This article applies to Aiwyn Practice.
This article explains how a finalized draft invoice becomes an issued invoice, how it reaches your client, and why Aiwyn treats those as separate steps.
An invoice is approved, issued and delivered, and only the draft can change
An invoice passes through three stages before your client has it:
- Approved. The draft is Finalized in Draft Invoices. Its content is complete and has been through your firm's review, but nothing has gone to the client.
- Issued. The invoice is posted. Aiwyn records it in Accounts Receivable, and it appears in the Invoices module with a status of Unpaid.
- Delivered. The client receives the invoice by the draft's delivery method, such as email or a printed copy.
Everything before issue happens on the draft, so you can still correct it. A draft can be returned for changes or deleted, and deleting it puts its work back in WIP. See What happens when a draft invoice is returned or deleted. After issue, the invoice is a permanent record in Invoices.
In the product, the whole move is called sending. You select Send on a finalized draft, the invoice is delivered, and it moves to Invoices. The issuing part of that action is called posting and if an invoice is located in the Invoices section of the firm portal, the invoice is considered “posted” and ready to be paid.
Finalizing a draft approves it but doesn't send it
Finalized is the last review status. It means the invoice is approved and ready to go. It doesn't mean the client has it.
Sending is always a separate action. The person in the Sender role opens the finalized draft and selects Send or Schedule. By default, the sender is the biller if they have permission to send invoices, or your firm's default sender if they don't.
No invoice can be sent until its draft is Finalized. Your firm can skip review or approval, but it can't skip finalizing. For who holds each role, see Bill approval steps and the role that performs each. For how a draft reaches Finalized, see How the draft invoice review workflow works.
Issuing an invoice creates the receivable and fixes its contents
When a draft is sent, Aiwyn posts it. Posting creates the invoice's record in Accounts Receivable, and the invoice appears in Invoices with a status of Unpaid. From then on, its amount and Outstanding balance come from that record.
The issued invoice keeps a link to the draft that produced it. The Aiwyn Draft Invoice column on the Invoices list holds the draft's ID. The draft's activity log, with every status change and reassignment, stays available after the invoice is sent. That's how you trace any invoice back to its review history.
Some things are settled when the invoice is sent, not while the draft is being prepared:
- The invoice template. The template is applied when the invoice is sent, so changing the default in Settings → Invoice Templates affects future sends. See Invoice templates control appearance, not draft content.
- The invoice number. See How invoice numbers are generated.
The Invoice Date your client sees is set on the draft. It can be a past or future date, so it doesn't have to match the day the invoice is issued. For what happens to the time and expenses on the draft, see How work enters and leaves WIP.
An issued invoice can't be edited. Posting is the accounting event, so later changes are recorded against the invoice in Accounts Receivable, and the original stays as it was. If the invoice shouldn't stand at all, you can reverse it, which returns its work to a draft. Reversing a posted, unpaid invoice restores the original draft in Billing → Draft Invoices (line items, markups/markdowns and notes preserved), returns its WIP to unbilled, and reverses the AR entry.
See How to change a sent invoice and Why AR transactions are corrected, not deleted.
Issuing and delivery are separate so you control when the client receives the invoice
Issuing is an accounting event. Delivery is an operational one. Delivery doesn't change what the client owes. It controls when and how the client receives the invoice.
When delivery is tied to the moment an invoice is issued, invoices go out whenever billing staff finish, even late at night. Keeping delivery separate lets you choose the delivery date, send many invoices together, and keep a record of each change.
That separation is what makes scheduling possible:
- Send delivers the invoice straight away.
- Schedule sets a future delivery date. The draft's status changes to Scheduled, and the invoice goes out on that date at 8am Eastern.
- Only a Finalized draft can be scheduled, and the date must be in the future.
- You can change a scheduled date, or remove the schedule to return the draft to Finalized. Each change is recorded in the draft's activity log.
- A scheduled invoice is not posted until it has been delivered.
From the Draft Invoices list, you can select several finalized drafts and send or schedule them together. A bulk send runs in the background, so drafts can show a processing status for a short time before they complete. For the steps, see Send a finalized invoice to the client and Create, schedule and delete draft invoices.
The delivery method decides what your client receives
Each draft carries a delivery method that says how the invoice will reach the client. It shows in the Delivery Method column on the Draft Invoices list and on the draft itself. The method is set on the client and applied to each new draft. The default is set on the client record, and you can change it on a single draft invoice.
- Email. Aiwyn emails the invoice. The client's contact enabled to receive invoices are added as recipients automatically, and you can add other email addresses too.
- Download or print. The invoice is prepared as a PDF for your firm to deliver. When you send an invoice with this method, the PDF downloads in your browser.
- Both. Aiwyn emails the invoice, and the PDF downloads for you as well.
Clients imported from another system may have no delivery method set. Check those drafts before you send them.
Once issued, an unpaid invoice is available to your client in the client portal, where they can open the PDF and pay. For how payment changes the invoice's status, see How an invoice becomes paid or overdue.
An invoice can be issued and still not delivered
Because issuing and delivery are separate, delivery can fail after the invoice is already in Invoices. For example, an invoice email can bounce because the billing contact's address is wrong. The invoice still shows Unpaid, and its due date still applies, even though the client never received it.
So Unpaid tells you the invoice was issued, not that the client has it. To check delivery, find the invoice email in the Email Delivery Hub in Clients & Contacts. If the email bounced, correct the billing contact's email address and resend the invoice.
Resending delivers the same issued invoice again. It doesn't issue a new one. For the steps, see Resend an invoice and confirm delivery, Find a specific client email in the Email Delivery Hub and Troubleshoot a failed client email.
Related
- How the draft invoice review workflow works
- Bill approval steps and the role that performs each
- Send a finalized invoice to the client
- Create, schedule and delete draft invoices
- What happens when a draft invoice is returned or deleted
- How invoice numbers are generated
- Invoice templates control appearance
- How work enters and leaves WIP
- How Aiwyn invoice emails work
- How to change a sent invoice
- Why AR transactions are corrected, not deleted
- How an invoice becomes paid or overdue
- Resend an invoice and confirm delivery
- Find a specific client email in the Email Delivery Hub
- Troubleshoot a failed client email
- Invoice status reference
- Invoices list reference