RAVE's Financial Management System has an awesome feature called 'Branch-Level Bills'. This is a real game changer for the New Zealand residential construction industry when managing bills (and credit notes) that need to be spread over multiple projects.
To put it simply, these Branch-Level Bill workflows allow you to load multi-project bills (and credit notes) from a single supplier into RAVE, splitting the cost or credit across multiple jobs i.e. a monthly single power supply bill, or rubbish bin hire credit note across multiple projects/sites.
With RAVE's optional Financial Management System module activated, you'll find the Branch-Level 'Bills In' sub-tab via the 'Financial' button, sitting between the branch 'Overview' and 'Profitability Report' sub-tabs.
Adding a Branch-Level Bill (or Credit Note)
The work-flow of adding a branch-level Bill or a supplier Credit Note is the same - in the instance of adding a branch-level bill we:
- Click on the 'Financial button' to open the branch-level financial sub-tabs
- Then, click on the 'Bills In' sub-tab, next to the Financial 'Overview' sub-tab
This will open the Branch-Level Bills In screen. - Click on the 'Add a bill' button
This will open the 'Add a (Branch-Level) Bill' screen - Select the supplier/contractor you've received the bill from
- Add your suppliers' bill reference number i.e. their invoice number
- Select the category to assign this bill to
NOTE: If this bill is to be spread across multiple categories, you can select a category at the line-item entry stage - we cover this in step 8 below. - Leave the 'Project' field blank i.e. you can select the project at the line-item entry stage below
- Also complete the Billed Date, Due Date, and the 'Amounts are' (Tax) fields
- Click on the cloud icon, or drag and drop, to attach your supplier bill
You are now ready to add your line item(s), and proportion the bill across multiple projects - For each item line you would complete the following fields:
Description - of this bill for the selected project i.e. Skip Bin Lot 1
Project - the project this portion of the bill is to be charged to
Category - the category this portion of the bill is to be charged against for the selected project
UOM (Unit of Measure) i.e. each
Quantity i.e. 1
Cost Price - the portion of this bill charged against the selected project i.e. $250 - that's half of the total bill
Markup - if required i.e. if you are on-charging this bill, you can add a markup say 10%
Tax Rate - if applicable i.e. 15% GST - Then click the SAVE button to confirm your line entry - this will auto-calculate the sell price
- Repeat the above steps to add the next line(s) until every single item and total item value of that bill has been assigned to the right job(s) and categories
In the example below I have split a bill across two projects, each has been charged 50% of that bill, or $250. The first project has had a 10% markup added - as this is an 'on-charge' job. The second project is a 'payment schedule' job that does not require a margin to be added to this bill i.e. the margin is already accounted for in our signed contract. - Once all of the bill's charges have been accounted for, you can then click the 'Approve Button' to load that bill entry.
This will load the bill and take you back to the branch-level 'Bills In' sub-tab, where this new bill entry will be displayed.
NOTE: All line items from branch-level bills/credit notes must be assigned to a project. If there is one or more lines that don’t have a specific rave project, you will need to create and assign these items to a generic project.
Branch-Level Bills (and Credit Notes) - Additional Points
The Branch-Level 'Bills In' sub-tab displays every active project's bill and credit note within your business - there are filter options at the top of the page to refine the display. The project name for the bill/credit note will display as 'Multiple Projects' if it is across more than one project vs. a single project's job number/name.
Clicking on a bill (or a credit note's) 'Reference' link will open the branch-level bill/credit note screen.
- This is where we can view the bill/credit note and is also where we can make changes
- To the top left of the bill (credit note) screen we display the project names (as clickable links) this bill has been charged against.
NOTE: Any editing of branch-level bills must be done at the branch level, not the project level - Branch-level bills need to be loaded at the branch level - which is why when you click on a 'Branch-Level' Bill/Credit Note link - it will take you back to the branch level bills page to make that edit.
Clicking on a bill's project name link, will take us to the 'Bills In' sub-tab for that project - displaying all bills charged to that job.
- Any branch-level bills (and credit notes) will be tagged with a 'Branch Document' icon (to the right) of the supplier's reference number.
- On the left-hand side of a bill/credit notes Status column - is the total amount of the bill that needs to be paid i.e. the total bill value spread across all projects
- On the right-hand side of the Status column - is the amount of the bill allocated to this specific project - the portions allocated to this project, these are also the figures used for the project's reports including back costing.
And looking to how this ties in with the project's 'Back Costing' sub-tab
- In the example above, we can see a bill of $250 has been charged to the project's Site Toilet category.
- Furthermore, the 'Bills In' summary line shows we have $250 + GST worth of bills loaded for this project.
The total should be reflected in the project's 'Back Costing' reporting - and so, clicking on the 'Back Costing' sub-tab, via the Category View, we can see: - The Bills in Total is correctly reporting $250 + GST worth of bills loaded.
- And scrolling down to the Back Costing by Category/Site Toilet section - we can see that this is also correctly reporting the total of -$4970 + GST - expanding this section allows us to see the detailed breakdown for Stones Skips and Loos (Site Toilet). This is because for the duration of the project, we have a quote for $5220 for the Site Toilet category but for the first month we have received a $250 bill. -$4970 reflects the difference between what we were quoted and what we have been billed.
NOTE: You can not load a branch-level bill (or credit note) against a quote or purchase order - which means you need to ensure you load the branch-level bill (or credit note) against the correct category for back costing
How does Xero work with Branch-Level Bills (and Credit Notes)
In respect to pushing to Xero, you still manage branch-level bills and credit notes in the same way as a project's bill or credit note i.e. you still 'Approve' the bill/credit note which will push them to Xero, and with payment syncing turned on the Bills and Credit notes will receive payments from Xero.