What is the difference between a billing plan and raising invoices in stages?

A plan sets out every stage in advance, tracks each one's status and prints a payment schedule. Raising an invoice in stages decides each invoice as you go. See Raise an invoice.

How do I bill a project in monthly instalments?

Set up a billing plan with Periodic, Every Month and the Number of periods. The contract sum is split equally over them.

Can I change a billing plan after a stage is invoiced?

Yes, with Edit plan. Invoiced stages keep their type and figure; the other stages can change.

Why was no automatic draft raised?

The quotation must be Accepted, the period must fall due on or after the day you turned the switch on, and nothing on the stage's row may block it, such as a deposit not yet invoiced in full. The row says what to do.

What happens to the billing plan when I revise the quotation?

It moves to the new version when you finalise the revision, and the old version's plan is marked "Revised to …".

Does the customer see the billing plan?

Yes, as a payment schedule on the quotation PDF, unless you clear Print the payment schedule (billing plan) in the quotation template.

Plan billing stages

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A billing plan sets out in advance how a quotation is invoiced: a deposit, then milestones or regular periods. Each stage becomes an invoice when it falls due. For a one-off staged invoice without a plan, see Raise an invoice.

Before you start

You need Quote Edit on the quotation to set up, edit, skip or cancel the plan, even after the quotation is locked. Creating a stage’s invoice, and turning automatic drafts on or off, also need Invoice Add. A quotation has one billing plan at a time. A Draft quotation cannot have one until you finalise it. A Rejected quotation cannot have a billing plan: its plan can no longer be set up, changed, skipped or invoiced, only cancelled.

Steps

Open the quotation. On the Billing plan card, select Set up billing plan.
Choose the Plan type: Milestones, or Periodic for equal claims Every week, month, quarter or year from First period starts, over a Number of periods.
Select Add stage for each stage, and choose its Type: Deposit, Milestone or Period. Give it a Stage name, a percentage or amount, and a planned date.
Choose the Deposit deduction: on the final claim, in proportion on each claim, or not at all.
Select Save plan.
When a stage falls due, select Create invoice on its row, then create the invoice in the dialog that opens. The amount is what the stage still has to invoice.

What happens next

easySales creates a Draft invoice for the stage, and the stage’s Status changes:

Status	Meaning
Pending	Its planned date has not come.
Due	Its planned date has come.
Draft raised	A draft invoice bills it.
Partly invoiced	Issued invoices bill part of it.
Invoiced	Issued invoices bill all of it.
Skipped	You chose Skip. Undo skip brings it back.

Raise period drafts automatically

Each billing plan has a switch, Raise each period’s draft automatically, that raises the draft invoice for its Period stages on their due day. It is off until you turn it on, and the card shows On since the day you did.

Drafts are raised only while the quotation is Accepted. You can turn the switch on earlier; nothing is raised until then.
Only Period stages are raised. Deposits and milestones are still invoiced by hand.
Periods due before the day you turn it on are not raised automatically; create their invoices yourself.
A period stage that covers part of a period is split the same way as the quotation’s lines.
The drafts are raised as the quotation’s salesperson. Nothing is issued or sent automatically.
Each period is raised automatically once. If you delete its draft, create the invoice yourself.
When the quotation is revised, the new version keeps the switch on, and periods already handled are not raised again.
A draft is not raised when the salesperson is no longer an active user, the deposit is not yet invoiced in full, the draft would take the invoices past the quotation’s total, or drafts cannot be created yet in your company. The stage’s row says why and what to do.
A notice goes to the opportunity’s owner, or else the quotation’s salesperson.
Marking the opportunity lost does not stop the drafts. Turn the switch off, or cancel the plan; drafts already raised stay until someone deletes them.

Rules to know

When the claims do not make up 100% of the contract sum, the card shows a warning.
The last open claim deducts all of the deposit not yet deducted, whatever the claims add up to.
Once an invoice bills a stage, its type and figure are frozen; you can still rename or re-date it.
Cancelling a stage’s invoice, or deleting its draft, frees the stage. A Reversal credit note frees what it reverses; Goods returned, Allowance and Over-invoiced credit notes free nothing.
A quotation cannot be deleted while a draft bills a plan stage.
If someone saved the plan after you opened it, your save is refused; reload and try again.
Cancel plan keeps it for the record; issued invoices stay as they are.
The quotation PDF prints a payment schedule when the quotation has a billing plan, leaving out skipped stages. To hide it, clear Print the payment schedule (billing plan) in the quotation template. Its headings print in English.

Why it works this way

The deposit sits beside the claims, not among them. The claims describe the work, so together they make up the contract sum. The deposit is an advance against that work: it is invoiced first and deducted later, so the customer’s invoices add up to the contract sum whatever deposit you take.

A stage’s invoice is an ordinary draft. The plan proposes the amount and the date; you still check the draft and issue it. Even an automatic draft is never issued or sent, so nothing reaches your customer without you.

An invoiced stage keeps its figure. Once an invoice bills a stage, changing the stage’s share would make the plan disagree with what the customer was charged. Its name and date can still change, because they do not alter any amount.

Only a reversal gives a stage back. A Reversal credit note undoes the charge, so the work is still to be billed. A credit for goods returned or an allowance lowers what the customer pays, but the stage was billed, so it stays billed.

Work faster

Use Periodic for retainers and maintenance. Choose Periodic, the frequency and the Number of periods, and easySales writes the stages for you, each dated on the first day of its period.
Let the period drafts raise themselves. Turn on Raise each period’s draft automatically; each draft waits for you on its due day, ready to check and issue. See Issue an invoice.
Show the schedule on the quotation. The quotation PDF prints the payment schedule, so the customer agrees to the stages when they accept the offer. See Quotation PDF.
Skip rather than delete. Skip takes a stage out of the plan’s total with an optional reason, and Undo skip brings it back.
Revise without rebuilding. When you revise the quotation, the plan moves to the new version at finalise. See Revise a quotation.

Examples

Lim & Co quotes Orchid Dental SGD 50,000.00 before tax, at GST 9% (SR), for a clinic fit-out. Mei Tan sets up three stages: Deposit 30%, Milestone “Completion” 50% and Milestone “Acceptance” 50%, with the deposit deducted on the final claim.

Stage	Share	Before tax	GST 9%	Customer pays
Deposit	30%	15,000.00	1,350.00	16,350.00
Completion	50%	25,000.00	2,250.00	27,250.00
Acceptance	50%	25,000.00 less 15,000.00 deposit = 10,000.00	900.00	10,900.00

The two claims make up 100%, so the card shows no warning. The deposit comes on top of them and back off the final claim.
In total the clinic pays 16,350.00 + 27,250.00 + 10,900.00 = SGD 54,500.00, the quotation’s total with GST.
Had Mei skipped Acceptance before invoicing Completion, Completion would be the last open claim and would deduct the whole SGD 15,000.00 deposit.

A quarterly styling retainer. Harbour Café accepts a quotation of SGD 12,000.00 before tax, at GST 9%, for seasonal styling over three quarters. Mei chooses Periodic, Every Quarter, First period starts 2026-11-01 and Number of periods 3, and turns on Raise each period’s draft automatically.

Stage	Share	Planned date	Before tax	GST 9%	Customer pays
Period 1	33.333333%	2026-11-01	4,000.00	360.00	4,360.00
Period 2	33.333333%	2027-02-01	4,000.00	360.00	4,360.00
Period 3	33.333334%	2027-05-01	4,000.00	360.00	4,360.00

100% does not divide into three equal shares, so the last period takes the remainder. Each amount is rounded once to the cent: 12,000.00 × 33.333333% = 3,999.99996, which is 4,000.00, and the last period is 12,000.00 − 8,000.00 = 4,000.00.
Each period’s draft is raised on its planned date, for Mei to check and issue.
The café pays 3 × 4,360.00 = SGD 13,080.00, the quotation’s total with GST.

Common questions

What is the difference between a billing plan and raising invoices in stages? A plan sets out every stage in advance, tracks each one’s status and prints a payment schedule. Raising an invoice in stages decides each invoice as you go. See Raise an invoice.
How do I bill a project in monthly instalments? Set up a billing plan with Periodic, Every Month and the Number of periods. The contract sum is split equally over them.
Can I change a billing plan after a stage is invoiced? Yes, with Edit plan. Invoiced stages keep their type and figure; the other stages can change.
Why was no automatic draft raised? The quotation must be Accepted, the period must fall due on or after the day you turned the switch on, and nothing on the stage’s row may block it, such as a deposit not yet invoiced in full. The row says what to do.
What happens to the billing plan when I revise the quotation? It moves to the new version when you finalise the revision, and the old version’s plan is marked “Revised to …”.
Does the customer see the billing plan? Yes, as a payment schedule on the quotation PDF, unless you clear Print the payment schedule (billing plan) in the quotation template.