A billing cycle is the period a recurring invoice covers: a calendar
month, a 28-day cycle, or another fixed length. At the end of each cycle (or
before it starts, for customers billed in advance) PortaPro drafts one
invoice per rate-card customer from their Rate Card. This article covers
setting the cycle, drafting cycle invoices automatically or by hand, billing
in advance, catching up an earlier period, skipping a period, and how
partial periods are charged.
Nothing here sends on its own. Every cycle invoice is a draft until someone
approves it (see Reviewing and Sending Cycle Drafts).
Set the cycle
For the company. Settings → Finance → Invoices → Default billing
cycle sets the cycle every new customer inherits. Cycle type offers a
calendar month, an anniversary (a start day of the month), a fixed-day cycle
(for example every 28 days, with Days per cycle and First cycle started
on) or manual, plus Generate invoice ___ days after cycle closes.
Settings → Finance → Cycle Billing → Default billing schedule shows the
anchor (Cycle 1 started), the Cycle length and the current cycle's
dates for fixed-day cycles. Most operators on fixed days use 28, which gives
13 cycles a year.
For one customer. Edit Customer → Billing → Billing cycle offers:
| Option | What it does |
|---|---|
| Use org default | Follows the company cycle. |
| Calendar month (1st – end of month) | The 1st through the last day of each month. |
| Anniversary / custom cycle | Starts on a day of the month you pick (1 to 28, so a cycle never skips a short month). |
| Fixed-day cycle (e.g., every 28 days) | Days per cycle (7 to 90) from First cycle started on. |
| Manual (set per invoice) | No cycle. Nothing drafts automatically; you set each invoice's period by hand. |
Generate invoice ___ days after cycle closes (0 to 30) delays the draft
after the cycle ends.
Keep Rate Card rows on the same period as the cycle. A new row already
defaults to it (see The Rate Card).
Drafting cycle invoices automatically
Settings → Finance → Cycle Billing → Automatic invoicing → Auto-draft
cycle invoices:
closes. Default 3.
made this many days before the cycle starts. Default 10, up to 60.
addresses (a bookkeeper) to get an email when drafts are made.
Drafts wait on Financials → Invoices under Cycle drafts ready to review,
with a Review Cycle Drafts button.
Drafting cycle invoices by hand
One customer. Open the customer, Sites → Rate Card:
cycles, shows the invoice that already covers each one (or that none
does), and Generate draft bills the one you pick, prorated to each
row's Bills From date.
Many customers. Financials → Invoices → ⋮ (More invoice options) →
Generate Cycle Invoices drafts a cycle across your rate-card customers at
once. Pick Just-closed cycle or Current cycle, then Not yet
billed, Added since last billing or All rate-card. Each customer
shows whether it will bill (for example Ready, Already billed,
Skipped, No rate card or Manual billing).
Recovery. Settings → Finance → Cycle Billing → Bill the last closed
cycle → Generate drafts for last closed cycle drafts every customer's most
recently closed cycle. Customers already billed for it are skipped, so
running it again is safe.
PortaPro never drafts two invoices for the same customer and period.
Catching up a late rate card
Service sometimes starts before the Rate Card is entered. Enter the rows
with the correct Bills From date, then use Bill an earlier period…
for each closed cycle that was missed. Avoid hand-typing the catch-up in Add
Invoice: a hand-typed invoice for an arrears customer defaults to the last
closed cycle, and warns "This period hasn't ended yet" when the period you
pick ends after today.
Billing in advance
By default a customer is billed in arrears: after the cycle closes, for
the cycle just finished. Edit Customer → Billing → Bill in advance bills
each cycle before it starts, which municipalities and school districts
often need for purchase-order approval.
company setting, or Advance lead days for this customer (0 to 60),
which appears once the switch is on.
true-up of extra pulls, overages and fees from the cycle that just
finished.
due 20 days into the cycle, so slow-paying agencies may need Net 45 or a
grace period.
upcoming cycle ahead of its start. Every cycle bills exactly once either
way.
Pair it with the customer's PO number (see
Customer PO Numbers on Invoices).
Skipping a billing period
Deleting a draft does not skip anything; the next daily run drafts it again.
To stop a period from billing, open Sites → Rate Card → ⋮ → Skip a billing
period, pick the period and add an optional reason. Any draft for it is
deleted and no generator will draft it again; the period shows as
Skipped. Extra pulls and fees from a skipped period still roll onto the
next invoice. An invoice that was already sent blocks a skip; void it first.
Remove a skip from the same dialog.
Partial periods and rate changes
prorated by day, counting both ends, and the line notes the days billed.
A blank Bills From bills the full cycle.
decides which rate bills when a rate is edited mid-cycle: Rate as of
invoice date (default) or Rate as of cycle start, where the edit
takes effect next cycle.