Review Open Items
Use Open Items to make a billing decision for priced work without a Budget, then find Service Revenue that is ready to invoice. The page separates work that still needs a decision from budget and individual work that is ready.
- You need access to Billing invoices.
- The Service Revenue budget needs a reviewed settlement setup.
- An external budget needs an invoice basis and Billing Profile.
Step 1: Open The Receivables Summary
Open Billing -> Open Items. The Billing overview shows workspace totals by currency, budgets with outstanding amounts, ready invoice items, work that needs a billing decision, and positions marked not billable.
The summary always describes the whole workspace. Filters on the list below do not change it. Amounts in different currencies stay separate because adding euros, dollars, and pounds would give a misleading total.
If approved Service Revenue budgets have no settlement configuration, COMPASS shows a warning. Review those budgets as Internal only or External invoicing before expecting them in the actionable list.
Step 2: Review Billing Decisions Before You Invoice
Review the Billing decisions table when a priced Timesheet or Trip cost has no Budget. The table shows the source, project, amount, current decision, and where that decision came from.
- Invoice customer makes the cost available as an individual invoice item.
- Keep internal leaves the cost in project tracking and outside the invoice flow.
- Assign Budget sends you back to the source so the cost follows the selected Budget's settlement rules.
Use Return to decisions when you need to reconsider an earlier choice. A cost that an invoice already claims is locked, so it cannot be changed until that claim is released.
Use Billing decisions for work without a Budget. Use Mark as not billable only for an open Invoice Position that already belongs to a Budget.
Step 3: Choose A Ready-For-Invoicing View
Use the view switcher in Ready for invoicing to choose By budget or Individual items.
- By budget answers, “Which budgets still have something to invoice?” It is the best starting point for a budget-based invoice.
- Individual items lists open Invoice Positions and customer-billable work without a Budget. Use it to trace time, travel, expenses, status, and billability.
The budget list hides fully billed budgets by default. Turn off the outstanding-only filter when you need to review completed or zero-balance history.
Step 4: Read The Budget Amounts Correctly
Open Items uses different math for the two invoice bases.
| Figure | Actual Costs basis | Budgeted Amounts basis |
|---|---|---|
| Approved | The agreed ceiling or reference amount. | The approved amount to charge against. |
| Invoiced | Positions already committed to issued invoices. | Invoice lines already charged against the budget. |
| In draft / Reserved | Work currently held on drafts. | Amounts already entered on other drafts. |
| Outstanding | Total of open, billable positions. | Approved minus invoiced minus draft amounts. |
For Actual Costs, the figures do not have to add back to the approved amount. Real work can stop below the ceiling or exceed it. For Budgeted Amounts, the approved total and invoice lines describe the same commercial amount, so the remaining amount can be calculated.
Step 5: Inspect The Positions Behind A Budget
Use the budget row action to view its Invoice Positions. Review the Source, Date, Description, Quantity, Unit price, Total, Status, and any Not billable marker.
If an open position should not be charged, use Mark as not billable and add an optional reason. This keeps the actual work in the internal ledger while removing it from Billing. Do not delete the Timesheet or Trip only to remove a commercial charge.
Step 6: Create A Compatible Invoice Draft
Select one or more compatible budget rows and click Create invoice, or use the action on a single row. COMPASS creates a draft using the selected budgets and their Billing Profile.
One automatic draft can cover only:
- one Billing Profile
- one invoice basis
- one invoice currency
For Actual Costs, the selected open positions become invoice lines and move to Reserved. For Budgeted Amounts, COMPASS creates a line from the remaining amount. The amount remains a commercial decision and can be adjusted in the invoice.
Step 7: Use The Manual Flow When Needed
Open Billing and click Create New Invoice when automatic creation is unavailable or the invoice needs more control.
Use the manual flow when:
- the Billing Profile currency differs from the budget currency
- you need to review a converted individual-cost line
- you need to select individual positions or costs without a Budget
- you want to change a Budgeted Amounts suggestion
- you need a manual invoice line
Result
The selected work or amount is now on a draft invoice. Reserved positions no longer appear as available to another draft, but the internal Actual Cost Ledger remains unchanged.
Common Mistakes
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Problem: The budget is missing from Open Items.
Fix: Confirm it is a Service Revenue budget with External invoicing, an invoice basis, a Billing Profile, and an invoiceable amount.
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Problem: An Actual Costs budget shows no open positions.
Fix: Check that source work was allocated to a Budget Item and was not marked Not billable.
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Problem: A fee-based Timesheet or Trip cost has no Budget and does not appear by budget.
Fix: Open Billing decisions, choose Invoice customer, then select it in Ready for invoicing -> Individual items or Create New Invoice.
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Problem: The outstanding amount says Not derivable.
Fix: Existing invoice currency data cannot be converted honestly with a stored rate. Review the related invoices and currency information before invoicing further.
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Problem: Several selected budgets cannot create one invoice.
Fix: Narrow the selection to one Billing Profile, one basis, and one currency.