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I am considering switching to Billing Manager but I have one main concern and two minor concerns: 1. Is there really no way of creating invoices by PROJECT? Every billing software I ever used had "clients" and then "projects"... I for example work for the same recurring 5 or 6 clients who give me different projects I work on and they want to be invoiced separately for every project. I would like to see every project of every client grouped under that one client and the same for all the other clients. Do you know what I mean? Is there a way to do that or is this a feature that Intuit is planning to add? 2. It's great that this solution is iPhone compatible... So, since you are Apple friendly, are there any plans to have Mac Address Book integration and iCal integration? My current billing/invoicing software offers me these features and they were part of the appeal of why I chose that software (iBiz) over others. 3. Should I be concerned about having all my billing stored online? What if the company decides this product is not worth offering anymore or if they go out of business? Also, one last concern, does the Billing Manager offer any kind of year-end reporting or features like that? Thanks |
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marcnyc, Thanks for your comments. I'll do my best to answer your questions: 1. There currently isn't a specific feature that is designed to group invoices by project. I could think of a few work-arounds, such as noting the project in your invoice notes, and if you're interested in hearing more ideas we can definitely chat about it more. 2. I love your suggestion about integrating with other contact repositories besides just csv file format. This is actually something we've discussed quite recently, and while I can't guarantee one way or the other what we'll end up doing, I can say that it's something that we are considering. My colleague points out that there is a tool available to convert your iCal data to a csv file, which can be imported to Billing Manager: http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/internet_utilities/addressbooktocsvexporter.html 3. Security is definitely something that we take seriously. We also routinely do backups of all the Billing Manager data. And while Billing Manager is a newer product, it's produced by a company called Intuit which has been been around for years. There currently is a Sales Tax report within Billing Manager, and we'll likely be adding more reports at some point in the future. Thanks again for your comments. Please let us know if you have any more. Take care, Colin |
I would love to talk more about point 1. It is the main reason I am NOT using your product yet. It is essential to me and I could not use a billing solution that doesn't allow me to do that, so if I can help you get this going I will. |
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marcnyc, I was trying to think of a few ways you can distinguish between the projects - depending on your needs these may not be perfect solutions, but I thought I'd offer a few ideas. 1. Reference the project in the invoice notes. Pros: all of the different projects will remain under the same contact. Cons: you'll need to drill down on an invoice to see which project it's on. 2. Create separate "contacts" in Billing Manager for every project, using the "Company Name" or "Address Line 2" fields to signify the project. Pros: you can quickly reference invoices based on project. Cons: You'll have multiple contacts for a single client. If these don't work, maybe you could tell me a little more about your needs relating to project grouping and I could think a bit more about it. Take care, Colin |
Thanks for your reply Colin. Those won't work for me or for anyone else that has only a few clients with multiple projects per client. I don't necessarily want to make this about myself because I am sure that MOST freelancers are in my same situation. Freelancers usually work for a few recurring clients who keep giving them work because they are happy with their services. In my specific case, for example, I am an engineer/producer/sound designer and I do work for several clients. One of the recording labels I work with always sends me work (albums that I record) which take sometimes days, sometimes weeks to complete. This (and all my other clients for that matter) want to receive a separate invoice for every project but sometimes ask me for cumulative invoices (invoices for multiple projects of the same client). Example: client: Sony BMG project 1: Mariah Carey project 2: Luther Vandross project 3: Ennio Morricone For a Mariah Carey record there will likely be hours and hours of work that I will be adding and updating as I go. Sony will want to receive my bill for just that one project, at completion, or sometimes while the project is still open and going. In the meantime, at the same time, I might start to work on a Luther Vandross remix that takes 5 days to complete and then I invoice that. etc etc I need to be able to have all these three projects grouped under the one Sony BMG contact so that when I click on Sony BMG I see all the projects that I am working on or that I have completed for this one client. The same has to be true for all my other clients. If a client has several open invoices and wants to pay me for several projects at once I need to be able to multi-invoice selected projects at once in one big invoice to be sent to my client. I would like to point out that I am really not asking for the moon here. What I am describing is very basic when it comes to billing/invoicing softwares. I was actually surprised that you did not offer this. When I set out to look for a software to suit my needs I found that most if not all softwares were organized this way. They had a left column with the clients and then the right column was divided in two panes/rows. The upper pane/row was for projects and the lower pane/row for the items/hours spent on a project. Basically if you click on client A, the project pane shows all the projects billed to client A and when one of the projects is selected the bottom pane shows all the hours spent or the items invoiced for that specific project only. I'll be glad to deliver/email/upload a screenshot of one of these softwares... |
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marcnyc, Thanks again for your detailed feedback. Your explanation definitely helps me understand what you're looking for, but unfortunately project-based invoicing just isn't functionality that we offer today. Billing Manager is still a very new product, and there are still a lot of enhancements that we would like to build but haven't been able to get to yet. Customer feedback is very important to us as it guides our decisions about which features to build into the product, so I invite you to continue to contact us to let us know more about your invoicing needs. Thank you for your time and consideration. Take care, Colin |
project-based invoicing is a must so I might consider switching when it is integrated but definitely not before... you could update this post if and when you add this feature that would be great that way I get a notification email thanks |
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marcnyc, Will do. Do you mind if I ask you another question? It sounds like you've done more than your fair share of research into invoicing software and web-products. Could you tell me if there was anything in particular that peaked your interest in Billing Manager? Have you had a chance to play around with our product yet? Either way, I would love to hear your comments. Take care, Colin |
I think Intuit's Quickbooks easily handles the type of invoicing you are looking for. I am in an architectural firm that works in many ways the same way you do. Several clients with multipele projects and "sub" projects. We provide cleint invoicing for each project and can recap those invoices by "master" project or client. I'd be happy to lead you through it if you are using Quickbooks. We do not do on line billing and at the moment are not looking at going in that direction although it is intriguing. I also don;t know a lot about "Billing Manager" but will look at how it can handle doing what you want if that is the way you really want to go. Aloha . |
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I need to see customer statement to email i nned to import from outlook contacts with out duplicatiion to accure when importing the cvs file or give choice to marge record with update since outlook allyase is updated eliarieli@jtunesonline.com |
can i send statement can i see total of invoices or customer list ---------- ------ ------ ------- total sorted by passdue , active , as a simple list , can I transfer the service to online quickbook in the future |
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i want to be able to apps ly payment received from different sourses to moltiply invoice or have the invoices popup , also you need more detail on the invoice tel mobil fax email1 email 2 ,,,,, all come and sync withoutlook,,,,, it very good idea to sync with outlook.... it is also good idea to be able to sync with paypal history download and to give the option to pickup a tranaction line from the history to apply as payment to an invoice from the history download. |
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I have not idea what happened with the previous post.... what I was trying to post is this: JT, just wanted to let you know that I am not looking for a software solution, I already have one and I am very happy with it (it's called iBiz). The only reason I'd switch to this is to have online billing and iPhone integration, that's all. eliarieli, your suggestions are all interesting and I hope the developers will consider them |
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