Locking / Unlocking Merged Invoices to Manage Billing Cycles

The Lock / Unlock Merged Invoice control is a simple switch that protects the accuracy of your periodic billing cycles:

• Lock an invoice as soon as you finish a cycle (weekly, monthly, or any custom period you’ve set on the customer profile). Locking freezes every line, balance, and tax code so no one can accidentally edit, delete, or merge it again.
• Unlock when an authorised admin needs to add or adjust bookings that still belong to the same cycle—then relock with one click.
• An optional auto-lock job can close and lock group invoices the moment a billing cycle ends, eliminating late-night changes altogether.

In practice this means you send customers one clean, final statement for the period, while still giving your finance team the flexibility to make last-minute corrections without breaking the audit trail or disrupting cash-collection.

Benefits of the “Lock Invoice” Feature

1. Helps maintain customized invoice cycles
2. Prevents changes to specific invoices
3. Ensures accuracy and consistency of invoices
4. Streamlines billing process

How to lock an invoice

1. Navigate to Invoices > All Invoices from your sidebar menu
2. Find the merged/group invoice that you want to lock and click on it
3. Look for the “Actions” button and click on the “Lock Invoice” button

4. Verify the lock by checking the status field for the merged invoice, which should now show as “locked” on the booking overview page.

Note: Only admin users have the ability to unlock a locked merged invoice. If you need to unlock a merged invoice, please contact an administrator.

How to unlock an invoice

1. Navigate to Invoices > All Invoices from your sidebar menu
2. Find the merged/group invoice that you want to unlock and click on it
3. Look for the “Actions” button, and click on the “Unlock Invoice” link

4. The merged/group invoice will now be unlocked, and you will be able to merge additional invoices with it.

Note: Only admin users are able to unlock merged/group invoices. If you are not an admin user, please contact your administrator for assistance.

In conclusion, the Lock / Unlock Invoice feature offered by OctopusPro is a valuable tool for managing your customized invoice cycles and ensuring the accuracy and consistency of your invoices. By following these simple steps, you can take control of your billing process and streamline your invoicing process.

Streamlining the Billing Process with Customizable Invoice Cycles

Streamlining the billing process is crucial for any business, as it helps to ensure that invoices are sent out accurately and on time. With customizable invoice cycles, you can take control of your billing process and streamline it even further.

By setting up custom invoice cycles for each of your customers, you can specify the frequency of invoicing that works best for their business needs. For example, if a customer has a monthly invoice cycle, their invoices will be grouped together and sent to them on a monthly basis. This means that you can manage your invoicing process more efficiently, without having to manually group invoices each time.

To get started with customizable invoice cycles, you need to follow these steps:

1. Set up custom invoice cycles for each customer: Access the settings section of the software and set up custom invoice cycles for each customer.
2. Group invoices automatically: The software will automatically group invoices based on the custom invoice cycles set up for each customer.
3. View and manage grouped invoices: Go to the View Invoice page in the system, where you can see all the invoices that have been grouped together. You can also edit, add, or remove invoices from a group if necessary.
4. Lock invoices: If necessary, you can also lock invoices on the View Invoice page. This will prevent any further changes to the invoice, which can help ensure that the correct invoices are being sent to each customer.

For more information please visit our guide on Customer Billing Cycle Management for Consolidated Billing.

If you have any questions or concerns about this feature, please don’t hesitate to contact our support team for assistance.

To stay updated, please subscribe to our YouTube channel.