When generating invoices from the Ready to Bill screen in Ruddr, Invoice Items are applied to each line item that is created on the invoice. In Ruddr, Invoice Items are required for each line item and represent the category of the charge to the customer, such as Service or Expense. Managing which Invoice Item is applied to different services and expenses is done through three entities found in Custom Data in Workspace Settings:
Invoice Items
Invoice Items are managed in Custom Data and can be created as one of either Type: Income or Expense. The way to apply an Invoice Item to specific services or expenses can be done through Project Types and Expense Categories, respectively.
Project Types
Every project in Ruddr can optionally be assigned a project type. Assigning a project type helps you analyze the performance of specific segments of your project portfolio. Each Project Type in Ruddr can be associated with a Ruddr Invoice Item, to assist in categorizing the services revenue on an invoice.
To set the Invoice Item for each Project Type, access Project Types from the list of Custom Data entities in Ruddr (for more information, view the Custom Data help article). The current Invoice Item for each project type will be shown in the list (Figure 1). You can change the invoice item by clicking on the Edit button on the given row.
Figure 1 - Managing Project Types and Associating to Invoice Items
Note that it is common to have multiple Project Types mapped to the same Invoice Item. If you only have one type of revenue (such as "Consulting"), you may choose to map all Project Types to that single Invoice Item.
Once a default Invoice Item is set for a Project Type, all services invoice line items on invoices will default to this associated Invoice Item.
Expense Categories
Expense categories are used for the individual line items on expense reports. Each expense line item must be assigned a category. For more information of managing expense categories, see the separate expense category article.
Similar to how you map an Invoice Item to each Project Type, you can also map an Invoice Item to each Expense Category. By default, each Expense Category is mapped to the built-in "Expenses" Invoice Item in Ruddr. This is likely sufficient for most companies but if you need to break out billable expenses into separate income accounts, you will need to map your Expense Categories in Ruddr to specific Invoice Items.
To map an Expense Category to an Invoice Item, select Expense Categories from the list of Custom Data in Ruddr (for more information, view the Custom Data help article). This will bring up the list of expense categories within the workspace. To edit the Invoice Item associated with a given Expense Category, simply click the edit button on the category and set the Invoice Item drop-down (Figure 2).
Figure 2 - Associate an Invoice Item with a Ruddr Expense Category
Once a default Invoice Item is set for an Expense Category, all expense invoice line items for this category will default to this associated Invoice Item.