system checks that creating this invoice does not exceed the limit. The limit can be overall for the customer or per branch. If the limit would be exceeded, you get a clear message with the total limit, current usage, and remaining amount. You cannot save the invoice until the total is within limit (or the limit is increased).

Payment terms / overdue invoices

• If your company restricts creating invoices when the customer has overdue invoices, the system checks for any overdue invoice for that customer (and branch, if applicable). If one exists, you cannot create the invoice until the overdue invoice is paid or the restriction is changed.

What the system does when you save

• It generates a unique invoice number (e.g. INV-001).
• It records who created the invoice and when.
• It stores your company's authorised signature and primary bank details (for display, if configured).
• It adds a note in the invoice's comment history (e.g. "Invoice created from Quote QUO-001", "Invoice created from Delivery Challan DC-001", "Invoice created from Sales Order SO-001", or "Invoice created for ₹X").
• If the invoice was created from a quote, delivery challan(s), or sales order(s), it updates those documents' status and "Converted to" / invoice status as described above.
• It may update the customer's branch current balance (outstanding amount) by the invoice total so that credit limit and ageing reports stay correct.

2. View and Search Invoices

You can list invoices with:

• Date: a single invoice date or a date range (from–to).
• Branch and division: filter by one or more branches or divisions.
• Status: e.g. Draft, Sent, Partially Paid, Paid, Overdue, Void, Cancelled.
• Search: by invoice number, order number, subject, or customer name (display name or company name). The list shows only invoices that match your filters and search.

The list is paginated. For each invoice you can see customer, branch, division, warehouse, who added it, who last updated it, total and balance amount.

3. Open an Invoice (Full Details)

When you open one invoice, the system shows:

• Header: invoice number, customer, branch, division, warehouse, invoice date, due date, status, total, balance amount.
• Customer: name, code, phone, company name, and address details.
• Sales orders: if the invoice was created from sales order(s), the order number(s), date(s), status, and total. This helps you see which order(s) this invoice bills.
• Quote: if the invoice was created from a quotation, the quote number, date, status, and total.
• Delivery challan: if the invoice was created from a single delivery challan, the challan number, date, status, and total.
• Delivery challans: if the invoice was created from multiple delivery challans, the list of challan numbers, dates, status, and totals.
• Items: each line with item name, quantity, rate, amount, discount (if any), and batch/lot details (if stock deduction is used).
• Shipping address: the address used for this invoice.
• Bank details: primary bank information (if set for your company).
• Comment history: who did what and when (e.g. "Invoice created", "Status changed to Sent", "Payment received").
• Attachments: list of attached files.

4. Edit an Invoice

You can edit an invoice only when its status is Draft. Once the invoice is Sent, Partially Paid, Paid, Overdue, or Cancelled, the system does not allow editing (so the record stays as it was when you sent or closed it).

When you edit a Draft invoice:

• You can change customer, branch, warehouse, shipping address, items, quantities, rates, discounts, total, and attachments.
• The system checks again that the customer's shipping address is valid and that the branch exists for the customer (and adds the branch if your settings allow).
• If stock check or stock deduction is enabled, the system reverses the previous deduction for the old items and deducts again for the new items (so inventory stays correct).
• The customer's branch current balance is adjusted by the difference between the new total and the old total.
• Credit limit and overdue-invoice checks are applied to the change in amount (if applicable).
• A comment is added to the invoice history (e.g. "Invoice updated" or "Amount changed from ₹X to ₹Y").

5. Change Invoice Status

You can change the status of an invoice only in allowed ways. The system uses these rules:

• Draft → you can move to Sent or Cancelled.
• Sent → you can move to Paid, Partially Paid, Overdue, or Cancelled.
• Partially Paid → you can move to Paid or Cancelled.
• Paid → you can move to Cancelled (subject to other checks).
• Overdue → you can move to Paid, Partially Paid, or Cancelled.
• Cancelled → no further status change.

When you cancel an invoice:

• The system checks that no payment received, credit note, or invoice dispatch has been created from this invoice. If any exist, you cannot cancel until those are reversed or the links are removed.
• If stock deduction was used, the system reverses the deduction (stock is put back into the warehouse) for the invoice.
• The customer's branch current balance is reduced by the invoice total (outstanding is reduced as if the invoice no longer exists).
• If the invoice was created from delivery challan(s), their status is set back to Sent and the link to this invoice is removed; the related sales order invoice status is set back to Not Invoiced.
• If the invoice was created from a quotation, the quote status is set back to Accepted and the link to this invoice is removed.
• If the invoice was created from sales order(s), the system recalculates how much is still delivered/invoiced for those orders and updates their status (e.g. back to Open or Partially Recorded) and removes the link to this invoice.
• A comment is added (e.g. "Invoice cancelled successfully").

6. Delete an Invoice

You can delete an invoice only when:

• No payment received has been created from this invoice.
• No credit note has been created from or applied to this invoice.
• No invoice dispatch has been created from this invoice.

If any of these exist, the system blocks deletion and tells you which document(s) are blocking it. You must handle those documents first (e.g. cancel or unlink them) before you can delete the invoice.

When you delete an invoice:

• If stock deduction was used, the system reverses the deduction for all items on the invoice.
• The customer's branch current balance is reduced by the invoice total for each affected branch.
• If the invoice was created from sales order(s), delivery challan(s), or a quotation, the system updates those documents (status and "Converted to" / invoice status) in the same way as when you cancel an invoice (see above).
• A comment is added on the affected sales orders, delivery challans, or quote (e.g. "Invoice No INV-001 deleted successfully").

7. Pending Invoices (For Payments)

The system can show pending invoices (invoices with a balance amount greater than zero and status Sent, Partially Paid, or Overdue). This list is used when you record a payment received or apply a credit note so you can choose which invoices to allocate the payment or credit to. You can also see customer-wise pending invoices (e.g. when creating a payment for a specific customer), with the option to include or exclude Paid invoices depending on the screen.

8. Export Invoices to Excel

You can export the current list of invoices (after applying your filters and search) to an Excel file. The export includes the same filters you used on the screen (date range, branch, division, status, search). The file typically includes invoice number, order number, customer name, division, branch, warehouse, status, invoice date, due date, payment terms, amounts (basic, total, balance), reference, subject, order-to-invoice days, created/updated dates, and customer notes. Status values are shown in readable form (e.g. Draft, Sent, Paid, Cancelled).

9. E-Invoice and E-Way Bill

If your company's plan and settings allow:

• E-Invoice: you can generate an e-invoice (e.g. IRN, signed QR code) for an invoice. The invoice must not already have an active e-invoice. Once generated, the e-invoice details are stored with the invoice and a comment is added to the history. You can cancel the e-invoice later (e.g. when the invoice is cancelled or corrected); the system calls the required cancellation API and updates the stored status.
• E-Way Bill: you can generate an e-way bill for an invoice (with or without e-invoice, depending on your plan). The invoice must not already have an active e-way bill. Transport and vehicle details can be provided. Once generated, the e-way bill details are stored with the invoice. You can cancel the e-way bill when needed; the system calls the required cancellation API and updates the stored status.
• Only E-Way Bill: some plans allow generating only an e-way bill (without e-invoice). The same rules apply: no existing active e-way bill; after generation you can cancel it when needed.

Restrictions (e.g. no payment/credit note against the invoice before cancellation) depend on your configuration and the external e-invoice/e-way bill rules.

10. Payment and Credit Note History for an Invoice

For any invoice you can see:

• Payments received: list of payment received documents that include this invoice, with payment date, amount received, and the amount allocated to this invoice.
• Credit notes applied: list of credit notes that have been applied against this invoice, with credit note number, date, total, and the amount applied to this invoice.

This helps you and your customer see how much has been paid or adjusted and what balance remains.

Summary of Rules (Quick Reference)