Invoicing
When a project starts, the project manager should review invoicing requirements listed in the contract, and create a way to quickly reference this information each month. The most common info-noting methods project managers use is to create a separate document that outlines the invoicing requirements, along with all tasks they do during invoicing - this ensures another person can easily jump in to support invoicing in that project manager's absence.
At the end of each month, "CivicActions Receivables" sends invoices to clients with time and materials projects. Fixed price projects are invoiced monthly on the date agreed to when the contract is signed.
To avoid surprises at the end of the month, project managers should be reviewing time entries in Harvest weekly to ensure that time has been logged to the correct project & roles, no entries are missing, and descriptions are included.
During invoicing time, project managers should indicate in #pm Slack channel when their project is ready to invoice. This is the trigger for "CivicActions Receivables" to create the invoice and send to the project manager for QA.
Project managers then review the line items in the invoice to ensure that the billing is accurate - including comparing hours against Harvest reports, ensuring rates and roles are accurate, and QAing for any thing like client prompt-pay discounts.
If the project requires additional deliverables or documents in order to invoice (such as a monthly report or signed detailed timesheet), the project manager should proactively prepare those items before the first of the month, and only indicate that the project is ready to invoice after those are prepared.