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AcuInvoice Is Now Smart Invoice

March 23, 2009 by sidney · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Announcements, Features 

This morning we have unveiled a major new release of code, and have rebranded this service as Smart Invoice.  It is far more than just a name change.  Concurrent with this release, we have simplified the user interface, implemented several new features, and are preparing to release a number of utilities that interact with Smart Invoice (time & expense tracking utilities, QuickBooks integration, and mobile device applications).  We have also taken the axe to our paid plans. We now have just two paid plans: one at $14/month, and the other at $39/month. This post describes some of the major new features in this release of Smart Invoice.  As with any major release, we know that our users will have feedback, questions, and will likely spot a few minor issues.  Please contact me directly if you have any questions whatsoever, and let us know what you think of the new Smart Invoice.  Also, after a long hiatus, this blog has officially come out of hibernation. We’re back.  

Regards,
Sidney H. VanNess, Ph.D.
President & CEO

New Features

User Interface

The first thing that you will notice is the new user interface.  In addition to a complete redesign, we have added a dashboard that displays a snapshot of your business (A/R, billable work, and billable expenses), and which provides streamlined access to many of Smart Invoice’s core features.  From this screen you can quickly create a new invoice, client, or project and can view recent activity and notifications related to your invoices.  

Time Tracking

Perhaps the most requested feature was the ability to track time.  Smart Invoice now includes a simple time tracking interface that allows you to specify a client, project, and task, and log hours directly into your Smart Invoice account.  The interface allows you to easily generate invoices based on time you have logged, and it sorts these items based on whether or not they have been billed.  To make time tracking easier, we will soon be releasing a Mac Time Tracking Widget, as well as a time tracking utility for mobile devices.  

Expense Tracking

Smart Invoice now features a simple expense tracking utility that allows you to log expenses against client projects, and to track your Company’s internal (i.e. unbillable) expenses.  When you go to invoice a client who has billable expenses recorded, Smart Invoice will automatically remind you to include those expenses in the invoice.  Note that the aforementioned widget will also allow you to record expenses from the Mac desktop.

Projects & Tasks

Smart Invoice introduces the concepts of projects and tasks.   You can now track your work based on these inputs, and automatically generate invoices based on time you have logged against projects.  

PDF Invoices

We have added PDF invoices to all paid accounts.  When your clients view an invoice, they will be able to download a PDF for their records. 

Automatic Past Due Notifications

Smart Invoice now features the ability to automatically send notification of past due invoices.  To enable this feature visit Settings | Email Templates | Automated Payment Reminders.  Enable each notification you wish to send, update the text as appropriate, and save your settings.

Business Identification Numbers

Several users (particularly users outside of the US) requested that we add the ability to display a business identification numbers on invoices.  You can now add this by clicking Settings | Edit Account.  You will see two fields: “Business ID Type” (e.g. VAT Number or ABN) and “Business ID” (the actual number).  These will automatically show up in the address block of your invoices.

vCard Import

Smart Invoice now supports the import of both single and multi-contact vCards.  Visit Clients | Import From vCard to perform a bulk import of clients.

Custom Item Types

We received frequent requests for the ability to add custom item types to invoices, and this has been integrated into Smart Invoice.  To add custom item types, you can either click “+” in the invoice creation interface or click on Settings | Customization to define custom item types.

Statements

Smart Invoice now makes it easy to send clients a statement, which includes all outstanding invoices.  To send a statement, navigate to Clients | <your client’s name> | Client Statement and click the send button.

Feature Improvements

Sales Tax

The old AcuInvoice sales tax system was flexible, but cumbersome.  Smart Invoice has adopted the less is more approach.  The sales tax system allows you to specify the name of the tax and a percentage; you simply select the tax from a pulldown menu to apply the tax to the relevant items.  You can define taxes in Settings | Sales Tax, or create them on the fly through the invoice creation interface.

Recurring Invoices

We have significantly improved the recurring invoices feature.  Previously, recurring templates required that you specify line items, a billing interval, and a start date.  The problem with this system was that you could end up having several different templates for essentially the same service (e.g. web hosting starting on January 1, web hosting starting on January 2).  We have therefore modified the recurring invoices feature so that a template specifies only line items and an invoicing frequency.  After creating this template, you then associate specific clients, each of whom have their own start date.

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The AcuInvoice Simple Store: A Free E-Commerce Application Powered by the AcuInvoice API

March 2, 2008 by sidney · 1 Comment
Filed under: API, Announcements, Features, Geek Fodder 

This week we will be releasing version 1.0 of the AcuInvoice Simple Store, a PHP application that uses the AcuInvoice API to enable subscribers to quickly generate a standards-compliant web store where customers can place orders for products, services, and digital goods. Order information is passed securely via the AcuInvoice API to the subscriber’s account and invoices are automatically sent. If you sell digital goods (MP3s, images, software, etc), the items will be automatically delivered to the customer once payment is received and the invoice is converted into a closed state. The AcuInvoice Simple Store is an outstanding example of the power of the AcuInvoice API (it even uses a number of features and data elements that we have yet to fully document) and provides a large amount of sample code that will be useful to other AcuInvoice developers. Therefore, we will be releasing the AcuInvoice Simple Store to the AcuInvoice community free of charge as a means of providing a strong set of core classes with which developers can build custom AcuInvoice applications. We will be putting the finishing touches on the Simple Store early this week, and plan on releasing documentation and tutorials along with the script later in the week. This post highlights the features and benefits of the store, and provides access to a sample store containing some $0.10 items so that you can execute a couple of test transactions and let us know what you think.

Sample Store

We have posted “The Charlie Store“ so that you can see a preview of what the store looks like by default.  You can execute a test transaction (where you purchase a $0.10 picture of my infant son and have it automatically delivered) to test the functionality.  The script functions in the manner described in the “How It Works” section below.

How It Works

When a customer places an order from your AcuInvoice Simple Store, all order data will be instantly passed to your AcuInvoice account. The data will be used to create a new contact (if the customer is not already in the database), and an invoice will be automatically created and sent to your customer at the email address provided during checkout. When your customer receives your invoice, they can pay via any gateway that you have enabled both in your AcuInvoice account and the AcuInvoice Simple Store. Once the invoice is paid, it will be automatically converted into a closed state. If the order contained any digital goods, the script will automatically send out an email containing an order-specific download URL. The AcuInvoice Simple Store allows you to limit the duration the download URL is valid, and specify a maximum number of item downloads.

Features & Benefits

Super Simple Installation

The AcuInvoice Simple Store is easy to install and configure. Simply unzip the archive, upload it to your web server, create a MySQL database, change a couple of permissions settings, and load the installer script in your browser. Your store will be automatically configured and should be functioning in about five minutes.

Clean Code

The AcuInvoice Simple Store utilizes clean CSS and produces valid XHTML 1.0 Strict for maximum compatibility with a variety of popular web browsers.

Simple Management of Content

The AcuInvoice Simple Store utilizes the TinyMCE HTML editor giving you the ability to style your store’s content using a familiar interface. TinyMCE is integrated by default into a number of applications and should be familiar to most users.

Fully Customizable

Your AcuInvoice Simple Store is completely customizable. You can make modifications to the storefront to suit the look of your site, and edit the store’s CSS via a simple web-based editing utility.

Standalone and Embeddable Mode

The AcuInvoice Simple Store can be used in either a standalone or embeddable mode. The standalone mode (default) produces a separate storefront page, while the embeddable mode allows you to insert your AcuInvoice Simple Store into any web page using a singleelement. Embeddable mode could be used, for example, to insert your simple store into pages dynamically generated by popular publishing platforms such as WordPress. 

Centralize Service Invoices and Store Purchases

You already use AcuInvoice to bill your clients, but if you sell products too, you might have to use another system for tracking those sales. Since the AcuInvoice Simple Store uses the AcuInvoice API to automatically enter customer and order information into AcuInvoice, all of your data will be centralized into your AcuInvoice account.

Automatically Delivers Digital Goods

If you sell digital goods from within your AcuInvoice Simple Store, these goods will be automatically delivered once the relevant invoice has been paid. Once payment is remitted and the invoice is converted into a closed state, customers will be sent an email containing a purchase-specific URLs that provides controlled access to digital content.

Plays Well With AcuInvoice Domain Mapping

If you have enabled domain mapping in your AcuInvoice account, all invoices generated via the AcuInvoice Simple Store will originate from your mapped domain, thereby giving you the option of providing a more carefully branded purchase experience for your customers.

Unbeatable Price

The AcuInvoice Simple Store will be released without charge to the AcuInvoice community. Please note that transactions completed through the AcuInvoice Simple Store will automatically pass customer information securely to your AcuInvoice account. Therefore, if you believe you will have a very active store, be certain to have a subscription level that will permit you to have a sufficient number of invoiced clients.

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