Automated Invoice Consolidation
Automated Invoice Consolidation
A guide for printIQ users
What is this feature?
Automated Invoice Consolidation is a scheduled process that groups your customers’ draft invoices and merges them into a single consolidated invoice. It runs on a schedule you define – typically at the end of each month – so your accounts team doesn’t have to consolidate invoices by hand. You can control how invoices are grouped and what supporting reports are attached, giving your customers a clear summary of their charges without losing access to the underlying detail.
Why would I use it?
- Your customers receive one clear summary invoice instead of lots of individual invoices each month.
- Your accounts team saves time by automating a process that would otherwise require manual consolidation.
- Customers who split costs across regions or departments get a separate invoice for each, making budget tracking straightforward.
- A supporting report can be attached to give customers line-by-line job detail alongside the summary invoice.
- Draft invoices are created first so your team can review them before they’re sent or exported.
When does it run?
Which invoices get included?
An invoice is picked up by the consolidation run if all of the following apply:
- The invoice is in Draft status.
- The invoice date falls before the day-of-month setting configured on the customer record.
- The customer record has Monthly Invoice Consolidation enabled and set to either “Create as draft”, “Create & email”, or “Create, email & export”.
How are invoices consolidated?
The “Consolidate by” setting on the customer record controls how invoices are grouped before merging:
- Customer – all draft invoices for the customer are merged into one invoice.
- Customer + Invoice Ref 1 – invoices are grouped by customer and Invoice Ref 1, producing a separate consolidated invoice for each unique reference value (for example, one per region or department).
- Customer + Invoice Ref 2 or Customer + Invoice Ref 3 – the same logic applies using the relevant reference field.
What happens after consolidation runs?
- A consolidated invoice is created – the system merges the qualifying draft invoices into a new invoice using the existing consolidation process.
- The report is attached – if a report is configured on the customer record, the system generates the report and attaches it to the invoice. This gives your customer a detailed breakdown alongside the summary invoice.
- The invoice PDF is generated – if an Invoice PDF Template is specified on the customer record, that template is used for the invoice PDF attached to the email.
- The outcome matches your setting – depending on whether Monthly Invoice Consolidation is set to “Create as draft”, “Create & email”, or “Create, email & export”, the invoice is either held as a draft for review, emailed to the customer, or emailed and exported to your accounting system.
What about the report?
What about errors or missing settings?
Settings to know about
| What it does | |
|---|---|
| Monthly Invoice Consolidation | Enables the feature and sets the action taken after consolidation: Disabled, Create as draft, Create & email, or Create, email & export. |
| Monthly Invoice Consolidation – Frequency | Sets either the 'month end' or select any of the options from '1st day of the month' to the '30th day of the month'. |
| Monthly Invoice Consolidation – Consolidate By | Controls how invoices are grouped: by Customer only, or by Customer + Invoice Ref 1, 2, or 3. |
| Monthly Invoice Consolidation – Invoice PDF Template | Specifies the PDF template to use when generating the invoice attachment for the email. |
| Monthly Invoice Consolidation – Report | Specifies the report to generate and attach to the invoice email as a detailed job summary. |
Automated Invoice Consolidation didn’t work – what should I check?
The setting must be set to “Create as draft”, “Create & email”, or “Create, email & export” – not “Disabled”.
Are the invoices in Draft status?
The process only picks up invoices with a Draft status. Invoices that have already been approved, sent, or exported won’t be included.
Do the invoice dates fall before the configured day of the month?
Check the Frequency setting on the customer record and confirm the invoice dates are earlier than that day.
Is the Consolidate By field set correctly?
If you’re expecting separate invoices per region or department, confirm the relevant Invoice Ref field is populated on the draft invoices and the Consolidate By setting matches.
Did the report fail to attach?
Check that the report name on the customer record matches an active report. If the report has been renamed or deactivated, the system will skip the attachment without blocking the consolidation.
Still not seeing the expected behavior after checking the above?
Reach out to your system administrator or the printIQ support team for a closer look at the configuration.
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