If you are using the Xero Practice Manager (XPM) integration with Ignition, you will be able to specify how your client's billing is grouped.

These billing groupings simply mean what type of invoice reference that Ignition will generate in Xero, as well as what the XPM job reference will be so that it can be grouped together.

The Xero invoice reference and XPM job reference must match in order for Xero invoices to allocate correctly.

This article will explain what you'll need to know when making this decision.

When you are in the Automation step of the proposal editor, you'll be able to select what type of billing grouping you prefer - either by Client or by Proposal.

Similarly if you were to create a manual workflow in a client's Workflow tab, you can choose the billing grouping by clicking Edit under the Billings section and then nominating whether this workflow will be a Client or a Proposal billing grouping.

Note: You can also select Non-billing job if you do not want to deploy a job with the billing group reference. This means that Xero invoices will not be allocated to the job.

These are the impacts below if you nominate an XPM job to have billings grouped by Client:

ALL billing items and invoices generated under the client's billing schedule tab will be assigned to one specified XPM job.

This will occur even if you have multiple proposals for that client.

If you have multiple New Proposals under one client, the various billing items can be merged together as long as they have the same payment method and billing date.

This means that you have the option of sending your client one consolidated invoice, making it much cleaner for all parties.

Xero Invoices will be assigned an Ignition client reference number in the Reference field (e.g. CLI-1681).

You can find this number in the global search bar after searching for a client.

Alternatively, the Client Reference Number can be seen under the client record.

When deploying a job from Ignition, the XPM Client Order No. will be set to the Ignition client reference (e.g. CLI-1681) which instructs Xero to assign and match the correct invoices to the XPM job.

By selecting proposal level billings, you are able to have multiple billing jobs per client that are categorized on a per proposal basis.

These are the impacts below if you nominate an XPM job to have billings grouped by Proposal:

Only the billing items and invoices generated by the specific proposal will be assigned to the specified XPM job.

If you have multiple New Proposals under one client, the various invoices CANNOT be merged together, even if they are on the same payment method and billing date.

This means that if your client has accepted multiple proposals, they will receive more than one invoice from you due the billings being grouped by proposal.

Please note: The reason multiple invoices will be issued is so that Xero can import each invoice to a corresponding job. Currently XPM can only allocate whole invoices to a job.

Xero Invoices will be assigned an Ignition proposal reference number in the Reference field (e.g. PROP-0001).

You can find these proposal numbers in the Summary tab under a client record.

When deploying a job from Ignition, the XPM Client Order No. will be set to the Ignition proposal reference (e.g. PROP-0001) which instructs Xero to assign and match the correct invoices to the XPM job.

You can change the billing grouping by clicking into an active service in a client's Services tab.

First, click into the active service(s) that you wish to change the billing grouping on.

Click change → select your preferred billing grouping → Confirm.

If you have updated your billing grouping, you’ll need to update the Client Order No. in XPM to reflect the new billing reference for future invoices to allocate to the same job.

The Xero Invoice Reference number must match the XPM job’s Client Order Number field in order for invoices to allocate to the correct job.

If you’re only using one proposal and one job, you simply have to ensure that you copy and paste the Xero Invoice Reference Number generated by that proposal into the relevant XPM job you want credits on.

You can do this by clicking into the client’s Job in XPM → Edit Job → Paste the Invoice Reference Number into the Client Order Number field → then click Save.

If the invoice has already been allocated to the wrong place in XPM, we’ll need to make sure that all the previous invoices have been re-synced from Xero to XPM to allocate credits accordingly.

In order to re-sync the invoice, we’ll need to edit the Xero invoice in order to generate a new timestamp to help XPM to look for the invoice with the correct reference number.

Navigate to Xero, then click Invoice Options → Edit → Copy and remove the reference number → Update.

Then, click Invoice Options → Edit → Paste and add the reference number back in → Update.

Then, delete the invoice from XPM and wait for the overnight sync!

If you are creating New Proposals from Custom Templates, we suggest building the workflow from scratch (i.e. build your Custom Templates so that there is no existing workflow's pre-built in the Automation step).

The reason for this is to ensure that you are deploying the correct billing groupings and to ensure that you will deploy the correct XPM job updated with the most recent changes.

If you are experiencing any issues with invoice allocation, please read this article for more information!