Invoicing Workflow

Overview

This workflow covers creating an invoice in MyApprentice, a web-based app, for a team business — from a completed job, from an accepted quote, or manually — reviewing and editing the draft, generating the invoice PDF, sending it to the client, and recording payment. Invoices are managed from the Quotes & Invoices page. Finance is the natural day-to-day owner of invoicing: when the Business Owner or Supervisor completes a job, the invoice can pass straight to Finance or Admin to send and follow up. The way an invoice is sent and payment recorded depends on whether your business is connected to Xero.

Who This Workflow Is For

Business Owners, Admins, Supervisors, and Finance can create, edit, and send invoices. Finance is often the natural day-to-day owner, but Admin has parity with Finance on invoicing. Only the Business Owner can delete an invoice. Tradies and Apprentices have no invoice access. (For a Sole Trader business, the Sole Trader role is the BO equivalent — they own invoicing end-to-end alone.)

Before You Start

To create an invoice from a quote, the quote should be in Client Accepted status. To create an invoice from a job, a quote must be tied to the job. Configure your payment methods in Business Settings so they appear on the invoice PDF. If your business is connected to Xero, see the Xero Integration Workflow for the additional sync and payment steps.

End-to-End Workflow

Step 1: Choose how to create the invoice

Open Quotes & Invoices from the left sidebar. There are three starting points:

• From a completed job — when a job is completed by the Business Owner or Supervisor, the completion screen pre-fills the invoice from the quote (covered in Step 2).
• From an accepted quote — open a quote with status Client Accepted or Ready to be invoiced and select Create Invoice (Step 3).
• Manually — for ad hoc billing or work done outside the quote-to-job flow, select Invoice to create an invoice from scratch (Step 4).

Step 2: Create an invoice at job completion

When a job is completed by the Business Owner or Supervisor, the invoice is pre-filled from the quote tied to that job.

1. Complete the job. The invoice is pre-filled from the quote tied to that job.
2. At job completion, choose how to handle the invoice (the prompt works the same whether or not Xero is connected):
   • Create & send — email the invoice to the client now from MyApprentice. The invoice and email details are pre-filled; review the client email, subject, invoice details, payment details, subtotal, GST, and total, amend the email text if needed, and select Send Email. The status changes to Sent. If Xero is connected, sending also authorises the invoice in Xero so the client can pay it, and the email carries a Pay Now link when online payments are set up.
   • Create as draft — save the invoice as a draft without sending it; Finance or Admin can open it later from Quotes & Invoices to review and send.
   • Complete without invoicing — complete the job and move the linked quote to Ready to be invoiced, ready for Finance to pick up.
3. Note that a quote must be tied to the job for an invoice to be generated from the job.

Step 3: Create an invoice from an accepted quote

Finance, an Admin, a Supervisor, or the Business Owner creates the invoice from an accepted quote.

1. Open the accepted quote (find it by client name, quote number, or status) and select Create Invoice.
2. Choose a draft creation option:
   • Create Draft & Go to Invoices — creates the draft and routes you straight to the Invoices page.
   • Create Draft — creates the draft and keeps you on the quote page.
3. Note that the quote’s client details, line items, and pricing carry through to the invoice.

Step 4: Create a manual invoice

1. Select Invoice from Quotes & Invoices.
2. Review or enter the issue date and due date, enter a PO reference if applicable, review or update the payment terms (defaults come from Business Settings), enter an account code and tax output if required, and link the invoice to a job if needed.
3. Enter the client details (a new client is saved to your client list), add line items, materials, and labour hours, review the subtotal, GST, and total, and select Save Invoice. The invoice is saved as a draft.

Step 5: Review and edit the invoice

Finance or another authorised team member reviews and edits the invoice.

1. Open the draft invoice and review the client name, email, phone, and address; the line items; the payment details (from Business Settings); the due date; and the subtotal, GST, and total.
2. To edit, select the Edit button at the top right of the invoice, change the fields, and save.

Step 6: Generate the invoice PDF

1. To save a PDF copy before sending, open the invoice from Quotes & Invoices and select Download in the actions bar.
2. Note that the PDF includes your payment details where payment methods are configured in Business Settings, and can be saved to any device.

Step 7: Send the invoice to the client

1. Finance, Admin, the Business Owner, or a Supervisor opens the invoice and selects Email in the actions bar — this works whether or not Xero is connected.
2. Review the email draft and select Send Email. The invoice status changes to Sent.
   • If the Client Portal is enabled, the client can view the invoice through the portal link in the email.
   • If it is disabled, the invoice PDF is attached to the email.
   • When online payments are set up, the email also carries a Pay Now link.
   • When Stripe and Xero are both connected, the client always receives the PDF (plus the portal link if the portal is on).
3. If Xero is connected, sending also authorises the invoice in Xero so the client can pay it — see the Xero Integration Workflow.

Step 8: Record payment

1. For businesses not connected to Xero: when the client pays, Finance opens the invoice page, opens the three-dots menu next to the amount, and selects Mark as paid. The status updates to Paid. A card payment made through MyApprentice’s Stripe records as Paid automatically.
2. For businesses connected to Xero: payment settlement is managed in Xero — the Mark as paid option does not appear. A Stripe card payment is pushed to Xero automatically (when the Xero payment account is set); a payment on Xero’s own rail reconciles in Xero. The status syncs back to MyApprentice — use Sync All to pull the latest. See the Xero Integration Workflow.

Online card payments (Stripe)

MyApprentice supports Stripe for online card payments. Connect Stripe from Business Settings → Integrations and tick Stripe online payments on the Sales tab to add a Pay Now link to invoices. How clients pay — and whether a Stripe payment flows through to Xero — depends on your Stripe, Xero, and Client Portal setup; see Connecting Stripe for Online Payments.

Invoice Statuses

• Ready to be invoiced — the job or quote is complete but no invoice has been created or sent yet.
• Draft — the invoice has been created but not sent to the client.
• Sent — the invoice has been emailed to the client.
• Paid — payment has been recorded (manually marked or synced from Xero).
• Overdue — the due date has passed without payment recorded.
• Xero Draft / Xero Authorised — the invoice has been pushed to Xero as a draft or authorised invoice (see the Xero Integration Workflow).

Common Issues & Limitations

• Editing a sent invoice. If an invoice has already been sent, opening Edit shows a callout that the invoice has been sent and asks you to confirm before proceeding. After editing, the invoice should be resent. Editing an invoice already received by the client is not a recommended action.
• Incorrect totals. Check that GST is applied correctly and that all line items have carried through from the quote before sending.
• Client did not receive the invoice. Verify the email address and ask the client to check their junk folder. If an invoice shows Sent but not Viewed in Document History, follow up — the email may have landed in spam.
• Mark as paid not visible. When Xero is connected, the Mark as paid option does not appear because payment is managed in Xero.
• Deleting an invoice. Only the Business Owner can delete an invoice.

What Happens Next

Once sent, the outstanding amount appears as receivable and the invoice is surfaced as Overdue in the Dashboard Needs Your Attention panel if it is not paid by the due date. If Xero is connected, the invoice is synced to Xero for accounting and collection (see the Xero Integration Workflow). When payment is received, Finance records it so the invoice closes out as Paid.

Related Guides

• Xero Integration Workflow
• Creating a Job and Completing the Work
• Client Enquiry to Accepted Quote