Retainer & Time-to-Invoice Billing

Turns approved timesheets and retainer schedules into sent invoices without any manual assembly.

42 hrs
Time saved/month
7
Companies have mapped
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About This Automation

Retainer billing requires manual export of timesheets, comparison against client agreements, and reconciliation across multiple systems before invoices can be created. Manual steps introduce errors, delays, and repeated data entry that consume significant finance team capacity each month.

Automation compares logged hours against retainer caps, deduplicates entries from multiple sources, generates invoice line items, and sends invoices to clients on the same day. The finance team reviews only flagged discrepancies, freeing time for higher-value work.

Key features
Compare timesheet hours against retainer agreements and flag overages automatically
Deduplicate and reconcile time entries logged in multiple systems
Calculate billable amounts and generate invoice line items without manual spreadsheet work
Send invoices to clients and log payment tracking details in one step
Route discrepancies to finance team for review before invoice creation

How The Automation Works

The full workflow, from trigger to completion.

1. Billing Period End Detectedtrigger

The automation is triggered on the scheduled billing cycle end date. Timesheets are locked and ready for processing.

2. Fetch Timesheet Data

The automation retrieves all logged hours for the period via API, extracting employee, client, project, and hours worked.

3. Validate Hours Against Retainer Terms

An intelligent compares logged hours against stored retainer agreements, flags any overages, and calculates billable amounts per client.

4. Deduplicate and Reconcile Entries

The automation merges hours from multiple sources, removes duplicates, and produces a clean, reconciled timesheet ready for invoicing.

5. Generate Invoice

The automation creates a formal invoice with line items, totals, client details, and payment terms, ready for review.

6. Send Invoice

The invoice is sent to the client email address with a templated cover message and payment instructions.

7. Log Invoice in Tracking Sheet

Invoice number, amount, due date, and client are logged for payment tracking and follow-up.

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Frequently asked questions

Everything you need to know before mapping this process.

This template is a starting point based on how other businesses handle this type of work. When you map your process, you describe exactly how your team does it and the automation is built around your workflow, not a generic template.

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Estimated Time Saving
42hrs/month
Process pain:8.2/10
Mapped by:7 Companies

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