In Allfred, every project can have an Automated or Manual Invoicing Plan. For each month and each budget item, you can plan the amount to be invoiced. This allows CFOs, Managing Directors, and other users to have a complete overview of planned invoicing and expected income.
Automated Invoicing plans allow invoices to be issued—and if desired, sent—automatically. In contrast, Manual Invoicing plans let you plan amounts and invoicing dates, with Allfred notifying you when invoices should be issued manually. These notifications can be customized in the workspace settings to be sent a specific number of days before the planned issue date (check "Upcoming billing date" notification)
Where to Find the Invoicing Plan?
Project Invoicing Plan
The new Invoicing Plan is available in the Project Detail section under the Invoicing Plan tab.
There is also other way how to get to Invocing plan. In the billing box in the Project Overview, there's a row called Invoicing Plan showing the planned amount to be invoiced for the current month. You can link to the full Invoicing Plan tab from here for more details.
Note: If you were using the previous billing plan, it will remain available until you create a new one in Invoicing Plan tab. You can access it as usual through the Billing box in the project details.
Invoicing Plan Dashboard Overview
The Invoicing Plan Dashboard serves as a central hub where CFOs, managing directors, or project managers can easily monitor the invoicing progress of all their projects. This section provides a clear and structured overview of all planned invoices for each project.
The dashboard aggregates important financial data, including:
Plan to Invoice: The total amount planned for invoicing within the current month for all the projects listed.
Invoiced: The total amount that has already been invoiced from the planned figures.
Uninvoiced: The remaining amount that has yet to be invoiced based on the plan.
Balance: The difference between the planned and actual invoiced amounts, helping users see any discrepancies.
Status: Tracks the invoicing status of each project, showing whether a project is "uninvoiced," "partially invoiced," or "invoiced."
By reviewing these key metrics, project managers and financial leads can ensure that all invoicing activities are on track, quickly identify any gaps or pending invoices, and optimize cash flow planning.
Users with roles as project manager or team leader can see only those projects where they are assigned or have access to.
Structure of Project Invoicing Plan
When setting up an Invoicing Plan for the project in Allfred, you have two options to choose from:
Automated Invoicing
Manual Invoicing Plan
Both options come with different levels of control and flexibility, depending on your project’s needs.
You can create both, Automated or Manual invoicing plans for Fixed Price projects. For Time and Materials projects, you can only create a Manual invoicing plan as expected invoicing amounts are calculated based on actual expenses and work done and you don't know this amount when starting the project.
Automated Invoicing Plan
In Automated Invoicing, you’ll be working with a table to insert the amounts that should be invoiced. This setup allows for full automation of the invoicing process, including issuing and (optionally) sending invoices automatically.
Important Note: By default, project managers, team leaders, and managing directors cannot finalize financial settings for automated invoicing plans. They can only create and save the plan. If this option is disabled for their roles, they need to send the link to the CFO, who will complete the financial settings (such as setting the supply date) and enable automated invoicing.
If you want your account managers to manage the entire invoicing process, including financial settings, you can enable this option in workspace settings. This can be done by admins via Profile Icon → Workspace Settings → Projects → Automate Invoicing Plan Approval.
Here’s how the table is structured:
Rows: Represent each budget item specified in the project's assigned budget.
Columns:
Type: Select the invoice type to be issued (Invoice or Proforma).
Day: Desired issue date for the invoice.
Invoicing Plan Summary:
Item Budget: The amount to be invoiced, as specified in the budget.
Planned: The amount you plan to invoice.
Difference: Calculated as the difference between the Planned amount and the Item Budget.
Months: These are prefilled based on the project’s start and end dates. For example, if a project lasts five months, five default columns for invoicing will be automatically created. You can add additional months by clicking the “+” button.
Manual Invocing Plan
In Manual Invoicing, the structure is slightly different. It’s designed to give you more control over when and with what amounts to issue invoices without automating the invoicing process. You’ll receive notifications when the invoicing date is approaching, but you will issue the invoices manually.
Here’s how the table is structured:
Rows: Show summaries for each budget category (Work, Production, Media, or Royalties). Unlike automated invoicing, the detailed budget items are not shown here.
Columns:
Type: Choose the invoice type (Invoice or Proforma).
Day: Desired issue date for the invoice.
Invoicing Plan Summary:
Item Budget: The amount set for invoicing as per the budget.
Planned: The planned amount to be invoiced.
Difference: Calculated as the difference between the Planned amount and the Item Budget.
Months: Similar to automated invoicing, months are prefilled based on the project’s duration. Additional months can be added by clicking the “+” button.
How to Create Automated Invoicing Plan
Important Note: Automated invoicing can only be applied in the workspace’s currency. It is not available for invoicing in foreign currencies.
1. Go to the project detail and open the Invoicing Plan tab.
2. Click on the Edit button and choose the data source Automated Invoicing.
3. Set the Invoice Types (Invoice or Proforma)
4. Instert the Issue Dates
5. If you need to issue multiple invoices within a single month, use the “+” button on the right to add a new row for the same budget item and set a separate issue date.
6. To add a new month column, click the “+” button new to the name of last displayed month
7. Instert the amounts to be invoiced. To make invoicing easier, use the Distribute button for automatic allocation of amounts:
Monthly: Allfred divides the total budget item amount by the number of months displayed in the table.
Bi-monthly: Divides the total amount over two months.
Quarterly: Divides the total amount over three months.
Half-yearly: Divides the total amount over six months.
Duplicate First Month to All Months: The amount you enter in the first month’s field will be copied to the remaining months.
8. Check the Planned Amount. A Summary Table in the invoicing plan helps you check your input. It displays:
Item Budget: The amount to invoice as specified in the budget.
Planned Amount: The total of your planned invoice amounts.
Difference: The difference between the planned amount and the budgeted amount. (It is ok when you planned to invoice different amount than specified in the budget).
If you make a mistake, you can edit the amounts directly in the table. To remove all amounts for a row, use the Delete button (bin icon) in the actions column.
Note: You cannot delete a whole row with a budget item. To exclude an item from invoicing, simply enter “0” as the amount.
9. Invoice Settings
After inserting the amounts, click Invoice Settings to configure the final invoice details. You can:
Set how the budget items will appear on the invoice:
single item (project name)
separate items (one row for Work and one row for Expenses - production and media)
every budget item will be displayed as separate item
Specify VAT rates.
Set how many days before the issue date the supply date should be.
To close the settings, click outside the modal.
Note: If your agency is using an accounting account for outgoing invoices, the one set in the workspace settings will be used by default for give budget category.
After making all changes, don’t forget to click Save. The invoicing plan will be closed, and you’ll need to click Edit Invoicing Plan again to make further adjustments.
Important Note: By default, project managers, team leaders, and managing directors cannot finalize financial settings for automated invoicing plans. They can only create and save the plan. If this option is disabled for their roles, they need to send the link to the CFO, who will complete the financial settings (such as setting the supply date) and enable automated invoicing.
If you want your account managers to manage the entire invoicing process, including financial settings, you can enable this option in workspace settings. This can be done by admins via Profile Icon → Workspace Settings → Projects → Automate Invoicing Plan Approval.
Automated Invoice Sending
To send invoices automatically to clients once they are issued, turn on Automated Invoice Sending by editing the invoicing plan and selecting this option. You’ll need to:
Specify email recipients (separate emails with a comma).
Customize the subject line and email body for each project.
Click Save to activate this feature.
If you cancel, invoices will be issued automatically but will not be sent to the client. Automatically issued invoices will be sent as attachments in the email.
How to Create Manual Invoicing Plan
If you prefer not to issue or send invoices automatically, you can create a Manual Invoicing Plan to receive notifications about approaching invoicing dates.
1. To create a manual plan, go to the Invoicing Plan tab and click Edit.
2. Choose Manual Invoicing Plan as the data source. In this mode, Allfred won’t display individual budget items—only the budget categories (Work, Production, Media, and Royalties).
3. Specify the issue date for invoicing, and Allfred will notify you a few days before, based on the notification settings in the workspace.
If multiple invoices with different issue dates are required within the same month, click the “+” button to add rows for additional invoices.
4. To add a new month column, click the “+” button new to the name of last displayed month
5. Insert Amounts: Like automated invoicing, you can use the Distribute button to allocate amounts:
Monthly: Divide the total budget item amount evenly over the months displayed.
Bi-monthly: Divide the total over two months.
Quarterly: Divide the total over three months.
Half-yearly: Divide the total over six months.
Duplicate First Month to All Months: Copy the first month’s custom amount to the rest of the months.
6. Check the Planned Amount. A Summary Table in the invoicing plan helps you check your input. It displays:
Item Budget: The amount to invoice as specified in the budget.
Planned Amount: The total of your planned invoice amounts.
Difference: The difference between the planned amount and the budgeted amount. (It is ok when you planned to invoice different amount than specified in the budget).
If you make a mistake, you can edit the amounts directly in the table. To remove all amounts for a row, use the Delete button (bin icon) in the actions column.
Note: You cannot delete a whole row with a budget item. To exclude an item from invoicing, simply enter “0” as the amount.
7. Once all changes are made, click Save to lock in your manual invoicing plan. To make further edits, click Edit Invoicing Plan again.