Overview
This article provides general guidance and advice to service providers on:
- preparing a new invoice template using best practise methods
- upgrading or changing an invoice template using best practise methods.
- how to approach migrating customers to use the new template while eliminating unwanted disruption to business.
Preparing New Invoice Templates With Existing Live Templates In Play
Invoice templates comprise two user-configurable objects:
- Invoice Layout (links to an invoice design)
- Invoice Design (contains settings and is linked to a type of layout)
Editing Existing Layouts and Designs
There may be times when it is considered appropriate and preferable to change a template that is already in use. While it takes less effort to achieve, it also adds risks that are typical of making wholesale systems changes to live objects in a live system.
An invoice can be generated any time, so any changes being made at same time adds risk the generated invoice will be generated with partial or incomplete changes.
It is best practise to prepare a new invoice template rather than edit one that is already in use. This means creating a second invoice layout (Layout2) and a new invoice design (Design2) and linking them together to make up a complete new invoice template.
Emersion strongly recommends that any time an invoice template is to be changed, create a new template (an invoice layout linked to an invoice design) and get that ready first rather than changing your existing template objects.
This will prevent invoices being generated on templates that are not ready to be released.
Assumptions
This article assumes that best practise is followed and the following conditions are met.
- A new invoice design has been created.
- A new invoice layout has been created.
- The new invoice layout + new invoice design are linked.
- The new design and layout are configured and ready to be release.
Step-by-step instructions on how to create and configure the invoice design and invoice layout objects can be found on the Invoice Templates home page.
Want to know how to previewing a new invoice template before releasing it to all customers? See this article
Override Rules
When the system needs to build an invoice, it follows the rules below to know which invoice template to use for a specific customer.
It follows an inheritance rule set.
| Step | Where is this configured | Field | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Look for customer-level override. If found, use it. | Customer > Details | Account Invoice Template (pick list) |
| 2 | Look for Account Profile override. If found, use it. | Account Profiles are edited under Admin > Settings > Account Profiles | Account Invoice Template (pick list) |
| 3 | Use default invoice template | My Invoice Template > Invoice Layout | Default flag (radio button) |
Knowing these rules is essential to understanding how best to transition your customers from one invoice template to another.
Transitioning Future (New) Customers
To transition all new customers created in the future to the new template, make the new layout (Layout2) the default layout.
Done under My Invoice Template > Invoice Layout
The Default flag tells the system the invoice layout to assign to a customer's account, unless a customer-level override is applied the time.
Changing this flag from one invoice layout to the other
- will change the template assigned to new customers by default
- will not retrospectively change the template for existing customers
Transitioning Existing Customers
To transition existing customers to the new templates, one of two overrides need to be used.
Applying an override is an instant change. Re-rendering any invoice for the customer will re-render it in the new template.
Apply a Customer-Level Override
Customer-level override is configured under Customer > Details
Best suited to service providers:
- with a small number of customer accounts (up to 10).
- there is no need for a bulk update
At the time of wiring there is no way to bulk update customer accounts with a new invoice template override setting.
Apply an Account Profile Override
Account Profiles are edited under Admin > Settings > Account Profiles
An invoice template can also be linked to the Account Profile and acts as the middle node in a hierarchy.
Best suited to service providers:
- with large numbers of customer accounts who are likely to find that manually applying customer-level override overly onerous.
- updating in bulk is needed.
Test Results
Once the changes have been applied, go to a customer account that has a new template applied.
Go to Customer > Invoices
Re-render any invoice and view the PDF to see the results.
When testing any invoice template changes, Emersion recommends avoiding re-rendering the most recent invoice (if possible), or any that have an amount still owing. Choosing an older invoice is better as it is less likely the customer will ask for another copy.