> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.elastik.mu/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.elastik.mu/enterprise-management-system/sales/sales-invoice/create-and-submit-a-sales-invoice.md).

# Create and submit a Sales Invoice

You have sold something. This page shows how to raise the bill for it in Elastik and get it onto the customer's account, so the money shows as owed.

It is for whoever raises invoices — the sales desk, the counter, the office manager, an owner doing their own billing. You need to know who the customer is and what they are buying.

An invoice happens in two stages. First you make a **draft**, which is a form Elastik is holding for you. Then you **commit** it, which is the moment the sale becomes money somebody owes you. Until you do the second part, nothing chases the customer, the invoice does not appear on the debtors reports, and nobody can pay against it. A draft left sitting is a sale you will never collect.

If the customer already has a Sales Order on Elastik, you do not have to type any of this out — see [Convert a Sales Order into a Sales Invoice](/enterprise-management-system/sales/sales-order/convert-a-sales-order-into-an-invoice.md) instead.

## Steps

{% stepper %}
{% step %}

## Start a new invoice

In the menu down the left, click **Sales**, then **Sales Invoice**. Click **Create New**, at the top right.

![](https://1263389357-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2F1RhHon09xexaW3qBPQub%2Fuploads%2Fgit-blob-30660da0d6e4642810b02b42d70e3c345bdf5800%2Fsales-invoice-create-01-list.png?alt=media)

Elastik makes the draft the moment you click. Straight away the panel on the right shows a **Reference** beginning **TEMP-** and a **Status** reading **TEMP**, before you have typed anything.

![](https://1263389357-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2F1RhHon09xexaW3qBPQub%2Fuploads%2Fgit-blob-b50c7ab4dbd9a9515e0cb6f2ed930cd55d69b68b%2Fsales-invoice-create-02-new-draft.png?alt=media)

That is the draft. Nothing has gone on anybody's account yet, and a draft you abandon stays in the Sales Invoice list until somebody clears it out.
{% endstep %}

{% step %}

## Fill in the customer

The form is on the left. Type the first few letters of the customer's name into **Customer** and pick them from the list that drops down. The **…** button beside the box opens a list to choose from instead.

Picking the customer fills in **Contact**, **Phone Mobile** and **Billing Address** for you, and sets **Payment Due Date** to match the payment terms agreed with that customer. The panel on the right starts showing **Sales Type** — whether this customer buys on credit or pays cash, and how much credit they have left.

No box on this form is marked as required. Your company may still need some of them filled in before the invoice can be committed. In the company used for this guide, **Sales Tags** is one of them. A sales tag is a label your company can put on its sales, mainly for its own use and to help with reports. Fill it in now. The **Sales Tags** box sits directly under **Customer**. Click the **…** button beside it, tick the tag your company uses, and click **Submit**. If you do not know which tag to choose, ask whoever looks after Elastik for your company.

**Save** works with **Sales Tags** empty. It will even save an invoice with no customer on it. So check the customer is right yourself.
{% endstep %}

{% step %}

## Save the draft

The save control is the blue button with a floppy-disk picture on it, at the top of the form. It has no word on it — rest the pointer on it and a small black label reading **Save** appears.

![](https://1263389357-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2F1RhHon09xexaW3qBPQub%2Fuploads%2Fgit-blob-9d780ae4e156b90ac9d7f1ff041f08bc364975ce%2Fsales-invoice-create-03-save-button.png?alt=media)

A blue message reading **Record saved successfully!** appears at the top right.
{% endstep %}

{% step %}

## Add what you are selling

Above the empty grid on the right is a row of boxes. The dropdown at the left of that row arrives set to **BARCODE**. Change it to **ITEM** if you want to find things by name or item code — left on **BARCODE**, typing a product name finds nothing.

Put how many you are selling in **Qty**, then type the item into the wide box and pick it from the list that drops down. The line appears in the grid, the tab heading changes from **Items \[0]** to **Items \[1]**, and a message reads **Item(s) added successfully!** The price comes from the item — you do not type one. Repeat for each thing you are selling.

![](https://1263389357-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2F1RhHon09xexaW3qBPQub%2Fuploads%2Fgit-blob-5e9edf847764ada958aa9705722dba79ef66da00%2Fsales-invoice-create-04-draft-with-line.png?alt=media)

Slide the grid sideways to reach its right-hand end, where **Total Amount** shows what the whole invoice comes to. Check that before you go on.

Adding a line also makes new buttons appear at the top of the invoice; with no lines on it, they are not there. The customer used here buys on credit, and gets three of them. A customer who pays cash may get only two, with no **Credit** button, even when the invoice does have lines on it.
{% endstep %}

{% step %}

## Choose how the customer is paying

These buttons are the decision on this screen, and it is not a cosmetic one:

* **Credit** — puts the invoice on the books with the money still owed. This is the one for a customer who will pay later.
* **Pay** — puts the invoice on the books **and** takes you straight into recording the money, in a single press. This is the one for a customer paying you now, at the counter.
* **Payment On Delivery** — not covered by this page. Nothing on the screen says what it does, and it has not been tested for this guide. Do not press it expecting one of the other two.

{% hint style="warning" %}
**There is no Finalise button here.** A Sales Order, a Sales Quotation and a Credit Note are all finished off with a button called **Finalise**. A Sales Invoice is not — one of the buttons above is how you finish it. You are on the right screen.
{% endhint %}

The rest of this page follows **Credit**. For **Pay**, the window it opens is covered in [Record a payment from a customer](/enterprise-management-system/sales/sales-invoice/record-a-payment-from-a-customer.md).
{% endstep %}

{% step %}

## Press Credit and check the window

A window opens headed **Customer:** and the customer's name. It shows what this customer is allowed to owe you and what they owe already — **Credit Limit**, **Credit Terms**, **Credit Hold**, **Amount Due**, **Amount Overdue** — and then this invoice's **Total Amount** and **Balance**.

If no window opens and a red message appears at the top right instead, a box your company needs is empty. The message reads **"Please make sure to fill all required fields"**, then **"Missing Field"** and the name of the box — in the company used for this guide, **Sales Tags** — and then **"Once Filled The Above Field(s), Click On Save"**. Nothing has been committed and the invoice is still a draft. Fill in the box, **Save**, and press **Credit** again. **Pay** stops with the same message, which asks for the same thing: fill in the box and **Save**.

This window is a check, not something to fill in. What those credit figures mean is explained in [Cash and credit customers](/enterprise-management-system/sales/sales-order/cash-and-credit-customers.md).

![](https://1263389357-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2F1RhHon09xexaW3qBPQub%2Fuploads%2Fgit-blob-4bfc42dfc2a93e6af843b1d7987179abb3c04eda%2Fsales-invoice-create-05-credit-window.png?alt=media)

One thing on it can be changed: a switch labelled **Immediate delivery**. It may arrive set to **YES**, which makes a delivery note straight away. Set it to **NO** — that is the path the rest of this page describes, where the delivery stays waiting. **Close** throws the whole thing away and leaves your draft exactly as it was. **Submit** carries on.
{% endstep %}

{% step %}

## Answer both questions

Elastik asks twice, and the second question catches people out.

First: **Confirm this Credit Sales?** Click **Yes**.

Then: **Delivery Confirmation — Do you wish to proceed as this delivery will be PENDING?** Click **Yes** again.

![](https://1263389357-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2F1RhHon09xexaW3qBPQub%2Fuploads%2Fgit-blob-615979d322da2961ecd898ef66b31455f8e8161e%2Fsales-invoice-create-06-delivery-confirmation.png?alt=media)

The second question is about goods, not money. It is telling you the invoice is going on the books while the delivery is still outstanding. Saying **Yes** commits the invoice. **Cancel** at either question leaves your draft untouched, and you can start again from **Credit**.
{% endstep %}
{% endstepper %}

## What you end up with

The **Reference** changes from the **TEMP-** one to a real invoice number starting **SI-**, and **Status** changes from a grey **TEMP** to a green **APPROVED**. The customer now owes the money.

![](https://1263389357-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2F1RhHon09xexaW3qBPQub%2Fuploads%2Fgit-blob-162e19f129a496bad8b0306bda86d49b21cff456%2Fsales-invoice-create-07-approved.png?alt=media)

The buttons change as well. The ones you chose from are gone. In their place are **Pay**, for when the customer pays, and **Generate Delivery Note**, for sending the goods out. The form on the left turns into plain text you cannot type in, and the red delete button disappears: a committed invoice cannot be deleted the way a draft can, and you cannot type into its form. A few values, such as the delivery dates, can still be changed in place by some users.

On the **Sales Invoice** list your invoice now shows **APPROVED**, with **Amount Due** for what is still owed on it.

To record when the goods are to be delivered, see [Delivery dates on a Sales Invoice](/enterprise-management-system/sales/sales-invoice/delivery-dates-on-a-sales-invoice.md).

When the customer pays, see [Record a payment from a customer](/enterprise-management-system/sales/sales-invoice/record-a-payment-from-a-customer.md).