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Enabling Pro Forma Invoices

Certain business use cases require merchants or suppliers to issue pro forma invoices. Pro forma invoices are commonly used as preliminary invoices with a quotation, for customs purposes, or to give an example of the charged prices. In that sense, the pro forma invoice is exempt from any accounting or payment-related processing.

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JustOn supports pro forma invoices when billing arbitrary objects and billing opportunities.

Enabling pro forma invoices in JustOn involves the following tasks:

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JustOn 2.47 has introduced pro forma invoices with an option for deposit invoicing. As of JustOn 2.54, deposit invoices and pro forma invoices are available as separate features.

Pro Forma Invoice Concepts

Basically, the creation of a pro forma invoice is controlled using the ON field ON_Type on the source object. If this field is set to Proforma, JustOn generates a pro forma invoice.

Note

When you use pro forma invoicing, be aware that JustOn does not consider order discounts with the pro forma invoices, but only when generating the final invoices.

The following sections describe how to work with pro forma invoices, outlining their life cycle.

Pro Forma Invoice Creation

JustOn generates a pro forma invoice if the field ON_Type on the source object is set to Proforma.

Note

Once you have set the field ON_Type on the source object to Proforma to trigger the pro forma invoice creation, do not modify this field subsequently to make sure that the pro forma invoicing features operate correctly.

Using a template detail named Proforma, you can provide appropriate texts for the invoice PDF, like the display type or description (see PDF Contents).

After creating the pro forma invoices, JustOn sets the custom field ON_ProformaInvoice on the source objects to the pro forma invoices.

pro-forma_1
Creating a pro forma invoice

Pro Forma Invoice Finalization

When finalizing the pro forma invoice, JustOn creates a balance of the type Proforma (usually Invoice). This balance type is excluded from the account balance (rollup summary) and the statement of account creation.

Pro Forma Invoice Closure

Before you create the final invoice, you must close the pro forma invoice. There are two ways to do so:

  • Using the Close button on an individual invoice
  • Using a custom process to be triggered from a source record
Close button or custom process?

The procedure to close the invoices depends on your business use cases and the corresponding data structure in your org.

pro-forma_close_1

If you create invoices from a parent record in a parent-child relation, you most likely use a custom process to be triggered from the relevant parent record. The process clears the custom fields ON_Invoice, ON_Type and ON_LastInvoiceRun on the parent source record, which allows for creating the final invoice from the same record.

pro-forma_close_2

If your invoice run involves multiple source records (for example, using multiple filters or via single source object configurations), the Close button on an individual invoice is the more appropriate approach. It clears the custom fields ON_Invoice, ON_Type and ON_LastInvoiceRun on all source records that are related to the current invoice to allow generating the final invoice. This saves the need for manually clearing these fields on the source records.

Using the Close button on an individual invoice clears the custom fields ON_Invoice, ON_Type and ON_LastInvoiceRun on all related source records to allow generating the final invoice.

If appropriate, you can use a custom process to be triggered from a source record. Applying the specific Apex class that JustOn provides for this purpose, your process

  • sets pro forma invoices to the status Closed
  • clears the custom fields ON_Invoice, ON_Type and ON_LastInvoiceRun on the source record that triggers the process
  • unregisters any assigned payment balances and sets the balance field RelatedInvoice to the pro forma invoice

pro-forma_2
Closing the pro forma invoice via process

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Usually, JustOn assigns unregistered pro forma payment balances to the corresponding final invoices. Clearing the field RelatedInvoice of the unregistered pro forma payment balance will allow to assign the balance to any matching invoice.

Final Invoice Creation

After you have closed the pro forma invoice, you create the final invoice the same way and based on the same source records as the pro forma invoice.

Doing so

  • registers the balances (if any) that were unregistered from the pro forma invoice by the closing process to the final invoice
  • sets the field RelatedInvoice on the final invoice to the corresponding pro forma invoice

pro-forma_3
Creating the final invoice, linked to the pro forma invoice

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Your business may require to set up installments for final invoices. If you do so, JustOn sets the invoice type Final with Installment. Removing an installment from a final invoice sets the invoice type Final.

Adding Pro Forma Invoice Fields to Source Objects

In order to hold the required pro forma invoice data, you must add new fields to the source object, which can be

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If you need multiple billing configurations when billing arbitrary objects, JustOn must distinguish between different sets of field configurations using control field suffixes. To this end, append specific suffixes to the ON fields, as explained in Creating Recipient-Specific Controlling Fields.

  1. Navigate to the fields list of the source object.

  2. Create the following new fields.

    API Name Data Type Description
    ON_Type Text (255) Must be set to Proforma in order to create pro forma invoices. Is cleared automatically when the pro forma invoice is closed.
    ON_ProformaInvoice Lookup (Invoice) Shows the related pro forma invoice.

    For help about creating fields, see Managing Object Fields.

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You can add more fields using the ON field mechanism.

Configuring Pro Forma Invoice Display

Usually, a pro forma invoice needs other texts on the printed document than the final invoice. You can therefore define a template detail - named Proforma - to provide appropriate texts.

For further information about template details and invoice PDF contents, see Configuring Template Details and PDF Contents.

The following fields are relevant on the template and the template detail:

Field Description Example Target
Display Type Specifies the type of the invoice to be printed to the PDF. It should reflect the nature of the pro forma or deposit invoice. Advance Invoice Template Detail
Text 2 Text to be rendered below the invoice line item table. Use it, for example, to describe how the deposit can be made (bank account etc.) and to specify the payment terms. Template Detail
Deposit Title Short description of the nature of the deposit
This field is mandatory if you have set a deposit rate or a deposit amount.		 Advance Payment (50%) Template
Deposit Description Long description of the nature of the deposit Template
  1. Open the template or template detail to be edited.

  2. Double-click the intended field and specify the corresponding text as required.

    Alternatively, you can click Edit in the detail view to edit all fields at once.

  3. Click Save.

Creating Process for Closing Pro Forma Invoices

Closing pro forma invoices requires a process that calls the appropriate Apex class provided by JustOn. It closes the pro forma invoice and prepares the source object for creating the final invoice (for details, see Pro Forma Invoice Closure).

Note

Depending on your use cases, the process setup and the objects to involve will vary.

The source object for the process depends on the object that is used for pro forma invoicing:

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You can use multiple billing configurations when billing arbitrary objects with different sets of field configurations using recipient-specific suffixes. In this case, create an individual process with an individual trigger for each configuration.

Set up the process as follows:

  1. In Setup, open Process Builder.

    In Salesforce Lightning, navigate to Process Automation > Process Builder.

    In Salesforce Classic, navigate to Create > Workflow & Approvals > Process Builder.

  2. Click New.

  3. Specify a (descriptive) process name.
  4. Set the process to start when A record changes.

  5. Configure the process as required.

    Step Option Description
    Add Object Object The original object whose modifications are to close the pro forma invoice
    Start the process The type of record change that triggers the process, either creation only or creation and modification
    Add Criteria Criteria for Executing Actions The type of criteria, determines whether to check for specific field values or to evaluate records using a formula
    Set Conditions | Build Formula The use case-specific criteria, either the filter conditions for evaluating field values or the formula
    Add Action Action Type The type of action to be executed, must be Apex
    Apex Class The Apex class to be executed, must be Close Proforma Invoice
    Set Apex Variables Invocable variables for the Apex class
    Object Id specifies the reference to the ID field of the original object
    Suffix string value that specifies a recipient-specific suffix, required when using multiple processes for multiple billing configurations

  6. Click Save.

  7. Click Activate.

    For help about creating processes, see Lightning Process Builder in the Salesforce Help.

Note

Make sure that closing a pro forma invoice from its detail view using the Close button does not trigger the configured process for closing pro forma invoices from source records. This may produce errors.

Example use case: Set a checkbox to start the close process

Assume you create invoices from orders. You can, for example, use a custom checkbox field ON_CloseProformaInvoice on the order to trigger the process when the checkbox is selected.

(1) Create the custom checkbox:

API Name Data Type
ON_CloseProformaInvoice Checkbox

(2) Set up the process as follows:

Option Value
The process starts when A record changes
Object Order
Start the process when a record is created or edited
Criteria for Executing Actions Conditions are met
Set Conditions [Order].Close Proforma Invoice Is changed True
[Order].Close Proforma Invoice Equals True
[Order].ON_ProformaInvoice__c Is null False
All of the conditions are met
Action Type Apex
Apex Class Close Proforma Invoice
Set Apex Variables Object Id Field Reference [Order].Id

This triggers JustOn to execute the process when the ON_CloseProformaInvoice checkbox is selected: It closes the pro forma invoice and prepares the object for creating the final invoice (for details, see Pro Forma Invoice Closure).

Enabling Pro Forma Invoices for Multiple Parties

Generally, JustOn is set up to issue invoices to one recipient, usually via the account associated to the corresponding source record. Certain business use cases require billing to multiple parties, however – like, for example, in a marketplace scenario.

  1. Create multiple (recipient-specific) sets of ON fields as listed in Adding Pro Forma Invoice Fields to Source Objects.

    For details, see Creating Recipient-Specific Controlling Fields.

  2. Create an individual closing process with an individual trigger for each configuration set, specifying the corresponding recipient-specific suffix as an Apex variable.

    Process Name Trigger Control Field Suffix
    Close Proforma Merch checkbox Close_Merch Merch
    Close Proforma Buy checkbox Close_Buy Buy

Enabling Dunning Reminders for Pro Forma Invoices

By default, pro forma invoices and deposit invoices are exempt from dunning processes. If your business, however, requires issuing reminders for pro forma invoices and deposit invoices, you must explicitly enable this option using the corresponding global setting Allow Pro Forma / Deposit Dunnings.

  1. In Setup, open Custom Settings.

    In Salesforce Lightning, navigate to Custom Code > Custom Settings.

    In Salesforce Classic, navigate to Develop > Custom Settings.

  2. Click Manage in the row of Global Settings.

  3. Click Edit in the Default row.
  4. Select the checkbox Allow Pro Forma / Deposit Dunnings.
  5. Click Save.

Next steps:

Managing Deposit or Pro Forma Invoices

Return to JustOn Administration.