Invoice Editor MP - Milestones Tab
Add, delete, edit, include or exclude milestones for each engagement on an invoice. A milestone is a billing construct. It is used to prebill work you plan to do or to bill for work that is done. Milestones are only for billing, but they can generate deferred revenue - money you have been payed for work not yet complete. A separate tab is shown for each engagement on the invoice.
The Topic of the Day: Invoicing webinar is a great resource to learn all about creating invoices on Projector Management Portal.
This form is reached by opening an invoice from the Invoice Editor MP and choosing the Milestones tab.
Permissions and Settings
To open an invoice and view the milestones tab you must have the cost center permission View Projects or Maintain Projects and Engagements. These permissions allow you to view the invoice and milestones, but will not allow you to make any changes or approve adjustments.
To make changes on the milestones tab you must:
- Be the engagement manager and have the stage permission Edit Contract Terms
- Be a project manager and have the stage permission Edit Milestones. If the milestone is for the whole engagement, then the PM must have the stage permission for all projects in the engagement. If the milestone is for a specific project, then the PM only needs the stage permission for that one project.
- Be a project manager and have the system setting PM Can Create Invoices
- Have the cost center permission Maintain Projects and Engagements
- Have the cost center permission Create and Approve Invoices
- Not already included on another invoice
- Has the Include on Invoice checkbox unticked
- Has the Achieved Date cleared
Milestones
Milestone fields can only be edited if the Include on Invoice checkbox is unticked and if you have sufficient permissions. Some fields also require that you clear the Achieved Date before changes can be made.
Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Include on Invoice | Tick the checkbox to bill for this milestone. This checkbox is only available once the Achieve Date has been set. |
| Name | The name appears on your invoices |
| Description | You can edit your invoice templates to include the description field |
| Project Code | Optionally specify which project is associated with this milestone. Useful if you invoice your clients at the project level. Also useful when viewing reports broken down by project, or when using the Project Dashboard. |
| Task | Optionally specify a DTM task with this milestone. To enable this dropdown ensure that Detailed Task Management is ticked on the project info tab. Eligible tasks must be unavailable for time, cannot have time transferred to it, and cannot have child tasks. For task milestones, the Planned Date column is not editable and determined by the end date of the task. The milestone/task will mirror each other when changed. For example, marking the task complete will mark the milestone achieved. The only time this does not happen is if the milestone has already been billed. In this case the milestone stays as achieved. |
| Amount | The amount that the client should be invoiced for this milestone. Use a negative amount to issue a credit memo. |
| Planned Date | The date you plan to reach the milestone |
| Achieved Date | The date the milestone was actually achieved. Once a milestone is achieved you can no longer edit any other settings. If you wish to go back and make changes, click the achieved date and choose Clear. |
| Status | The following status' are available
The status is set automatically except for Pending/Foregone. You can choose between Pending/Foregone as long as the milestone is unachieved. |
| Invoice Number | Shows which invoice this milestone is on. For example, DRAFT00432 or INV00223 |
| Delete | Delete the current milestone. Only available for milestones that are NOT on an invoice. Untick the Include on Invoice checkbox to delete the milestone. |
Engagement Contract Terms
View the contract terms for this engagement. This area is useful when issuing fixed price milestones. In general you do not want to invoice a fixed price engagement for more than the total contract value.
| Contract Terms | Time & Materials, Fixed Price, or Not to Exceed |
| Contract Value | For Fixed Price engagements the contract amount is shown. You probably do not want to invoice for more than the contract value. If you do need to invoice for more than the contract value then you may want to update the contract amount. |
Milestone Summary
View the totals for all milestones on this engagement.
| Pending | The total amount of Pending milestones on the engagement. |
| Achieved | The total amount of Achieved milestones on the engagement. |
| Billed | The total amount of Billed milestones on the engagement. |
| Subtotal | The total amount of Pending, Achieved, and Billed milestones on the engagement. |
| Foregone | The total amount of Foregone milestones on the engagement. |
| Total | The total amount of all milestones on the engagement. |