Some new invoicing features are headed your way!

Since we launched the new fixed fee project type, it’s been a lot easier to gain valuable insight into the health and profitability of projects that bill at a fixed price.

But there was a catch: Harvest was originally built to invoice for tracked time, using hourly rates. Now that Harvest supports projects that bill a variety of ways (not just hourly), what’s the best way to invoice? It just wasn’t clear.

That means you may have run into a few invoicing problems in the last few months. For example:

  • A lot of fixed fee projects have multiple invoices, which are issued only when you hit a milestone. Harvest had no easy way to track these invoice schedules. For many of you, this meant you had to track this info outside of Harvest, and jump there when it was time to invoice.
  • There was no clear way to invoice for a fixed fee project’s expenses. Even with workarounds, you still had to do some manual editing to get those expenses into a proper invoice.
  • It was difficult to include both time & materials and fixed fee projects on the same invoice. Either you had to issue your client one invoice per project, or manually edit your invoices to combine them.

If you’ve run into these things, don’t be discouraged. We’ve got some new features for you!

A Better Invoice, with the Info You Need

Our latest updates give you the info you need to invoice, right where you need it, so you can bill for all your projects—even fixed fee—with ease. Here’s the rundown.

First, we recommend you put any invoice schedule in your Project Notes. We know many of you already do this. If that’s you, carry on! If that’s not you, give it a try. We’ll now reveal these notes when you create your invoice. (More on that in a bit.)

image of Harvest project notes, with an invoice schedule entered

Second, when you create an invoice, just choose the option to invoice based on time, expenses, or fixed fees.

image of Harvest's Invoice Type, with fixed fee option highlighted

Then, choose which projects you’d like to invoice—you can select any combo of fixed fee and/or time & materials projects. In this step, you can also choose the expenses you want to invoice (yes, even expenses for those fixed fee projects!). They’ll be pulled seamlessly into your invoice.

image of Harvest invoicing, project selection step

Lastly—and here’s where things get really good for those of you with fixed fee projects—your draft invoice now showcases a handy new feature that reveals:

  • Your Project Notes. This is why we recommend putting your invoice schedule in these notes. Right in the invoice, you can quickly check where you are in your schedule, and what you need to invoice.
  • Total project fees, the uninvoiced amount, and the invoiced amount, so you have context about where you stand with your client.
  • Links to any related invoices, so you can quickly jump to them for reference.

GIF of user clicking on the project context feature, which opens more info about the invoice

Go Forth and Get Paid

Now you’ll always have the context you need to make your invoice, right where you need it, for any type of project in your account. We hope this update makes invoicing for all your projects simpler and more intuitive, and that it’s just a little faster getting that money in your pocket!

We’ll be releasing this feature slowly over the next week. If you have any questions for us or have any feedback, we’re here for you. Just let us know!