A Guide to Invoice Consolidation

This guide covers everything you need to know about invoice consolidation in Upmind, from enabling the feature to managing payment methods.

Enabling invoice consolidation

1. Go to Settings > Order Options under Ecommerce Settings.

2. Scroll to the Consolidation section and check the box to enable.
3. Restrict consolidation management to staff only. (Optional)

To restrict consolidation access to staff only, check the Allow only staff using that feature box, preventing clients from using it directly.

When allow only staff users is enabled for invoice consolidation, clients must submit a ticket to request consolidation through their account

Invoice consolidation timing options

Invoice consolidation groups multiple invoices into one based on specific rules. Importantly, consolidation is based on the next invoice date, not the due date.

1. Consolidation Rules: You can define how invoices are consolidated using these options:

• Consolidate on a selected date each month: Choose a date (e.g., the 15th), and the system consolidates invoices from that date up to the day before the same date next month.
• Consolidate on the first day of the month: On the 1st of each month, the system consolidates invoices for the entire upcoming month.
• Consolidate on the last day of the month: On the last day of each month, the system consolidates all invoices with next_invoice_dates in the following month, excluding the last day itself.
• Consolidate on a selected day of the week: On a specified weekday (e.g., Monday), the system consolidates invoices for the entire current week, from that day through the week’s end.
• Consolidate invoices issued on the same day: The system consolidates all invoices scheduled to be issued on the same day.

2. Consolidation Rule – Date of Month: This option lets you specify the day of the month when invoices are consolidated, such as the 1st, 15th, or last day, depending on your billing cycles and business needs.

3. Consolidation Rule – Day of Week: This option sets the specific day of the week (e.g., Monday, Tuesday) on which invoices should be consolidated.

4. Due Date Interval for Consolidated Invoices: The due date of the consolidated invoice is set a specified number of days (e.g., 7 days) before the next_invoice_date of the earliest product or service date among the consolidated invoices.

Client overrides and product exclusions

Clients can manage their own consolidation rules unless restricted (if you do not check the option Allow only staff using that feature).

Client-managed consolidation

Clients can exclude specific products from invoice consolidation:

1. Navigate to Products and Services.
2. Select the product to exclude.
3. Go to the Billing tab.
4. Find Invoice Consolidation and change it to Exclude invoice when consolidating.
5. Click Save.

Admin-managed consolidation

If only admins manage consolidation, you can handle client requests individually.

1. To exclude a product from consolidation for a client:

• Go to Products & Services in the client profile.
• Select the product.
• Click Settings.
• Choose Exclude invoices when consolidating.

2. To exclude a client entirely from invoice consolidation:

• Go to Settings in the client profile.
• Click Billing.
• Select Do not consolidate invoices.

3. To exclude a specific product from all consolidated invoices:

• Go to Products & Services.
• Click Product Automation.
• Select Exclude from invoice consolidation.

When invoices are consolidated automatically

Invoices consolidate automatically when multiple subscriptions for the same customer renew within a specific time frame, allowing all charges to be combined into a single invoice for easier payment and clearer billing.

Invoices are consolidated based on the following criteria:

• Client
• Client address or company details
• Currency

Examples:

1. Same Client with Different Currencies: If a client has services billed in different currencies (e.g., one in USD and another in EUR), they will receive separate invoices for each currency.
2. Same Client with Different Addresses: If a client has services at different addresses with varying currencies (e.g., a UK address billed in GBP, another UK address billed in EUR, and a DE address billed in EUR), invoices are issued as follows:

• One invoice in GBP for the UK address.
• Two separate invoices in EUR, one for each address (UK and DE).

Payment methods on consolidation

When a client has a default payment method saved in their client area, Upmind uses this method during consolidation, ignoring any payment methods set for individual services.