How To Set Up A New Recurring Service Plan Invoice In Harvest

Who: This process is for the Office Administrator to undertake

What: It shows you how to set up a new recurring Service Plan invoice in Harvest

When: Undertake this process whenever a new client comes onboard

Why: This process is completed to ensure that any service plan clients are sent an invoice for their service plan directly from Harvest on the 1st of the month

Creating a new recurring Service Plan invoice

1. In Harvest click on the Invoices tab, and then the Recurring tab

2. Select the green + New Recurring Invoice button

3. From the Choose a client... drop-down, select the client you want to create a recurring invoice for

4. Select the green Next Step button

5. Change the First Issue Date to the 1st day of the month the plan is to start on

6. Set Frequency to Monthly

7. Set Duration to Issue unlimited invoices until I manually delete this recurring invoice

8. Set On Scheduled Date to Automatically send this invoice

9. Change Sender to Strictly Savvy (assist@strictlysavvy.co.nz)

10. Under Recipients tick all boxes except Send me a copy (usually there is only contact listed but sometimes there will be an Accounts Payable option. In this case tick all contacts, unless instructed otherwise) 

11. In Message Body select all (Ctrl + A) and replace with the text below

12. Check that Tax is set to 15% GST on Income (15.00%)

13. Change the Due Date to 6 days after receipt. This will make it due on the 7th of the month, as per our TOE. Occasionally an agreement is made between Strictly Savvy and the client that their invoice can be paid on the 20th of the month (this happens with larger companies to fit in with their accounts payable systems). If this is the case then you would set the First Issue Date to be the last day of the month prior to what you are invoicing for, and the Due Date as 20 days after receipt

14. The Subject line is the number of hours of the plan - XX Hour Monthly Service Plan

15. Remove all but one of the item lines and change the Item Type to HServicePlans

16. Enter the Description as shown below, inserting the number of hours the plan is for, and the Virtual and On-site rates for that the client

17. Enter the Unit Price - this is calculated as Plan Hours x Virtual Rate, and is always the GST exclusive amount

18. Tick the box under GST

19. The Notes (optional, displayed on invoice) section will auto-fill with Savvy's bank account details. If they have signed up to GoCardless then we go into Xero and update their Branding theme and select GoCardless Payment Invoice (instructions at bottom of this page)

20. Select the green Save Invoice button

Message Body text:

Hi XXX,

Thank you for your business.

Here is your monthly service plan invoice for Virtual Assistance.

Kind regards,

Strictly Savvy

Description text:

XX Hour Monthly Service Plan: Virtual assistant services for the month ahead

$XX per/hour Virtual

$XX per/hour On-site

Updating Branding Theme in Xero

1. Log in to Xero

2. Under Contacts select the client you want to update

3. Click on Edit

4. Scroll down to the Sales defaults section

5. Find the Branding theme dropdown and select GoCardless Payment Invoice

6. Click on the blue Save & close button

Now all future invoices for this client with have the GoCardless template and not that no payment is needed as the amount will be deducted from their account on the due date. An email reminder is sent out a day or two before the due date to remind the client they have a payment coming out, when and for how much, so the client has time to make sure there are enough funds are in their account.