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Decide How to Bill Work Without a Budget

Use this guide when a priced Timesheet or Trip cost has no Budget or Budget Item. You can keep the cost internal, make it ready to invoice, or assign it to a Budget without losing the original project record.

Prerequisites
  • You need access to Billing -> Open Items.
  • The Timesheet or Trip cost must be priced and linked to a project.
  • You need Billing write access to change a decision or create an invoice.

Understand What Work Without a Budget Means​

Work without a Budget is priced project work that has not been assigned to a Budget Item. Think of it as a receipt without an envelope: COMPASS knows the work happened and knows its value, but it needs a commercial decision before it can decide what to do next.

Budget-linked work follows the settlement setup on its Budget. Budgetless work uses the Project Blueprint's starting rule until you change that individual cost. It can start as Needs billing decision, Ready to invoice, or Internal only.

Step 1: Open Billing Decisions​

Open Billing -> Open Items. The first card is Billing decisions. It lists priced Timesheets and Trip costs without a Budget, including their project, description, amount, current decision, and decision source.

Use the Decision source column to understand why the current choice appears. Project Blueprint means it comes from the project’s standard rule. This cost means someone changed this specific cost. Safe default means COMPASS is waiting for a decision.

Example: A EUR 680.00 travel fee for Grand Hotel Berlin may show Needs billing decision. It is recorded work, but it is not yet available for a customer invoice.

Step 2: Choose What Should Happen to the Cost​

Use the action in the row to make the commercial decision. Each action changes the billing path, not the record of work itself.

  • Select Invoice customer when the customer should be charged. The cost moves to Ready for invoicing as an individual item.
  • Select Keep internal when your organization absorbs the cost. It remains in project tracking and stays out of Billing.
  • Select Assign Budget when the cost belongs to a Budget Item. The source opens so you can choose the correct Budget and Budget Item.

Use Return to decisions when an earlier choice needs review. A cost already claimed by an invoice is locked. Release the source from that cancelled invoice before changing its decision.

Step 3: Review Ready Individual Items​

Open the Ready for invoicing card and select Individual items. This list combines open Invoice Positions with budgetless Timesheet and Trip costs that are marked Ready to invoice.

Select the items for one project, then click Continue in Create New Invoice. COMPASS carries the project into the invoice workflow and checks each selected cost again before adding it. This prevents a source from being placed on two invoices.

tip

Use the source amount to check the original work. If the invoice uses another currency, COMPASS shows the converted invoice amount when you add the item.

Step 4: Add Individual Costs to the Invoice​

In Create New Invoice, choose Invoice individual costs under Invoice Scope. Select a Billing Profile when you want COMPASS to fill in the recipient, currency, VAT setting, and payment terms. The profile is optional for this invoice type.

Complete the invoice details, then add the ready Timesheet fees and Trip costs. COMPASS converts a source amount into the invoice currency using the invoice exchange rate. Review the converted amount, description, and performance period before you submit the invoice.

Result​

The cost is now either internal, attached to a Budget, or added to an invoice as an individual item. COMPASS keeps the source link, so you can trace the line back to the Timesheet or Trip without creating a duplicate actual-cost record.

Common Mistakes​

  • Problem: A cost is missing from Individual items.

    Fix: Open Billing decisions and confirm that it is marked Invoice customer, not Needs billing decision or Internal only.

  • Problem: A cost cannot be changed.

    Fix: Check whether an invoice already claims it. If a cancelled invoice should return the work, choose Release for that line in the cancellation decision.

  • Problem: A cost should follow a Service Revenue Budget instead.

    Fix: Select Assign Budget and choose the correct Budget Item. The cost then follows that Budget’s settlement and invoice basis.