I’m trialling manager and the main issue is importing invoices.
Every month we run reports on service charges and generate invoices that are charged by direct debit. I need to import these into manager…re keying them monthly will be out of the question as there’s over 350 every month
Read the Guide about batch operations.
I have, been through it carefully and couldn’t get it to import correctly…hence the question
You will have to provide more information explaining the exact issue you are facing along with details about your Manager version, edition, OS details. Some screenshots can help understand better.
A general question will only get a general answer.
To be honest, it’s a bit awkward to create multi-line invoices by batch create because rather than ‘importing a record per line’, or a ‘header’ record and ‘line’ records, instead in each field you add the multiple lines with a carriage return. between them. Unusual but it can be done. Once the data is in the correct (if somewhat unusual) format the import via batch create is quick and easy. Your challenge will be formatting the data outside of Manager to post into the batch create screen. You are unlikely to find any systems that can export (without custom coding) your invoices in a manner that won’t require some sort of manipulation before import to manager. It can be done though and there are many folks doing so.
I built a custom Excel macro but its very specific to my invoices. I’d be curious to hear from the community about any standard/reusable tools people are using to format data for import?
I understand all that. I just wondered if there was a more detailed guide than the guide on batch operations which, as far as importing invoices is concerned, doesn’t go into any detail and is of little help.
Given the number I need to import and the frequency, we’re looking at a lot of additional work. The billing module we use monthly has been built in house and grown over 20 years so adding code to that to get data in the right format isn’t a real issue.
I have seen mention of an REST API which seems promising but I can’t find any documentation anywhere. The other accounting software we’re looking at have a comprehensive REST API we can use that will create sales invoices more easily and would require little additional work beyond the initial coding and testing in our framework.
I’d much prefer a programmatic solution than import as it just introduces more complexity.
The batch operations are very easy as long as you have the keys for all of your accounts. There are several methods to get those keys like:
- top right corner of the Edit view of any account ( in pale grey next to the form title), this is ideal when you’re only using few accounts.
- using batch update (doesn’t work on chart of accounts)
- using the API.
As for the API, you can access the documentation by appending /api to your manager URL.
Just out of curiosity, why do you not generate these invoices in Manager, that would prevent the need to import them?
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Using the recurring Sales Invoice
Only works if each monthly invoice is identical to previous one
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There is no mention of recurring invoices. @cloudphone only states that they run reports every month on service charges and then generate invoices, so I assume they may actually be different every month if anything. My question is more basic than that. Why use another system than Manager to record service charges and generate invoices?
Our billing service takes CDR’s and rates call charges. It also calculates service charges which can change every month. It can but doesn’t have to produce invoices. Recurring invoices would be the answer but charges change every month
Yes I could but I always have the same issue which is entering details of over 350 invoices each month. Right now it’s automatic so takes me about 30 minutes each month. Re entering invoices will add hours to each month is not an option
Its quite simple…manager is unable to rate calls and calculate service charges which are based on a monthly cost adjusted to the number of days in the month the service is active. For example if a service costs £40 per month but that customer starts it on the 4th of the month then the monthly charge for 30 day month will be (40/30)*26. Calls will be rated based on the area code for the destination then charged by the second at the rate for the destination. The billing system doesn’t have to produce invoices however the alternative is to import the details or send them programatically to an accounts service.
As far as I am aware manager doesn’t provide this any of these services hence the need for importing. I’ve looked at a range of accounting software and manager is the one I like best so far. Almost all the others have the ability to do exactly what I want either by importing or programatically using a REST API. Manager provides neither.
if your billing system has the option to export data, then why not create and use a macro in spreadsheet to format the data in a way acceptable by Manager?
if you can code your billing module then it would be easier to generate a spreadsheet from it which can be imported in Manager.
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Yes I can do that. We’re now going full circle. The original question was the format required. I looked at the batch operations guide (Use Batch Create and Batch Update functions | Manager) referenced by @Tut and it doesn’t mention the format required by invoices. Thats what I was hoping for. If the csv format for multi line invoices was available I’d give it a go but referencing a guide that doesn’t mention what I needed is of little help frankly
You need to look at two sources of information one of which is Use Batch Create and Batch Update functions but you will also need to:
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Manually create example records which illustrating the range of data types you will need to import
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Do a batch update of those records
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The required batch create to create those records is identical the the batch update format except it does not have the final “Key” column
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If you would click on batch create under Invoice you would see that the first task is to copy to clipboard, then paste into spreadsheet, similar for batch update. This gives you the requested format.
Did you read the second Notes section of the Guide? It tells you explicitly to manually create one entry of the type you will be using in order to see the format required. It is not possible to illustrate every possible option in a Guide, because format varies according to transaction type, tabs enabled, features used, and other factors. If you are not able to determine the format by looking at an example with Batch Update, then batch operations are not for you. Their use is not particularly difficult, but can be challenging at first, especially for complex transaction characteristics.
If, as you imply, you have the capability in-house to create sophisticated computer code, your programmers should easily understand how to format data for your specific situation following the general instructions in the Guide. The task amounts to basic spreadsheet creation.
Hi cloudphone this is interesting because we operate an Internet and VoIP company with exactly the same need. Massive time investment updating the reoccurring invoices.
I will be keen to see where this leads as our remote vendor has some API we can connect to but something we need to figure out still with Manager.
It will amazing if we could launch a connection and sych.