This video shows you the complete billing process for a finished single project in Leadtime – from status change to automatic invoice creation to subscriptions and financial analysis.
The billing process starts with the project status "Bill." As soon as you set this in Basic Settings, Leadtime automatically creates invoice drafts in the Invoice Review. Not a single line item needs to be created manually – everything is based on the approved master version you define as the billing basis in General Billing Settings. Change requests that came up during implementation are automatically captured as additional line items.
An important setting is choosing between mixed and split invoices. A single project can generate up to five invoice types: the project invoice itself, product subscriptions, change requests, express offers, and interim payments. Split invoices give each type its own document – increasing willingness to pay and reducing follow-up questions.
For larger projects, you set up partial payments under Settings → Progress Payments. The elegant part: during final billing, all partial payments are automatically deducted as negative line items – no double charging, no manual subtraction.
In the Invoice Review, you check automatically generated positions, can add manual items for third-party costs, and finalize via "Settle." The invoice receives a sequential number and moves to Receivables.
Particularly valuable: subscription billing for recurring revenue after project completion. Through catalog products or free subscription models (flat-rate or variable), you generate automatic recurring invoices. This turns a single project into an ongoing income stream.
You analyze financial performance in Sales Insights with breakdown by project or revenue type, and can activate trend forecasts based on existing subscriptions. Saved presets can be placed directly on the dashboard.
Your project is accepted, the tests have passed, and now it is time to get paid. In this video, I will show you how to settle a completed single project in Leadtime. You will learn how to start the billing process, which invoice types are automatically created, how to set up partial payments and review the project invoice. I will also show you how subscriptions generate recurring revenue after project completion and how Sales Insights help you analyze the financial performance of your project.
Your example project is familiar by now. The website relaunch for Bakery Mueller is complete. The test suites have passed, all bugs are fixed, and the client has confirmed acceptance. Now it is time to turn the delivered work into an invoice.
The first step is changing the project status. Open the project configuration, switch to the Settings tab, and under Basic Settings, set the project status to Bill.
From this moment on, something important happens. Leadtime automatically creates invoice drafts in the Invoice Review section. You do not have to create a single line item manually. Everything that was agreed upon and delivered in the project is automatically prepared for billing.
The foundation for this is the approved master version of your project. Under General Billing Settings, you define which project version serves as the billing basis. This is usually the final offer version approved by the client. This ensures that only what was actually agreed upon gets billed. Changes that came up during implementation, like change requests, are automatically captured as additional line items.
Before you review the invoices, there is one important setting to make. In the General Billing Settings, you will find the option Allow mixed invoices. I recommend setting this to Split invoices.
Here is why. A completed single project can generate up to five different invoice types. The project invoice itself, which is the main invoice based on the master version. Product subscriptions for recurring services like hosting or maintenance. Change requests, meaning additional tickets with effort that were not part of the original offer. Express offers that were separately commissioned during the project. And interim payments, such as deposits or milestone payments.
If you bundle all of this into a single mixed invoice, it becomes very long. And the risk increases. If the client has a question about one item, it blocks payment for all other items as well. With split invoices, each invoice type gets its own document. This increases willingness to pay, reduces follow up questions, and makes documentation much clearer.
For larger single projects, it is common to agree on partial payments. For example, fifty percent at project start and fifty percent on delivery. This keeps your cash flow healthy and reduces the risk of working entirely on credit.
You set this up in the project under Settings, then Progress Payments. There you can define as many partial payments as you need. Each one gets a title, for example fifty percent deposit, and an amount. As soon as you create a partial payment, it immediately appears as its own invoice of the type Interim Payment in the Invoice Review. You can approve and send it just like any other invoice.
The elegant part is what happens at the end. When you settle the project for the final invoice, all previous partial payments are automatically deducted as negative line items. The client is never charged twice. This happens completely automatically. You do not have to subtract anything manually.
Now let us look at what awaits you in the Invoice Review. You find this section under Billing, then Invoice Review. There you see a table overview with all pending invoice drafts. Each entry shows the organization, the project, the invoice type, the service period, the net amount, and the status.
When you click an entry, an overlay opens with the details. For the project invoice, you see all positions from the master version. The project components like epics and work packages. One time products that were assigned to the project. And the defined time frame with hourly rate.
Change requests appear as a separate collective invoice. Leadtime adds up the hours from all tickets marked as change requests and multiplies them by the hourly rate stored in the project. The individual tasks are attached as a list.
Below the automatic positions, you can use Add manual item to add further line items. This is useful for third party costs, travel expenses, or other charges that did not come from the operational project work. Each manual item gets a title and a net amount and is fully integrated into the tax and total calculations.
At the bottom, you see the summary with net amount, VAT, and gross amount. When everything looks correct, click Settle. This finalizes the invoice, assigns a sequential number, and moves it to the Receivables section. From there, you can send it, download it as a PDF, or mark it as paid. You already know this process from the invoicing and receivables video.
One of the most valuable features in single project billing is subscription billing. Because after the website relaunch for Bakery Mueller, certain services continue. Hosting, maintenance, maybe a support package.
There are two ways to set up subscriptions in a project. First, through products from the product catalog. These are standardized packages with defined pricing models and billing intervals. If you add a hosting package with monthly billing to the project, Leadtime automatically creates a subscription invoice in the Invoice Review every month once the project reaches the Bill status.
Second, there are free subscription models directly in the project under Settings, then Subscription Billing. This is practical for customer specific agreements that are not represented in the standard catalog. Here you can choose between flat rate subscriptions for all inclusive packages and variable subscriptions where you enter a multiplier, for example the number of users.
Subscription invoices run automatically until you deactivate billing or close the project. For variable subscriptions, you only need to enter the quantity manually. The rest is calculated automatically.
This is the moment where your single project turns into recurring revenue. The transition from one time project work to a steady income stream.
Finally, let us look at how you analyze the financial performance of your project. Under Insights, then Turnover Insights, you find the Sales Insights.
On the left side, you configure the analysis. Select the Bakery Mueller project, set the time period, and choose a model. Comparison shows multiple projects side by side. Total aggregates everything into stacked bars.
The breakdown option is especially insightful. With Breakdown by Project, you see the revenue contribution of individual projects. With Breakdown by Revenue Type, it gets even more granular. You see how revenue splits across support, fixed subscriptions, variable subscriptions, express quotations, products, components, and manual positions.
You can also activate the trend. Leadtime then shows a forecast based on existing subscription contracts, average support revenues, and planned project deadlines. This lets you spot early how your revenue is developing.
If you need a particular view frequently, save it as a preset. Saved charts can be displayed directly on the dashboard. This way, your most important financial metrics are always visible without reconfiguring the analysis every time.
Project billing in Leadtime is not a tedious afterthought. It is a systematic process. Set the project status to Bill, activate split invoices for faster payment, set up partial payments and let them offset automatically, configure subscriptions for recurring revenue, and use Sales Insights to keep track of profitability. In the next video, I will show you how to transition a completed project into ongoing support and build a long term client relationship.
