Setting up recurring invoices

By the end of this page, you will know how to create a recurring template that produces your invoices on fixed dates, choose whether it creates drafts or validated invoices that are sent, bill a contract in instalments, and manage the template over time (pause, resume, stop).

What a recurring template produces

A recurring template is a model customer invoice with a calendar. On each scheduled date, SynkriaOps creates a real customer invoice in Sales → Customer invoices, dated on its scheduled date, with a due date equal to that date plus the customer’s payment terms.

• The invoice is created as a draft; its final number (FAC-…) is assigned on validation, as for an invoice entered by hand.
• Once validated, it produces the sales journal entry and enters the payment reminder workflow.
• Editing a template never changes invoices already created: only the next ones are affected.

Prerequisites

• An active customer: an archived customer prevents the template from being activated.
• For automatic sending: an email address on the customer record. It is the only address used.
• For automatic validation: an open fiscal year covering the invoice dates.

Creating a template

1. Open Sales → Recurring, then click New recurring template.

2. At the top, enter the Template name (3 to 120 characters), for example “Monthly maintenance subscription”.

3. Fill in the invoice as you would a sales invoice: customer, Invoice label, lines (description or catalogue item, quantity, price excl. tax, VAT, discount), notes. The label accepts variables (see below).

4. In the right-hand panel, Settings tab, first set the recurrence: General information, Scheduling, Processing mode and, if the mode requires it, Sending to customer. The document settings follow: language, PDF template, payment details, legal notices, overall discount, withholding tax.

5. Check the Summary tab: it shows the first invoice, the next generation, the estimated amount and the list of items Missing before activation.

6. Click Save as draft or Create and activate. When editing, the buttons become Save changes and Save and activate.

In General information, you can also enter an Internal reference, a Customer reference, Tags and, at creation, the Initial status (Draft, Active or Paused).

Label variables

The label, and the email subject and message, accept {{mois}} (month), {{annee}} (year), {{periode}} (month and year), {{numero}} (rank of the invoice in the series), {{client.nom}} and {{total.ttc}}. In billing schedule mode, {{echeance}}, {{echeances}} and {{pourcentage}} are added. The month name is written in the invoice language. Example: “Maintenance {{periode}}” becomes “Maintenance November 2026”.

Setting the schedule

Setting	Options
Frequency	Weekly, Bi-weekly (every 2 weeks), Monthly, Bi-monthly, Quarterly, Semi-annual, Annual, Custom
Billing day rule	Fixed day of month (with Generation day (1-28)), Last day of month, First business day, Last business day
Day of week	For the weekly and bi-weekly frequencies
Execution month	For the annual frequency
Every / Unit	For the custom frequency: 1 to 365 days, weeks, months or years
Start date	Starting point of the calendar
Recurrence end	No end, On a specific date (End date) or After a number of occurrences
Generate N days before the invoice date	From 0 to 90 days: the invoice is created in advance but dated on its scheduled date

The Calendar preview block calculates the Next creation, Next invoice, Next due date and Upcoming occurrences live.

A start date in the past creates invoices immediately

If scheduled dates have already passed, the preview says so: these invoices are created as soon as the template is activated, each dated on its scheduled date. Check the start date before activating.

Choosing the amount: fixed or billing schedule

In Scheduling, Amount of each invoice offers two modes:

• Fixed: each invoice uses the amount of the template lines.
• Billing schedule: the amount varies period by period, according to tranches calculated on the Total contract value (excl. tax).

Each tranche has a Calculation, a starting period (From period) and a Number of invoices:

Calculation	Amount of each invoice
Percentage of the contract	The percentage of the contract value
Amount per invoice	A fixed amount excl. tax; only the last tranche can be No end, and only without a contract value
Balance spread	What remains of the contract, spread over the tranche’s number of invoices

Example for a contract of 1,200,000 XAF excl. tax: a Percentage of the contract tranche of 30% on period 1 (360,000 XAF), then a Balance spread tranche from period 2 over 4 invoices (210,000 XAF each). The Billing calendar draws one bar per period and the template stops after period 5.

Billing schedule rules

The total of the tranches must match the contract value exactly; the rounding difference is carried by the last invoice of each tranche. A period without a tranche issues no invoice. The overall discount is unavailable, as the contract value is already the net price. Once a period has been processed, the mode can no longer change and the amounts of periods already invoiced are frozen: duplicate the template to start again differently.

Choosing the processing mode

Mode	What happens on each scheduled date
Create as draft	The invoice is created as a draft; you validate and send it yourself
Create and request validation	Default mode: the invoice is created as a draft, ready to be validated
Validate automatically	The invoice is created and validated, without sending
Validate and send automatically	The invoice is created, validated, then emailed to the customer

Validate and send automatically

No human check takes place before the invoice is sent to the customer. Keep this mode for stable amounts and review the lines, the label and the email address on the customer record.

In every mode, a zero total forces creation as a draft. If automatic validation fails (closed fiscal year, blocking stock check…), the invoice remains a draft and the error is shown on the template. If an approval circuit covers validation or sending, the invoice waits for the final approval.

Setting up sending to the customer

The Sending to customer section only appears in Validate and send automatically mode.

• Recipient: the address on the customer record, shown as “Sent to …”. It can only be changed on the customer record.
• Email subject and Message: they accept the same variables as the label. Empty message: the usual invoice email message applies.
• Attach invoice PDF: ticked by default.

Attaching the contract to the template

Once the template is saved, the Attachments block accepts PDF, JPEG or PNG files of up to 20 MB, with a Type (Contract, Appendix, Report, Other). Each generated invoice receives these attachments. The Attach to e-mail option decides whether the file is also sent with the email; it is unticked by default for a contract.

What happens at generation

SynkriaOps checks active templates every day. When a creation date is reached, the invoice is created; if several dates were missed, they are caught up in order, each dated on its scheduled date.

Safeguards applied to each generation:

• a period that has already been invoiced is never invoiced twice;
• an archived customer, invalid lines or, with automatic sending, a customer record without an email address make the generation fail;
• after 3 consecutive failures, the template moves to the In error status and generates nothing more. The cause is shown at the top of the template panel, with the number of consecutive failures.

Monitoring and managing your templates

The Sales → Recurring page shows the Estimated monthly revenue (excl. tax) and the number of templates To generate within 7 days. The tabs filter by status: All, Active, Paused, In error, Drafts, Ended, Archived.

Click a template to open its panel. Details tab: calendar, lines, automation. History tab: each occurrence, with its scheduled date, the invoice produced, its status (Draft, number assigned on validation, validated…), its payment and its sending.

Action	Available for	Effect
Generate now	Active, In error	Creates an invoice right away (see below)
Activate	Draft	Starts the calendar; dates already passed are invoiced immediately
Pause	Active	Suspends generation
Resume	Paused, In error	After a pause: the calendar restarts from the next upcoming date. After an error: the failed occurrence is generated immediately
Edit	All except Finished and Archived	Opens the editor; applies to the next invoices
Duplicate	All	Creates a draft copy, named “(copy)“
Stop	All except Finished and Archived	Permanent: Finished status, no more invoices; the history remains available
Archive	Paused, In error, Draft, Finished	Permanent: the template is hidden from active views

Dates that pass during a pause are not invoiced

Resuming a paused template does not catch up the invoices for the dates that passed during the pause. With a billing schedule, the instalments are shifted: none is lost or backdated. To invoice a missed period, use Generate now.

Generating an invoice on demand

Generate now opens a window with two choices:

• Next scheduled occurrence: creates the next invoice of the calendar in advance, dated on its scheduled date, then moves the calendar forward;
• One-off generation: creates an additional invoice dated today, without touching the calendar. Unavailable in billing schedule mode: an invoice outside the schedule is created by hand.

The window recalls the customer, the invoice date, the due date, the estimated amount and the processing mode that will apply. Click Generate invoice.

Frequent refusal messages

Message	Cause	Solution
”Add at least one invoice line before activating this template”	Template without a line	Add a line
”Add the client’s email address in their customer record to enable automatic sending”	Validate and send automatically mode without a customer email	Complete the customer record
”The selected client is archived — activation is blocked”	Archived customer	Choose an active customer or unarchive the customer
”Pause or stop the template before archiving it”	Archiving an active template	Pause or Stop, then archive
”This template is … — it can no longer be edited”	Finished or archived template	Duplicate the template
”This template has no occurrence left to generate: its recurrence has ended”	End date or number of occurrences reached	Change the end or duplicate the template

Further reading

Settings for each situation

Situation	Recommended settings
Rent or commercial lease	Monthly, Fixed day of month on the 1st, Fixed amount, Validate and send automatically once the first month is checked
Annual maintenance contract paid in instalments	Billing schedule: 30% on signature, then a Balance spread tranche over the following quarters
Service subscription	Monthly, Create and request validation to review before sending in months when volume changes
Monthly fees of an accounting firm	One template per client, Last business day, with the engagement letter in Attachments
Equipment rental to a customer who withholds tax	Fixed amount and withholding tax on the line

After the invoice is issued

• Collect through Mobile Money: import your wallet statement, then match each payment with its invoice. See Import a Mobile Money statement.
• Chase without thinking about it: a validated recurring invoice enters the automatic reminders like any other invoice.
• Reassure the customer: every validated invoice carries a verification QR code.
• Manage it by conversation: a connected AI assistant can create a template, preview the next dates or generate the month’s invoice. See the example requests.
• Follow upcoming cash: invoices to be issued feed the cash flow forecast.

Related articles

• Creating a customer invoice →
• Withholding tax →
• Setting up automatic payment reminders →
• Approval engine →