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Require a prepayment on a project

Maggie Shipley
Updated

Add an up-front payment to a project on an engagement. By default, Aiwyn executes the letter after signatures and any required payment-method setup are complete, then charges the prepayment. A firm can enable a setting that waits for successful payment before execution.

Before you start

The project must already be on the engagement and must have a pricing structure. The prepayment field is unavailable until you have chosen Fixed fee or Hourly.

Steps

  1. On the Scope of services tab, select the project.
  2. Under Pricing structure, select Edit.
  3. Confirm the pricing structure and price or insert one in at this time.
  4. Enter the Prepayment amount.
  5. Save.
  6. Repeat for any other project that needs one.

The prepayment amount cannot exceed the overall project price.

The engagement details panel updates to show the total prepayment — the sum of every project prepayment on the letter.

If your template has a prepayment paragraph with a variant conditioned on the prepayment amount, that paragraph appears on the letter once you save an amount and disappears if you remove it. Check the Engagement letter tab after saving.

What this changes

  • The billing contact is asked to provide a payment method and pay the full amount through the client portal.
  • Saving the payment method and successfully collecting the prepayment are separate events.
  • By default, the letter becomes Executed once all signatures and any required payment-method setup are complete. Aiwyn then charges the prepayment. If the charge fails, the letter remains Executed; the failure is logged and failure notifications are sent.
  • If the firm has enable_sync_engagement_prepayment enabled, the letter stays in Sent until Stripe confirms the payment succeeded. This setting is off by default.
  • If a firm user selects Execute from the firm side, payment checks are bypassed and the letter is marked Executed.

Multi-client letters

A payment can only cover projects belonging to a single client. Add projects for each of the clients and ensure each have a prepayment and overall project price associated. The chosen billing contact is responsible for making all of the prepayments.

Related

  • Why prepayments require a project
  • What executed means, and what gates it
  • Payment prompt options

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