Milestone billing

A milestone belongs to an engagement and names the deliverable, owner, due date, and amount. Its status shows whether the work is Pending, Submitted, Approved, Invoiced, Paid, or Missed. Engagement Manager can use those states to distinguish a deliverable being prepared from one ready for billing. The milestone’s billing readiness, days to due, payments received, and outstanding amount give Billing Specialist a current position.

When Milestone Approver checks a submitted deliverable and marks its status Approved, Billing Specialist can run the Milestone Invoice operation. It validates the milestone before moving it to Invoiced. A milestone without an amount or engagement remains Approved and gets a Failed operation receipt. That result calls for correction and a fresh billing attempt; it is not an invoice.

• Delivery promise. Quote Milestones holds the engagement, deliverable summary, due date, amount, owner, and status.
• Approval point. Milestone Approver checks the submitted work before Billing Specialist takes an invoice action.
• Billing evidence. Operation Receipts records success or failure of the milestone invoice operation against its reference.

Define what evidence the approver needs for a deliverable, such as a linked file or a record attachment. Agree who can move a milestone to Submitted and who can approve it. If the team records a review decision, link it to the person and specific deliverable. Choose how the team identifies a Missed milestone, how it replans a due date, and who tells the client about the change.

Set a billing review before invoking the invoice operation. Billing Specialist should confirm the engagement, amount, and approved state. Agree how the invoice number and payment record will be entered after the billing action. If another accounting system issues the formal invoice, define that connection and the reconciliation owner before go-live.

A client engagement has a $20,000 design milestone due at month end. Engagement Manager names its owner and writes a deliverable summary. When the work is ready, the manager submits it. Milestone Approver checks the deliverable and approves the milestone. Billing Specialist finds it in Milestones Ready To Invoice, verifies the amount and engagement, and runs the invoice operation. The status moves to Invoiced and a successful receipt records what happened.

Now remove the amount from a separate approved test milestone. The billing operation must leave it Approved and record Failed. The specialist corrects the amount before trying again. Milestone Billing Exceptions helps the manager find a Missed deliverable separately from a billing guard failure. These cases prevent a due date or approval label from being mistaken for a completed invoice.

• Milestones Ready To Invoice — Approved deliverables with amount, due date, and billing readiness.
• Milestone Billing Exceptions — Missed deliverables needing manager and billing attention.

See milestone to invoice and collection review. The integrations page covers accounting handoffs.