This comprehensive guide gives you an understanding of the billing functionalities available within the Maxio Platform. From managing invoices to advanced billing methods, this article is designed to offer an informative overview of the billing process within the Maxio ecosystem.

Maxio Platform provides straightforward functionality for creating, managing, and sending invoices.

Managing Invoices

Maxio Platform generates invoices by grouping invoice line items based on the associated customers and dates. Invoices represent transaction accounts receivable and support e-invoicing for payment collection. Balanced contracts can generate invoices through General Ledger (GL) syncing.

Typically, the system generates Invoices when you create Transactions. To create an invoice manually, locate the customer, hover over the Invoices drop-down, and select "Add Invoice". 

To view and manage invoices, on the side menu, go to "Invoicing" and select either "Invoicing Home" or "Invoice List" to look at a list view of current and past invoices.

Editing invoices can help maintain balance and allows you to use options like reordering, promise-to-pay dates, deletions, voiding, and moving invoices. Sales tax handling is possible through AvaTax or your connected GL.

If you need to edit an invoice, go back to the customer and select "Edit Invoices" from the Invoices drop-down. 

Then, on the invoice screen, go to the Invoice drop-down and select "Edit."

To see further topics that cover configuring line items, credit memos, payment tracking, and collection notes please visit this help article.

Invoice Line Items

Invoice line items are essential elements that make up invoices. They represent individual elements grouped together and are closely tied to transactions for balance. They can be managed by adding, editing, and deleting as needed on the edit invoice page. New line items are generated when creating transactions or processing sales orders. Ensure careful handling to prevent out-of-balance scenarios.

It is important to keep all line items associated with transactions to avoid revenue and billing implications. Try to associate invoice line items with transactions, this is key to maintaining balance in Maxio. However, manual association and disassociation are also available options. The creation of transactions will generate invoices and associated line items, particularly when directly syncing invoices from a general ledger.

To learn more about invoice line items, please visit this documentation.

e-Invoicing

Effortlessly email invoices to customers using Maxio Platform's e-invoicing functionality. E-invoices can be sent manually or automatically through the auto-send feature. Cadences can also be incorporated for optimized collections and accounts receivable management. Configuration setup and customer setup are prerequisites for e-invoicing.

Sending e-Invoices

Any invoice you create for a customer is automatically placed in the email queue. You can then manually send these queued e-invoices directly to the customer. It is also possible to have the system send e-invoices automatically once they enter the queue. e-Invoices are sent from the queue only when the invoice's date is reached. This applies to sending e-invoices both manually and automatically.

To manually send an e-invoice, navigate to the invoice you would like to send and click the Preview and Send e-Invoice option under the e-Invoicing drop-down.

Address the e-invoice's fields and then click the Send button. To learn more about this feature and other ways to enhance your invoices, please visit this documentation.

Billing Methods

Maxio Platform offers an array of flexible billing methods designed to cater to various B2B SaaS business models. These methods define how invoices are scheduled, how Invoice Line Items are generated, and when invoicing occurs for transactions. You can choose from different categories of Billing Methods:

• One Time: Single invoices based on intervals like Invoice Start Date or 30 days later.
• Annually: Yearly invoices with variations.
• Quarterly: Quarterly invoices with different start times.
• Monthly: Monthly invoices with options for timing.
• Special: Including options like "None," Semiannually, All on Transaction Order Date, and more.

Make sure each item in your transactions has a default Billing Method in the Maxio Platform. When creating transactions, the default Billing Method is used to generate invoice schedules and details. However, you can also select an alternative Billing Method if needed.

For more information on billing methods please visit our full documentation on it here.

Key Terminology

The key to learning any system is understanding what objects are called, how they work, and how they relate to one another. You can also learn more by checking out our full Glossary of Terms.

Object	Definition
Cadence	Cadences are a feature of Maxio Platform's Collections functionality that generates and sends emails to customers to remind them to pay their outstanding invoices.
e-Invoice	An electronic invoice is sent to your customer from Maxio Platform.
General Ledger (GL)	Centralized record-keeping system for financial transactions, used for syncing and managing invoices.
GL Syncing	Integration with the General Ledger for syncing financial data and generating invoices.
Invoice	Invoices are fundamentally groupings of invoice line items, which Maxio Platform assembles based on their customer and invoice date. Invoices represent the accounts receivable aspect of transactions and provide the means of collecting payment from the customer (via e-invoicing).
Invoice line item	The individual elements that Maxio Platform groups together to make invoices. They are essentially individual lines from an invoice.
Out-of-balance	Maxio Platform checks the balance of invoices, revenues, and transaction amounts for customers, contracts, and transactions to help ensure your financial reporting is accurate. An out-of-balance contract indicates a potential invoicing or revenue reporting problem. Maxio Platform uses the following logic to define balanced vs out-of-balance: Σ Transaction Amount(s) = Σ Invoice Line Items = Σ Transaction Revenues
Transaction	A specific type of financial record that represents a contract element in Maxio Platform. You add and manage transactions to record subscriptions and non-recurring purchases and, in so doing, produce revenues and invoices as a byproduct.

 

Advanced Billing

Our Advanced Billing platform provides enhanced functionality to support your evolving monetization strategy with a flexible billing engine built for your B2B needs. Advanced Billing facilitates several ways to monetize products and services, including many upfront and usage-based pricing models.

Sites

When getting started with Advanced Billing, creating the first Site will be a top priority. To do this go into the "Sites" tab of the main menu and select the green "+create" button.

Sites function as organizational containers for your Products, Customers, and Subscriptions. While a single Site suffices, most Merchants find it beneficial to have at least two Sites – one for testing and one for production.

Easily create new Sites with customizable settings like Subdomain, Currency, Test Mode, and more. Switch between Sites and clear data when needed. To learn more about sites look at our documentation on the subject here.

Catalog

To start creating subscriptions, the products within your site's catalog will need to be created and configured first. The term 'Products' is used to encompass a broader range, offering flexibility and simplicity. Products are grouped into product families, allowing easy upgrades or downgrades within the same family. First, setup a product family by using the green "+ Create" button on the Catalog > Products tab.

After setting up a product family, you can create individual products within it. Just press the "+ Create New Product" within the product family.

From here, specify attributes like Name, Description, Accounting Code, pricing, intervals, and more. From there, the components, coupons, and other product families can be set up to more directly reflect any pricing scenarios. To learn more check out the documentation on products, components, coupons, or product families.

Subscriptions

Subscriptions play a pivotal role in Advanced Billing, connecting customers to products and handling recurring billing cycles seamlessly. A subscription can be created in various ways, but is primarily created through either the Advanced Billing interface or through Public Signup Pages. Once a subscription is established, it automatically renews based on the product's designated interval. Subscriptions will run by themselves, but monitor and identify any subscriptions that may need attention. If automated Dunning is active, staying updated becomes even more effortless. For more information on subscriptions, check out our documentation on them here.

Invoices

In Advanced Billing, invoices serve as crucial financial documents representing various billing events such as subscription signups, renewals, prorated upgrades, and ad-hoc charges. Invoices can have statuses like Draft, Pending, Open, Processing, Paid, Voided, or Canceled, each reflecting different stages. They can be collected through Automatic (auto-payment), Remittance (customer-initiated), or Prepaid (initial payment) methods and are automatically generated for various events. Manual creation is possible as well. To view and search invoices, go to the Billing > Invoices tab.

Invoices have issue and due dates. The issue date marks availability for payment, while the due date indicates the payment deadline. Dunning does apply to overdue invoices. Understanding these aspects of Advanced Billing invoices ensures effective management of your billing processes. To learn more about invoices go to our documentation on the subject.

Key Terminology

The key to learning any system is understanding what objects are called, how they work, and how they relate to one another.

Object	Definition
Advanced Billing	The billing system used for managing subscriptions, products, and customers.
Catalog	The collection of products available for sale within a Site. Products can be organized into families, allowing easy upgrades or downgrades within the same family.
Dunning	The process of handling overdue payments and ensuring collection.
Invoices	Crucial financial documents representing billing events like signups, renewals, upgrades, and charges. They have statuses like Draft, Pending, Open, Processing, Paid, Voided, or Canceled. Invoices can be collected through Automatic, Remittance, or Prepaid methods.
Products	Items offered for sale. They include details like Name, Description, Pricing, Intervals, and more.
Sites	Organizational containers for Products, Customers, and Subscriptions. Typically, merchants have separate Sites for testing and production.
Subscriptions	Connect customers to products and handle recurring billing. Subscriptions automatically renew based on product intervals. Monitoring is required, automated Dunning can assist.