Apex invoicing
Invoices that land in the ERP before they reach the customer.
Apex calculates the invoice and your ERP holds it. Every invoice is posted to SAP, NetSuite or Dynamics as an A/R invoice first, read back to confirm, and only then sent. Finance keeps one ledger, and the invoice a customer receives is the one in the books.
- PO 4500-8812 present
- Lines match PO, 3 of 3
- PO balance covers invoice
- Tax code from the ERP
The path of an invoice
Calculated, checked, posted, then sent.
- 01
Calculate
Lines come from the billing schedule and rated usage, with proration, credits and minimums applied.
- 02
Check
The customer's PO number, PO lines and remaining PO balance are checked, so an invoice is not rejected by the customer's AP team.
- 03
Post
The invoice is written to the ERP as a draft or posted A/R invoice, according to your company's setting, and read back to confirm it landed as written.
- 04
Send
The invoice goes to the customer by email, with a link to the portal for its detail.
What it handles
The invoices B2B customers actually ask for.
Consolidated
Several contracts or sites on one invoice, for customers who want one bill a month.
Parent and child
Invoices billed to a parent account with each subsidiary's lines shown separately.
Multi-currency
Invoice in the customer's currency, with the rate recorded as the ERP has it.
Multi-entity
Each invoice posts to the right ERP company, so a group with several legal entities bills from each.
Tax
Tax from your ERP's tax codes, or from Avalara or Anrok where you already use them.
Credit notes
Drafted against the original invoice and posted to the ERP once a person approves.
System of record
Apex calculates. The ERP holds the receivable.
| A billing tool as system of record | Apex | |
|---|---|---|
| Where the invoice lives | In the billing tool, synced to the ERP later | In the ERP, posted first |
| Edits made in the ERP | Overwritten by the next sync | Read back down and respected |
| Payments | Taken in the billing tool | Applied in the ERP, read back by Apex |
| Audit | Split across two systems | One ledger, with Apex's calculation attached |
After it is sent
Light follow-up, then out of the way.
- Before due
- A reminder a few days before the due date, written from the invoice's facts.
- On and after due
- Two or three follow-ups by email, on a cadence you set.
- When paid
- Follow-ups stop as soon as the ERP records the payment.
- Not included
- No payment processing, no calls or texts. Cash is applied in the ERP as it is today.
Agents propose, people approve
The agent drafts. A person decides.
An invoice review agent flags unusual lines and missing usage before a run, and a PO matching agent checks the customer's PO against the invoice. A follow-up agent drafts the reminder emails from the invoice's facts.
Every agent stops at an approval gate until it has earned its way out of one. Nothing releases cash, commits spend or touches a customer without a person saying so.
Your dataModels that read your data run inside your environment, behind your firewall. No client data reaches a frontier lab.
Start here, keep the foundation
Start with invoicing. Add the rest without starting over.
Invoicing is a natural first function for a company whose invoices are built in spreadsheets today. Your customers, open invoices and payments come down from the ERP into your Ferrata foundation, and every invoice Apex calculates goes back into the ERP. Quoting, usage and revenue recognition all attach to the same invoice records later.
FAQ
Questions, answered plainly.
Does Apex replace our ERP's invoicing?
No. Apex calculates the invoice, including usage, proration, credits and tax, and posts it to your ERP as an A/R invoice. The ERP stays the system of record for the receivable, the ledger and the payment.
Are invoices posted as drafts or as final?
Your choice, per company. Some finance teams want Apex to post drafts that a person releases in the ERP; others want posted invoices once Apex's own approval step is done.
How are customer PO requirements handled?
Before an invoice goes out, Apex checks that it carries the customer's PO number, that its lines match the PO, and that the PO has enough balance left. An invoice that fails waits for a person rather than being rejected by the customer's AP team.
How is sales tax calculated?
From your ERP's tax codes, or from Avalara or Anrok if you already use one of them. Apex does not introduce a separate tax setup.
Can Apex send consolidated invoices?
Yes. Several contracts or sites can be billed on one invoice, and parent accounts can receive invoices that show each subsidiary's lines separately.
Does Apex chase late payments?
Lightly. It can send a reminder before the due date and two or three follow-ups after, all by email, and stops the moment the ERP records the payment. It does not take payments or make calls.
Which ERPs can Apex post invoices to?
Apex is built to connect with SAP (Business One and S/4HANA), Oracle NetSuite and Microsoft Dynamics 365. Each connection is configured when your instance is set up, against your own companies and tax codes.
Related in Apex
- Subscription billingBilling schedules with phases, amendments, proration and co-terming.View
- Usage-based billingBill what customers used, rated at the price they signed, posted to your ERP.View
- Customer portalInvoices, usage, credits and contracts for your customers, behind a verified link.View
- Price agreementsCustomer price lists, blanket POs and call-offs that draw down a framework.View
- SAPQuotes, orders, invoices and journals on SAP Business One or S/4HANA.View
From Ferrata Labs
Start with invoicing, or talk it through first.
Thirty minutes with Ferrata Labs on one workflow. You leave with a view of where Apex fits, and an honest answer if the sequencing is wrong and you should fix something else first.
Your pricing, approval and billing rules are your advantage, and they stay yours. Apex is configured to the way you sell and bill. You are not handing over a playbook or fitting into a template.