Billing a client

A bill is a collection of amounts due that can be submitted to a client as an invoice. When you create a bill, you are generating the content of an invoice.

A bill can be paid, unpaid, and partially paid, as indicated on the Financials > Billing & Invoicing > Transactions page.

When do amounts become available to bill?

In Polaris, project billing is based on bill plans that project managers create for their projects.

These plans define exactly when amounts are available for billing, and when. Hours worked and expenses entered do not have to be approved before they become available, unless that’s specified as part of the bill plan.

You can view what amounts are billable, but have not yet been added to a bill, using the Financials > Billing & Invoicing > Available to Bill tab. You can also create a bill based on a billable amount from that tab.

To create a bill

Go to Financials > Billing & Invoicing > Transactions.

Or,

Select Projects in the side menu, choose the project whose time you want to bill, and click the Billing & Invoicing tab. Then, click the Edit button located at the top, right-hand corner of the page.

Hover over the icon located at the bottom, right-hand corner of the page, and select the Bill icon (not the word ‘Bill’).

An Add Bill panel opens.

Select a client to bill.

The client field will be automatically populated if you’re adding the bill from a project page.

Complete the bill's header fields, as needed.
Click Add Bill. The bill will be created, and editable fields will display where you can add amounts.

Click the

icon if you ever need to update details in the header of the bill.

You can also create a bill using the Financials > Billing & Invoicing > Available to Bill tab.

About the bill's header fields

Client	The client who will be sent this bill. The client field will be automatically populated if you’re adding the bill from a project page.
Reference #	The reference # field may be auto-populated, depending on your settings. Refer to Configuring auto-generation of bill, credit memo, and payment reference numbers for more information.
Issue Date	The date when you will issue the bill. Defaults to the current date, but you can update this
Due Date	The date when you want the billed to be paid by
PO Number	The purchase order number, if required
Period	The period the bill covers (e.g. Sept 1 to 30)
Payment Term	The length of time the client has to pay the bill. For example, Net 30 means payment is due within 30 days of the invoice date.
Currency	The currency for the amounts included on the bill. Only one currency can be used on a bill; if the project currency is different from the bill currency, amounts will automatically convert to the bill currency.
Invoice Template	The invoice template that will be used when this bill is generated. Defaults to the system default, but you can update this.
Description	A description of the invoice, if required
Billing Address	The client's billing address. This will display under: Invoice To <Client name> on the invoice
Notes for Customer	Any additional notes you want the customer to see
Internal Notes	Any additional notes about the bill that you don't want the customer to see. Won't display on the generated invoice.

To add amounts to a bill

A bill has three sections: Line Items, Payments, and Credit Memos. The Line Items section is where you’ll include the amounts you plan to bill to the client.

You can bill:

Amounts available to bill - these amounts become available automatically based on the project’s bill plan, or when resources submit billable expenses against a project
Ad hoc amounts against a project - you might occasionally need to add an ad-hoc charge for services performed or costs incurred for a project that weren’t covered in the bill plan, or
Ad hoc amounts against no project - you might add this type of ad hoc charge if an unplanned service isn’t associated with a specific project

Or, you can bill any combination of these, on any one bill. The bill will be saved automatically as you make changes.

At any point, you can add payments the client has made or credit memos to offset the billing amounts.

To add amounts available to the bill

Create or open a bill, then click + LINE ITEM.

In the Add Line Items dialog, with Available to Bill selected, all available amounts display automatically.

Click the check box beside each item you want to add to the bill.

Then, click Add Line Items, and the amounts will appear on the bill.

If many amounts display, to help find the specific amounts you’re looking for, you can:

Click + to select and view the type of item (Timesheet or Expense), task, resource, billing rate, or units () associated with the item
Enter a search term into the search field, and/or
Click the icon to apply additional search criteria (project, date, or type) and click Search

To remove an amount from the bill, click the

and click Remove Line Item.

To add ad hoc amounts against a project

Create or open a bill, then click + Project.

Select a project name.

A line for the project with an amount of 0 will display on the bill.

Update the amount to the value you want to bill.

To add ad hoc amounts against no project

Create or open a bill, then enter the amount in the blank row available by default.

If no blank row is available, you can add no-project rows by clicking + LINE ITEM, selecting Custom and choosing None for project, then entering an amount.

FAQs

Why aren’t the amounts I’m looking for available to add?

If no items display in the Line Items dialog, no billable amounts are available to add to the bill – either because no amounts came available based on the project’s bill plan or expense submissions, or because available hours were already included on another bill.

When might we need to add an ad hoc amount?

You might add an ad hoc amount for any work or expenses you need to bill to the client, that aren’t covered in the project’s bill plan.

Can you create a bill for a project that doesn’t have a bill plan?

Yes, you can. In this case, no amounts will become available to bill, but you can enter ad hoc amounts.

Can I delete a bill?

To can delete, or 'remove' any bill in draft state. However, you cannot remove bills that have been issued. Instead, if they're no longer valid, you may be able to void them. Void bills are retained in the system, and can be found by clicking the Voided filter located on the right-hand side of the Transactions page.

To void or remove a bill, open it and click the icon to enter edit mode, if necessary. Then, click the icon located at the bottom of the bill, and select Remove Bill or Void Bill, as applicable.

To void a bill, you need Void permission for Bills, Payments, and Credit Memos in your Billing Manager permissions. You only need Edit permission to remove a draft bill.

Can I revert a bill to an earlier status?

You can revert any issued bill back to draft state by clicking the icon at the bottom of the bill, and selecting Revert to Draft. If the payment is fully allocated, you'll have to click the icon located in the header first.